New Jesse-isms

Baby Jesse can clap, finally! It only took him FOREVER but he's doing it. He won't do it on command, but at least he knows how. I think he picked it up from Emma. He also is going through stranger anxiety. At first this seemed awesome to me. Baby Jesse finally prefers me over someone. But then he wont let anyone else spend time with him either.

He still refuses to take steps. He is quite the efficient crawler and can walk around furniture just fine. So he isn't too stressed to walk yet. And he is getting long and heavy so I am ready for him to walk.

He likes to shriek and talk all the time now. That's fun to watch and see. He is starting to give me a few kisses here and there.

I have a couple days off. We were supposed to be going to the Oregon coast this week but that fell through when Jesse had to be in town for meetings with the school he will be student teaching with. Luckily I have Labor Day off.

Jesse Jay will be 1 year old in 6 weeks! Wow, time has just flown by. I haven't made too many solid plans yet but I need to. Maybe that's what I will do with all my time off.

Too Many Wheaties....

Jesse (the baby) is ginormous. What I mean is, the boy is a very long skinny thing. He is in 18 month sleepers (and we are squeezing him into those) and 12-18 month jeans. Geez, I am definately going to be the shortest person in our family in a decade or less. Gah! (Don't pity me. Serves me right for marrying a 6'4 man!)

I've contemplated renaming the baby Oscar (the Grouch). He has been teething a ton lately and is sleeping in a rather broken pattern. At the moment he is blowing raspberries and thinks it's fantastic. Of course he is doing this all after vomiting an ungodly amount all over me. And to add insult to injury he has returned to his general preference for daddy over me. Whatever. I prefer him over me too. :)

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Work has been very busy. Most days have been 10 hour days. I am ready for a half day tomorrow and a weekend (off call). I need it BADLY!

The scale hates me again. It says I gained 3lbs despite still being very good on my diet and exercising a ton at the Rec Center. It's depressing, but I think it'll come off and I am just going through some hormonal funk. I'm certain I'll regulate soon enough.
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Jesse has nearly finished his summer classes. He has a major project due at the end of next week that is nearly finished. He also meets with his cooperating teacher for student teaching next week. He will be teaching 5th graders at Birch Elementary. He is also preparing for the PRAXIS in September, so please pray for him when you think of it.

Otherwise everything is same old, same old. But life is certainly content.

New Additions & Subtractions

The workouts are becoming more fruitful. Overall I have now lost 7-8 pounds. I have also implemented a low-carb diet as my calorie counting alone wasnt enough to seem to lose weight. And by golly- it's working FINALLY! I met up with a personal trainer at the Rec Center yesterday and she developed an easy and good plan for me. Except she also made me work muscles I had forgotten I even had. Yikes! I am paying for it today!

In other news, we traded in my Acura for a 2005 lightly used Chevy Classic. So now I have my mom car. It has all the stuff I wanted for the price I wanted. We bought it at the Drive & Buy off Midland. I was excited to see they did some work on the Acura and are trying to sell it (and it's their ADVERTISED seller right now- we drove by and saw it). But I like the new vehicle. It's so much easier getting the baby in and out now. And I have a CD player, power doors, keyless entry, and CRUISE control.

Some Updates

I have been very diligent about working out these past two weeks. Unfortunately the scale hasn't bended to my expectations. Everyone says I look thinner though. And my pants all used to be tight, and now are a loose. But the scale is quite stubborn and at moments I feel very discouraged. I know it's going to start coming off soon. But it's difficult being patient.

The Arendt genes are somewhat impedeing my progress. We have the ability to grow muscle like body builders with very minimal effort. My legs feel and look bigger. I need to stop increasing my resistance on the eliliptical and get my heart rate into the fat burning column more frequently.

I have used my rec center punch pass 7 times in 2 weeks. And I have purposely restrained myself from going as often as I like. I think we have solved the dillema of would I actually use the pass enough to get my money's worth from it. Next pay check I will take the leap and invest. I love that the rec center is only a couple miles from my house.

I feel good. My back is still is tense, but overall I have much more energy and feel a lot less stressed. This has been a good remedy for venting out life stresses. I come home a little tired, but feeling accomplished. It is also fantastic to get a little "me" time after working all day.
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Baby Jesse continues to grow teeth. He has still got his cold somewhat. But he continues to eat better and sleep throughout the night more often than not. He still seems to refuse to walk. He is capable, but why when crawling is so perfected?

He is 10 months old today! Only 2 more months until his first birthday. Time sure goes by fast!
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On an irritating note, our trip to Oregon was unfortunately cancelled. Jesse asked his program if he had anything he needed to be here for, for the 2 weeks he has off in August between classes. He was told no initially. Then, you have to be back in the middle of your trip. And yesterday, "sorry you are student teaching in the other school district. You'll have to be available before your trip would even start." *groan!* I really needed a vacation too.

