Crystal Madrilejos

I think we paid $1 for this cuteness. (The jacket, not the boy.)

Last weekend we attended the bi-annual Kids Garage Sale at our local rec center. Twice a year you can browse, garage-sale style, an ungodly amount of baby and kid stuff all under one roof. Most of the stuff is a really great deal, especially if you hit it up towards the end. People are practically giving the stuff away just to get it out of their house! Though I have to admit, it’s a bit overwhelming. If you go with a purpose, it’s a lot easier to manage. This was our second time going and I think we made out pretty well. We got a few great outfits for Q and I think we spent less than $10 total. How awesome is this?

There are other items, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph them. But I will at some point. The cuteness is extreme around here.

-c.

Image by Andrew@CubaGallery via Flickr

This has been a long time coming. If you didn’t notice, we have a new header image! This is just the start of fun and exciting things to come. What those things are, I’m still not sure. But I am confident they are good things. We’re just sort of winging it around these parts, which seems to be the way to do things when time and brain function is limited. So, until these “fun and exciting” things start happening, you can at least enjoy the new scenery!

If you can’t remember what the header looked like (it was just yesterday people, c’mon!) this was it:

I still like the old one, but I just felt it needed to be…freshened up or something. Maybe I was just sick of looking at it. Whatever the case, I’m happy with the direction we’re moving in. Progress people!

-c.

My Mom just came back from a 5-month trip to the Philippines. (Welcome home Mom!)

As per usual, she came bearing gifts from abroad and these two beauties were amongst them. She has a small obsession with Sake sets. I don’t think she actually enjoys drinking it, but she sure does love collecting those little cups with matching pitchers. Pitchers? That can’t be the correct term.

-c.

Image by Smabs Sputzer via Flickr

Does anyone else have only a shower stall in their house? Has anyone else wanted to pull their hair out trying to bathe a one-year-old in a shower stall? Am I alone in my frustration with bath time?

After Q grew out of his baby bath tub we tried a few different things that worked with varying levels of success. Mostly low levels of success. We’ve tried the kitchen sink, our modified galvanized tub bathroom sink, a blow up ducky bathtub, and our recent incarnation of a bathtub being a big plastic flex tub/bucket from Target. Here are my issues:

Kitchen Sink: Too much water everywhere! Dude likes to splash and trying to rinse his hair with minimal spraying outside the sink area is nearly impossible.

Bathroom Sink: We have an unusual bathroom sink. It’s pretty much a round galvanized tub that we converted into a sink so it’s deep enough for him to bathe in. The splashing is a factor again here too especially since there is an electrical outlet right below the sink (don’t ask). Spraying is not an issue, since there is no sprayer which sucks just as much.

Blow Up Ducky Tub: This worked okay for a little while and is great if you are traveling. We took it with us to NYC with us when Q was about 7 months old. But he’s grown too big for it.

Plastic Flex Tub: This is what we are currently using and Q seems to like sitting in the brightly colored tub. But there’s no drainage so it’s basically the worst thing ever when you want to empty the water before rinsing.

Another frustrating thing about bath time is that Q seems to have an aversion to standing while bathing so it’s hard to get him rinsed well. He’ll only stand during a bath if I’m holding him up even though he is fully capable of standing on his own. This is also another reason we haven’t yet tried to just bathe him directly in the shower stall. We try to clean our shower often, but we still don’t feel comfortable with him sitting directly on the shower floor. I know there is a simple solution to this problem but it’s evading me with all it’s might.

How do you get a one-year old to stand during bath time? Is a thorough rinse even that important? What if he peed in the water? Am I over-analyzing this?

Anyone have a solution to this nonsense?

-c.

Image by Molly | Orangette via Design is Mine

I’m on day 64 of 90 in P90X. I missed my workout yesterday, ugh. Yeah, I know it sucks. That just means I’ll be working out on Sunday instead.

