When You Don't Have Anything To Blog About...

CREATE SOME DRAMA!
In reality that is the last thing that I wanted to do at 7:00 am this morning and I had plenty of other topics to blog about but Stella changed all that.

We were snuggling in bed together when I clumsily knocked over my JUMBO cup of water. It was headed straight for the laptop (GASP!!!!) so I jumped up and started cleaning the mess. The whole time my high was touching the bed but my eyes were not on the little squirmer. Can you guess what happened?
Yep she fell from our super high bed face down right onto our hard wood floors just inches from where I was standing. It was so unbelievably loud that my first thought was that Madison had placed one of my free weights on the bed again and it just fell off. Of course when I looked back and saw my little girl laying on the floor my heart instantly leaped into my throat.
She immediately starting crying which I knew was a good sign but it took for what seemed like forever to find the phone. I debated between calling 911 or my mom to watch Madison so I could go to the ER. Stella stayed conscious the whole time and her eyes seemed to be reacting well to light. I decided on my Mom 'cause we are only about 4 minutes from the hospital and it would probably take longer just to get an ambulance to the house. Once I found the phone it took what seemed like forever to call my mom 'cause I couldn't remember the number. This is the phone number I had my whole life until moving out on my own. How could I not remember it? Anyway mom ran over and decided to drive us 'cause had I driven I would have had to park the car and walk a pretty far distance to get to the ER. By having mom drive she could just drop us off. Halfway there Stella was laughing at Madison and dancing to the song Madison was singing. I had feeling everything was going to be fine but I still wanted her checked out just in case.
We saw the doc almost instantly. She was awesome and reassured me that I am not a complete moron and that she in fact had this happen to not one of her children but both! One of the nurses said that this was a really common theme over the weekend too. Stella seemed fine but the egg on her forehead and the bump by her eye made the doc order a CAT scan. She doesn't know it but I would not have left without one even if she did not think it was necessary. When the tech came to get us she was a little unsure about how the scan would go because Stella was squirming all over. She was tired and cranky because she didn't get her breakfast, I wasn't allowed to give her the bottle that she was more than ready for and it was her nap time. The tech mentioned that we would probably have to sedate her. This was not at all something I was interested in doing but I knew ultimately we would if need be. someone was definitely watching out 'cause within the 2 minutes that the tech went to find our pediatrician and discuss sedation Stella lulled herself to sleep and stayed sound asleep just long enough for the CAT scan to be completed!

The scan came back negative and we were released by 10 am. Stella seems perfectly fine although we do have to follow up with our pediatrician tomorrow and keep a close eye on her for the next day. I've been a complete wreck. I can't even imagine being a parent whose child has a major injury or illness! As soon as me came home I lowered her crib as far down as it goes (just in case) and there will be no more big bed for her anytime soon!

Oh yeah and for those who are counting

• Stella's ER trips = 2 Funky colds that require mucho meds = 1
• Madison's ER trips = 0 Funky colds that require mucho meds = 0 (never even antibiotics)

I hope that this trend does not continue and that there are no more accidents for either one but I have a feeling I know who our accident prone child is going to be!

A Healthier Life - Week 1

Creating a healthier lifestyle for my family and I has become my latest obsession. I've been researching loads of different work outs, nutrition plans, body cleansing, healthy recipes. . . You name it and I've probably googled it in the past few weeks. I'm going to try and share whatever I learn along this journey once a week if not more.
Ultimately a healthier life is what my goal is. For me this means dropping some weight. As of right now I've decided not to share my current weight or current weight loss. This decision may change in time but for now that is not what I want to focus on.
Now on to what I've found this week...

fitday.com : This is a free site that my brother has turned me on to. This site is sooooo great for detail oriented people. You can track your weight, weight loss, set goals, track what you are eating, make sure you are eating enough from each food group and more. I just started using this site so I'm sure it does much more than what I've listed here you can also upgrade to their premium membership for a fee. I'm going to be using this site for the next week to track what I eat. After a week of tracking I will sit down with my brother (a personal trainer and health nut) to go over my diet and see what needs to be tweaked. I'll share the outcome next week.

Happy Baby Puffs: Stella's new favorite! I was at the health food store on Friday picking up some odds and ends and found these. We've tried the green puffs so far and they are DELISH! Comparable to Gerber's puffs but better. The BPA free container has 40% more than Gerber, they are organic, have less sugar and all the ingredients can be pronounced. The only down fall to these puffs is how hard it is to keep them away from Madison!

