A Photo an Hour

A few of the blogs I follow have done posts called "A Photo an Hour" where you simply take a picture every hour throughout your day and post them. I've always  said I'd love to be a fly on the wall...kinda the same concept...so here goes yesterday, Wednesday, by the hour!

6:30am. I start hearing Elliot around 5:45 usually. Jabbering, moving around his bed. I try to wait until at least 6:15 to go get him. And yes, we should be done with the bottle by 16 months. I'm working on it! He's SO growny about so much, I don't really mind this little thing =)

7:30am. Already wanting to go play outside.

8:30am. A few goldfish for a snack. Lucy knows if she's patient he'll either drop something or just give it straight to her. 

9:30am. Sometimes Elliot takes one nap and sometimes it's two. This day he took a morning nap so I got in my devotional time and a little reading. This is a GREAT  book if you're a Mama to little people!

10:30am. Already up and hungry. A few strawberries to munch on. 

11:30am. It's practically impossible to keep this boy inside past about 11am. Outside we go. Lately he love playing in our cars. Hits buttons, crawls from front seat to back seat and hangs his head out the window. 

12:30pm. Across the street at my grandparents house. Elliot was in Grandpa's workshop "helping" him. Found a ladder and climbed all the way up. Alone! Grandpa had to help him down, but man that kid can climb!

1:30pm. Trying to keep this boy busy. He'll only color for a few minutes without trying to draw on my chairs or the table cloth, but it's fun while it lasts!

2:30pm. Yay! Dad is awake and can play (or help me!). Matt works 3rd shift for about 2 months and day shift for 2 months. Right now he's on nights. He's usually up by 1:30 or 2...and me and Elliot are BOTH glad to see him!

3:30pm. Mile and half walk around the neighborhood. I take every opportunity to soak up the spring weather. Before we know it we'll be having 90 degree temps here in Georgia. Yuck!

3:35pm. Technically 2 photos for this hour but I had to show you what Elliot looked like by the end of our walk. Ha! Naptime anybody?

4:30pm. While Matt and Elliot napped I went to see my sister and her kiddos. Chat time in the playroom ya'll. Time well spent!

5:30pm. Dinner. Jambalya. Simple and Elliot will eat it. Win/Win. 

6:30pm. We had my sis, her husband and 2 kids over for brownies and coffee after dinner. Look at what 3 kids can do in about 15 minutes flat. I can't think of a better reason for a mess though. I'd have family over EVERY night if I could. 

7:30pm. Bath time. For some reason he was more interested in trying to climb the tub this night than getting wet. Oh well. 

8:30pm. Baby in bed. Time to chat with my handsome husband. 

9:30pm. Still chatting and now we're clearly boring Lucy to sleep (although it doesn't take much to do that). 

10:30pm. One last check of the video monitor and to bed we head. 

 

Exciting? Maybe not, but that was my Wednesday. Some days we're barely home and some days we don't even pull out of the driveway...but that's perfectly fine with us!

I'd love to see your day by the hour =)

~Amy~

Best Body Bootcamp Week One Recap

This week I started week one of Tina Reale's Best Body Bootcamp . As I explained in my last post, Best Body Bootcamp is an 8 week training and fitness program. I'm hoping it gets me back in the routine of regular exercise and weight lifting! 

There were 3 strength days planned out for this week and 2 days of cardio (with optional extra cardio). I have to tell you, I have been SO sore this week, in a good way! I love the fact that I know I'm getting a great workout in and I didn't have to sit and plan it all out. I fee like I barely have time to workout, much less research and plan what I'm going to do! For the cardio this week I did 2 runs. One on the treadmill and one outside. All workout in this week! Yay!

My other 2 goals for the next 8 weeks are to drink 6-8 glasses of water, and to stretch for 15 minutes per day. I've hit both of those goals every day this week except yesterday. Stretching happened, but all 6-8 glasses of water did not. Honestly we were out and about and I couldn't afford to keep having to stop to use the bathroom every 20 minutes...so I purposely slacked on the water. Oops. 

Overall workouts went great this week! I can tell there will be some weeks when I'm busier and will have to be more flexible about how things get done, but that's okay. Part of doing this was to challenge myself to "get it done"! Even on the days I've got things going on, the baby doesn't nap well or I life throws something unexpected at me. 

Bring on week 2!

~Amy~

Springing Forward, I'm a' Ready!

This boy is an early riser.

Believe me, I've tried everything humanly possible to get him to sleep past 5:45-6:15am. Read every book, adjusted every part of his day...it just isn't happening.

Elliot is many things...

Goofy

 

Outdoorsy

Curious

A sleeper-in-er is NOT one of those things.