Tonight is Chest, Shoulders and Triceps PLUS Ab Ripper. This workout kicks my ass so hard. I can’t do push-ups to save my life and this workout is pretty much all push-ups. It’s so dumb. I complain throughout the whole thing every time. Ab Ripper sucks too, but I’ve actually seen improvement in my performance during that workout so I don’t hate it as much.

So, I know I talk about the workouts a lot but I don’t think I’ve elaborated much on the diet. This part sucks too (but not as much as I thought it would). Basically, for the first 30 days you eat a ton of protein and veggies with a little bit of fruit, a tiny amount of carbs, and no sugar. For the next 30 days it’s basically the same, but with a little less protein and a little more carbs. I was pretty strict for the first month, but I’ve relaxed a little now that I’m further along in the program. I still limit carbs and sugar, but I’m not a freak about it.

If you’re wondering, I eat the same thing almost every day with the exception of dinner. And weekends can be a crap shoot but here is what I eat most days, if you care to know such things:

Breakfast:
2 Turkey Sausages
1 Egg
1 Whole wheat bagel – OR – 1 cup of oatmeal with a banana and berries
1 cup of Tea with skim milk, no sugar

Morning Snack:
1 small/medium Apple – OR- Banana

Lunch:
Salad with Chicken and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Afternoon Snack:
Cheese or Yogurt

I drink water unless I want a special treat, then I drink flavored seltzer water. Dinner is usually whatever Andrew feels like making. He’s good about taking my diet into consideration, plus Q eats what we eat so it’s usually something pretty healthy. We try to be conscientious about what we feed Q. We keep processed foods and sweets out of his diet as much as possible, so I started thinking this would be a good rule to live by: “Don’t eat anything I wouldn’t feed to my son.”

I think it’s important to enjoy eating even if I’m trying to lose weight. So I treat myself , but only on occasion. Anyone else have any tips for staying healthy AND happy?

-c.

I’m pretty sure I want to own some chickens in the near future.

Yesterday I started reading Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. I actually first learned about this book when I read an excerpt from it in one of the Mother Earth News: Wiser Living Issues awhile back. Then Cole over at Pacing the Panic Room mentioned it on their blog and I saw there was a digital version that I could read on the iPad and figured I should check it out since I really enjoyed the small portion that I initially read.

Sustainability and self-sufficiency are two things that Andrew and I are constantly striving for in our lives. For Andrew, I think it’s the logical aspects of sustainability that appeal to him. I’m not going to speak for him, but I know him well enough to assume this. To Andrew it makes sense to build a life that is sustainable, simple as that :)

As for me, the decisions I make in life weigh very heavy on me. I’m emotional like that. So this, amongst other things, motivates me to want to create a life for our family that we can feel good about. Also, it helps that both Andrew and I are very hands on. We have no problem putting the extra effort into things we think are important to us.

So this bring me back to the chickens. The first chapter of the book is all about raising chickens and the benefits of having them. I’ve been contemplated chickens for awhile, so this book was already preaching to the choir. But it did help me feel like it is something we could do. I need a chicken mentor, anyone have any advice?

P.S. I took these pictures when we went to visit Earth Song Discovery Farm a couple years back. This place is amazing!

-c.

Image via oliviathebig

I started a new job at the beginning of the year. A few days into my new job my team of co-workers in the marketing department decided to start a weight-loss challenge. I figured, why not? I had some baby weight that I still wanted to lose, so I figured it would be good incentive to try to get back to where I was before I got pregnant.

I guess I should preface the outcome of this story with some information about me. I am naturally a small person. I eat healthy (though I do have a pretty bad sweet tooth) but I never got into the habit of exercising on a regular basis. I’ve remained basically the same size throughout my adult life and hadn’t had to lose any significant amount of weight for someone my size. Until I had a baby.

