Lottie

Charlotte Ruth Beach was born almost a year ago. At this time last year I was sending Emmaline to stay with Valerie for the night before going for my induction at midnight. Lottie is an amazing child. She loves to climb, walk, put things over her head, feed herself and laugh at her sister. I love that she cuddles with me, especially when she is tired. I love to see her get excited and clap her hands! I took her to the doctor today and she is growing so much! She is now 19 pounds and 27 inches! She is actually really smallish for her age- only the 5th percentile for her weight and the 25% for her height. But she is overall in the 35% and the doctor isn't worried at all. The doctor does seem to be slightly worried about her verbal skills. Lottie doesn't say anything. I guess she is supposed to be able to say at least three words including mama and dada but Lottie doesn't say any real words, just babbles. I've thought I've heard her say 'drink' a few times but its so similar to a squeak that I don't know if shes really saying it or not. The doctor wants us to get her hearing checked out just to make sure there is nothing wrong. My suspecion is that Lottie just hasn't gotten there yet. She's so busy learning to walk and climb and feed herself that she's too busy to learn how to talk. But we'll do the hearing check, just to make sure. I can't believe my baby is already a year old. I think of everything thats happened over the past year and a half and it just amazes me. Time flies, so do trials. Life is good. I love you Lottie!

April Resolution

So, my April resolution was to cut calories. After looking closely at my eating habits I realized that I really need to cut back. You know those tv shows and magazine articles you'll catch who boast of 10 surefire ways to lose 10 pounds? I've read them many times, hoping to catch that one thing that I'm missing. But invariably they suggest- cut sodas, drink lite beer (that one really helps me! lol), switch from butter to margarine, take the stairs not the elevator, etc. I'm sure you've all read them a time or two. The problem is that I already do all those things (well, except the beer one:) and somehow I'm not losing that 10 pounds that all the articles promise. My problem is portion control and baked goods. Man, I could eat an entire tray of brownies in a day. (Okay, here is where you all nod your heads and admit you can do that too...). So, thats what I decided to focus on...maintaining a reasonable pattern of eating. The results are good. I'm not going to go into details about weight lost or anything but what I will say is that I do feel remarkably better. I'm not so tired and sluggish all day, I'm not so cranky with the girls, and I have really enjoyed eating a variety of fresh fruit and veggies (although those brownies do call to me...). An update on previous goals- I'm still making a good menu for every night. Its been very nice to have the planning done and only have to start making the food rather than figure out what to make every night. The working out? Yeah, I haven't touched the weights since my last post :( I really should get back into that... I hope you are all still plugging away at some goal to make yourself a better person. Baby steps! One thing at a time! You can do it!