My third find is not exactly something that I'm flipping over. It is more of a what the heck? Last week I was talking about body cleanses and came across Dr. Natura's Colonix. I'll warn you that the pictures of what people on this cleanse are expelling from their bodies is pretty graphic. I'm pretty sure there will be a cleanse in my future but this one just seems scary. If you have actually used the specific cleanse I would love to hear what you thought about it!

Happy 8 Months Stella!

Eight months already! I really don't know where the past year has gone. Stella is doing so much and has her own personality! It is so hard not compare her to Madison especially since they are sooooooooo different!

Stella is very, very vocal. She is already saying Da Da Da repeatedly (especially when she is angry) along with a few other consonant/vowel blends. She also loves to squeal at the top of her lungs and blow raspberries until she is dripping with drool. She tends to get louder when she is angry or frustrated. She has got quite a temper and it has been coming out more and more lately because she just wants to get down and go but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. Madison was a very quiet baby and did not speak her first word until 16 months. Such a difference.

Stella has gone from a stationary spud this past month to a rolling fool. She does a combo roll/scoot on her butt thing to get to anywhere she wants. Several times in the past day or two she has also gotten up on all fours and rocked back and forth so I think it is only a matte of time before she crawls. No attempts to pull herself up yet but I'm sure that is just around the corner. Another difference from M. 'cause she crawled at 6 1/2 months and walked at 9!

Stella loves, loves, loves food! We haven't found anything that she doesn't really like although she prefers her fruit. I'm pretty sure that is most babies though. She has also started with her sippy cup this month. Still working out which end is up but it is a start. Are you tired of comparisons yet? Madison couldn't be bothered eating. Besides having a milk allergy she always seemed to busy to be bothered.

Her sleeping pattern is also pretty good and close to on schedule. She usually takes a three hour nap from 8:30-11:30 am (although this is more typical of when she is with my mom) and then a brief 20-30 minute snooze in the afternoon. Bedtime is around 8:00 and the most exciting thing is that she now falls asleep on her own in her crib!!! You have no idea how big this is for me since I gave into cosleeping with Madison which I feel still negatively affects her sleep routine. Madison still needs someone to snuggle in bed until she falls asleep and every night she still finds her way into our bed because she CANNOT sleep alone. I know there are advocates of cosleeping out there but is just not for me. Stella had been getting into a cosleeping habit for awhile which resulted in a kiddo on either side of me. This made for one sleepless, cranky mom. I couldn't take it so we used the cry it out method with Stella . It was hard to hear her cry the first few times but soooooo worth the results. I feel like she gets a sounder, more complete sleep compared to Madison. She also sleeps through to usually 7:00 am. AWESOME!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

But YOU told me to practice my letters MOM!

A Healthier Lifestyle

With less than 3 weeks to the BIG 3-0 I've been super focused on living a healthier life. Eating healthier, drinking more water, exercising more. You know the things that often get put on the back burner with a crazy, busy lifestyle. So far I've dropped some weight although I have a ways to go but more importantly feel soooooooo muxh better. I'm not always tired, I get more done around the house and I also feel like my energy boost has helped me to be more patient with certain little people in the house.

What does my healthier life include:

• Making sure to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day
• cutting out "white carbs" and most processed foods
• Running a minimum of 20 minutes a day/ 5 days a week
• light weights
• lowering salt intake

I'm sure I've done other things that I can't think of at the moment so I'll just add them as I think them up.

So far I'm very happy with the results but I feel like I could do more. I've been researching all different types of body detox/cleansing programs and I've got to tell you that this has been HARD. There are so many! There are several I'm really interested in over others but I thought I'd ask anyone if they have ever done any type of cleanse? If so how long? Which cleanse? What were the results?

I'm also looking into changing up my exercise routine because I think I would see better results if I mixed things up. I've decided to hold off on rejoining the gym right now 'cause it is just way to hard to get out on a regular basis with the kiddos. ANy recommendations on at home programs in this area would be a great help too!

I'll keep you posted if anything seems to really work or if there is something that totally bombs! Thanks for your help!

Who Doesn't Love Free Food?

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to let you know that Kashi is promoting their line of frozen foods. I've had their pizze before and loved it! Check out the Kashi site for your free frozen entree coupon!