I wasn’t one of those lucky ladies whose body agrees with pregnancy and who comes out of it looking and feeling better than they did before. For all of you who aren’t familiar with the rules of pregnancy and such, the recommended weight gain for someone who is of average weight is 25-30lbs. I gained 50. Both Andrew and I were baffled especially since I had gestational diabetes and was on a diabetic diet (low carbs, no sweets) for a good part of my pregnancy. After giving birth and losing the initial post-pregnancy weight I was still 20lbs over what I was when I got pregnant.

The weight-loss challenge started on January 5th and today was our final weigh in. Aaaand……. I WON!! Awesome, right?

I honestly didn’t think I would win. And really, I wasn’t trying to. Pretty much for the whole month of January, I didn’t do anything. But then in February I started P90X and have since lost 9.42% of my body weight.

I didn’t start P90X to win the weight-loss challenge. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to win and feel like I really accomplished a goal. But ultimately I just really wanted to get healthy and feel good.

Just 5 1/2 more weeks of P90X to go…

-c.

I figured I’d post about a couple Christmas gifts I made this past year. This weather is crazy. But I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different since it’s Ohio and we go through this every year.

I realize Christmas is long over. Maybe next year I will post in a more timely manner. But I won’t hold my breath. Anyways! On to gifts!

Many many years ago, a friend and I started crocheting together and we went through a phase of making granny squares. Our grand plan was to make a ton of squares, and through our combined effort, a blanket of granny squares for each of us. Long story short, this didn’t happen and all these years I’ve been holding onto these squares. Until this past Christmas when I found the perfect use! Little ponchos!!!

Those little ladies are two of my nieces. They are both around 2 years old and the ponchos fit great! Basically, I took 4 granny squares and sewed them edge to edge. They were super simple to make. Look for a tutorial to this little poncho in the near future!

-c.

You might have noticed a new navigation bar up there above the posts. It’s part of my grand scheme to expand this blog. Basically, it’s a way to highlight the different aspects of this blog. The new things being the “self” and “family” categories.

This post will actually sort of encompass both of those topics. I’m a small person. I have been my whole life. So during (and after) my pregnancy, I had a hard time handling my new body. I’m getting to the point in my life where my body is only has strong and fit as I make it. Unlike my younger self with my fast metabolism and boundless energy, being healthy as I get older is more of an effort. Which I’m sure is the case for lots of people.

A couple months ago I decided it was time to take my body back and stop feeling bad mentally and physically. That’s when I started my “other blog” about trying to keep track of this new phase in my life. I have since moved the few posts I had written on Tumblr, over to this site (you can find them under the “self” tab up above to get up to date. Keeping track of my progress has kept me motivated to a certain extent. Though I have to admit, it’s been really hard. Last week was a tough one for me. Currently, I am in week 9 of P90X (week 1 of phase 3) and have 5 more weeks to go until I’m done with this craziness.

Then I think I may give this running thing a try again. I hate running.

-c.

Q’s first birthday party was almost a month ago and I’m finally getting around to posting pictures. Some of you may have read my inspiration post where I was debating on the details of the big day. Well, we went with the “lots of balloons and streamers” idea in the end. It just seemed right. I love me some themed parties with fun details and cute favors for all the kids but since we decided to go all out and invite all our friends and families it seemed like doing a theme might be too much.

We had the party at Andrew’s parent’s house because our house is teeny tiny. We decided to only decorate the dining room since that was where he would be blowing out his candle.

All in all, I think we hung up more than 1000 ft. of streamers and about 100 balloons. I really thought 100 balloons would cover more area, but I’m really bad at judging such things.

We used a combination of Q’s toys and old toys from Andrew’s childhood as a center piece for the dining room table and as ways to prop up the cake stands to different levels. My sister made all the cupcakes (except for Q’s cupcake, Andrew made that. Maybe he’ll write about it in a future post. At least, I’m hoping he will).

This guy is helping set up the decorations with his handy dandy lifter. This was Andrew’s little set up.

Overall, I deemed it a success!

-c.