I haven't decided what I am going to do about it now. I may just take a four day weekend and visit family or something. I don't know anything for sure. So we will have to see. I hate disappointing people. We have been to his family reunion once since we have been married.
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I should get ready and go out and do something this beautiful July day. We are going to the Nampa farmers market, the Library, and the fair! Baby Jesse's first fair!

Trying to Get Back Into Shape and 6 Teeth!

I am exhausted! Mostly because my diet has been a heartbreaker. I can be really good and after 2 weeks lose NOTHING. I think my body is hanging on to the baby weight a lot more stringently than I gave it credit for. Everytime I was good and didn't produce noticable results I'd go back to eating like I always did. It didn't make me gain, but it wasn't helping me lose weight either.

So I decided I have to do both the diet and 'freaking out' my metabolism by exercising more. I got a punch pass for the rec center to see if I like it, and I really do. I just wanna make sure I will be motivated enough to purchase an entire pass and actually go. I love the TV on each machine. And it's nice to go and do your own thing for an hour without interuption.

I started Saturday and have exercised for at least 45 minutes every day thus far. I did the rec Saturday and today and rode my bike the other days. I am feeling stronger already but the initial 2 weeks of getting into shape are always the worst.

I have been feeling like one of my patients lately. Back pain that also radiates up into my shoulders. Oh and occasional shooting pain down my left leg. I decided enough was enough.

Since I have been working out I am feeling better in regards to my back pain. My knees on the other hand are a different story. I have been on daily Ibuprofen before and after workouts just to avoid limping. I think I have grown a lot of sympathy for my patients with diffuse arthritis who just give me the "How?" look when I suggest to workout more.

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Meanwhile, Jesse Jay grew two more teeth. This puts us up to six. The two teeth next to the middle ones on top are now poking through. We have got some more uninterrupted sleep the past few days. He woke up last night again though, but he went back to bed with the pacifier. Not really sure what thats about.

He is eating almost all food, just chopped up finely. We went to Red Robin today. Grandma Sharon took us. She got him Chicken Tortilla Soup he just devoured. And he loves the french fries. He chased it all with a bottle and was a happy man. Especially when he got a balloon.

I have learned now not to give the baby a toy and turn away. He likes to chew and slobber on tags now. Its so disgusting I can't put it back, and feel guilted into purchasing the item. I need to bring a toy with us wherever we go these days.

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Only a few more weeks of Jesse's summer classes are left. Then we get to go on a little trip to Oregon. I can't wait!

I Miss When There Was No Teeth.....

I hate teeth. They do evil things to a wonderful baby boy. He is usually such a blessing and a happy-go lucky kid. This tooth has been rough. Usually we get a couple days of crankiness and this has lasted all week. He wakes up 2-4 times a night (this is rough when you had a baby who virtually always sleeps through the night) screaming in pain. Only ibuprofen seems to help. He gets so excited to see a syringe and pink liquid. If its food, he isnt very interested. I know... it's so wrong!

I really shouldn't complain. Jesse and my little sister Kimmy have been getting up with him. I try and go back to sleep but it's really difficult to do. I don't do well on interrupted sleep either. When I was pregnant with him I'd have to wake up every 3-4 hours to pee or because some noise woke me up and I was miserably cranky. Not to mention perpetually exhausted. I have been sleeping well for 6 months now and to go back to a year ago just makes me groan, "NO NOT AGAIN!!"

I am desperate to lose weight. I need to join the rec center but I am so nervous I will buy a pass and lose the will power and waste a bunch of money. I need to get over it and go in and chat with the lovely folks and see what their policies are on babies swimming (does it cost and when) and if I can use their indoor track in the winter and stroll him around. But I am afraid they will say no and I will no longer be interested. I should ask, either way I am not doing what I need to to lose the extra 20lbs. I have the will power. So I just need to do it.

Work is going better. I have been there for 5 months now. Time really does fly. I blinked and poof.. 2 months have flown by. I am getting more proficient in the OR. The doctor doesnt have to constantly remind me to do stuff. My closures of the skin are looking beatiful and the few subcutaneous closures I have done look marvelous! One of the doctors told me the other day I have made a lot of progress in a couple short months. That felt fantastic.

I am looking forward to a real weekend. A few meetings and a half day in clinic. We have a good number of inpatients I have to help round on, but they are all nice people so I enjoy chatting with them. Oh, and I am having photos done for work so they can market me and such. Ha! I feel so important. I am going to bed. I have to be extra pretty tomorrow.

A Neat New Baby Wrangling Contraption

This is our new portable high chair we bought at Target yesterday. Jesse and I like to go places and visit with people. Baby Jesse is getting so big he can now wiggle out of his bumbo, rendering it obsolete these days. So we were perplexed how to feed him in an easier (aka: does not require two people) way.

Since we were getting haircuts yesterday we thought we'd try it out. Thats where these photos are taken. Mia (the lady who cuts our hair) liked it and mentioned she should buy it off me to help kids sit still during their haircuts.

I think it's called My Little Chair and it's $19.99 at Target. We like it and it folds up into its own small bag and fits into our diaper bag nicely.