Holiday Weekend Lessons

Saturday: The Farmers Market Keeps Getting Better
The crowds were down at the market this weekend (lots of people were out of town for the holiday) but the produce did not disappoint. Everything looked delicious and we came home with an overflowing bag.
Sunday: Auntie Trish Rocks!
A.J. spent the morning cuddling with his Auntie Trish while Karl and I met up with one of our 2010 couples to shoot an engagement session. They must have had lots of fun because A.J. came home hungry and exhausted. After eating, he took a three hour nap.
and...
Sunday: Parks are crowded on Labor Day weekend!
You can't tell from this picture, but the park was crammed with people when we arrived to shoot on Sunday. We made it work, but it would have been a whole lot easier if we weren't dodging campers and their pets!
Monday: 3 day weekends = Extra Daddy Time
Having Karl home all weekend was really nice. A.J. got lots of Daddy time and I got lots of work done without having to worry about catering to the whims of an almost three month old.

Day 4 Lesson: Train'em Early!

It's College Color Day, so I knew AJ would be wearing his "I drool Orange and Blue" onesie even if it is a *tad* big. (But at least it will fit him through the whole football season, right?) I will confess that I got a little giddy taking his picture this morning. I can't wait to take him to Gainesville this winter and add to his collection of Gator gear.

The truth is, A.J. can go to school wherever he wants. But I really REALLY hope he grows up to be a Gator fan. You've got to admit, he looks pretty good in orange and blue right?

Day 3 lesson: Have baby sized bandaids handy

Mark the calendar. September 3rd: I made my baby bleed. The crying and the bleeding wasn't really the bad part. The worst was the look of shock and horror that came across AJ's face in the moment before he started wailing.

I should have known those baby nail clippers were dangerous. I had the best of intentions. Three cuts on his face in two days means it's time to trim those scratchy little nails. So I decided to tackle the problem while getting the monkey man dressed this morning. One ill timed squirm later and I was trimming skin instead of nail and AJ was looking at me with wide eyes and a quivering lip.

I think I cried before he did. I had no baby sized bandaids so there we sat, me holding toilet paper to the wound, begging forgiveness of a 12 week old. The good news is by 10am we were home from Walmart with baby sized bandaids, cuddling on the couch.

All is forgiven for now, but I'm not going near those nail clippers any time soon.

Day 2 Lesson: It's going to take more than nursing...

Yup, I did it. This morning I rejoined Weight Watchers in an attempt to finally say goodbye to what I not so fondly refer to as my "infertility weight." Three years of failed cycles, depression, and drugs were not kind to my body and now it's time to make things right.

I've been pretty lax (okay, totally lax) with my eating since AJ was born for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm breast feeding and you need extra calories for that. Second, gestational diabetes kept me from eating what I wanted during pregnancy so I felt like I "deserved" some free time. Despite the food free for all, I've managed to lose 41 pounds I gained during pregnancy. That would be a much bigger achievement if I didn't swell up like a balloon in those final weeks. I'm pretty sure 20 of those 41 pounds was water retained in my legs and feet!

The nice thing about Weight Watchers is they make the plan friendly to nursing moms, so I have extra points to account for the extra calories I need to keep my supply up. I'm committed to the program for 2 months. We'll see how it goes.

Learning Something New Everyday: September 1st

Ah, September. This time last year I was getting ready to begin the cycle that we conceived our little monkey man. It's totally hard for me to believe how much has changed, and how much I've learned in the last year.

Last September I did a daily mini album to document the month. This year I don't have the time to devote to such a project, but I am going to *try* to blog through the month. Emphasis on the word TRY people. We'll see if A.J. decides to cooperate :)

So what did I learn today?

September 1st: Salisbury Steak doesn't photograph well. Today, Barb and I kicked off a new blogging project :Cook. Eat. Repeat? Over the next year we're going to cook our way through the stacks of cookbooks and recipes printed off the web we've aquired over the years.

Tonight, I made my first new recipe and quickly learned why the picture in the Light and Tasty magazine is very small. This recipe definitely doesn't get high marks for presentation. You'll have to wait a bit to find out if it tastes better than it looks. The recipe and my review wil be posted on the Cook. Eat. Repeat? blog tomorrow!