Needless to say I will not be one of the many people complaining about losing an hour because of Daylight Savings this Sunday. I'm just happy it will at least finally SEEM like my boy wakes up at a more sensible hour of the day. Happy Springing Forward!

~Amy~

I'm Going to Bootcamp!

Not really. Well, not the kind you may be thinking of if camo and combat situations are running through your mind. I'm doing this Best Body Bootcamp. It's an 8 week workout challenge I joined that I hope gets me back in the swing of fitness/healthy eating being an every day thing again. 

Since having Elliot I've really struggled to STAY motivated to workout (when I'm SO tired) and eat better (when I'm SO tired, ha), but I think part of the reason I'm so tired is because I need to workout more and eat healthier! It's a vicious cycle folks. 

I'll be spending a lot of time with these lovelies.

Once a week I'll do a "checking in" with bootcamp post, please hold me accountable ya'll, will ya? Every week during the challenge there are prizes given away. GREAT prizes. Your entry to win the prizes? Doing your scheduled workouts and keeping to 2 other health related goals. I think that's some great incentive! 

If you'd like to join in on the fun head on over here and check it out! You have until tomorrow night to sign up!

~Amy~

InstaFriday

Happy Friday folks!

How was your week? Besides a few iffy moments mine wasn't too bad! Here's our week in Instagram:

Mondays and Fridays Elliot goes to preschool at a local church. It's only from 9am to 1pm but he ZONKED when I pick him up. Mostly because he wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30am! Not ideal folks, but we've tried everything short of drugging him to get him to sleep longer. So far nothing has worked. He usually takes a 2 hour nap as soon as we get home (thats a looooong nap for him) and this was him Monday when he got up. 

Tuesday we keep my nephew Rowan for my sis for about an hour. Every week it gets more and more fun to watch the boys play together...this pic is the best example. The funny part is, one minute they're laughing, the next minute one is tackling the other or pulling hair. Its NEVER boring!

I took a few pics of my buddy wearing his dino hoodie I made him last weekend (here's where I saw the idea http://www.thewiegands.com/2012/01/dino-diy.html). I never get sick of seeing that little smiling face my goodness!

Just me and the husband being silly one night before watching a little Downton Abbey on Netflix. It's been our nightly ritual this week...not sure what we'll do when we catch up to the current season! 

I must tell you this pic was taken at 11:11 am. P.J.'s still on...and yes, a Tootsie Roll pop in hand. Some days you just have to loosen your grip. We'd already been up since 5:15am this day...nuff said. 

Yesterday we got to enjoy beautiful 73 degree weather...in February!! We celebrated by going to the park. Once I got out there, I almost wished I'd had on flip flops. It was warm! I adore this weather especially since Elliot could practically LIVE outside, but it does have me a little terrified to think how hot this summer might be. 

And that was our week in Instagram. Tonight we get to go on a double date with my parents. I am definitely looking forward to that! 

Have a marvelous weekend!

~Amy~

Elliot Update- Fourteen Months

My little nature boy

While looking back at my blog this weekend I realized that I hadn't written an update solely on Elliot since he turned 6 months old! Far too long...so here's a little update on my busy little boy. 

-He's somewhere around 27 pounds, last we checked. Not sure how tall, but at his 12 month check up he was in the 99th percentile. 
-size 4 diapers
-18-24 month clothing, size 5 shoes
-He usually naps twice a day. No more than an hour and a half each time. 
-Bed time is around 8:30pm. Some days he sleeps until 7:15 (like he did today) and sometimes its 5:30am, I never know which it will be or why. I never get him out of bed until at least 6...but have definitely been frustrated as to the time range there.
-He still loves to be outside. Cold, rain, sunshine, he wants to be in the great outdoors. 
-He runs practically everywhere. Climbs on things, sometimes jumps off of things. Fearless.
-He's usually a good eater and eats practically anything we eat. 
-He isn't talking much other than Mama (usually when he's upset, of course) and the occassional Dada (when he's happy, why?). He's recently started shaking head no, and he means it! He's also started taking my hands and trying to pull me up (when I'm sitting), then leads me where he wants to go. Usually he takes me to the back door. Ha. Kid likes to GO!
-Exactly a week ago today, Elliot started going to preschool at a local church 2 days a week for a few hours. I really think it will be good for him. He's only been twice so far, but the teachers say he does great! Plus I have a few hour to get things done. 
-He is truly a busy body. Curious, determined, full of energy. Strong-willed, for sure but I think that will an asset to him (eventually). I think that just about covers it! Here are a few recent pics of my boy:

Yoga anyone?

Elliot and Rowan still figuring out exactly how to play together but they definitely share of love of getting dirty!

Poor Buddha never saw him coming.

My sister and her family live right across the street from a great park now. Elliot LOVES the slide!

Complete daredevil. He'd have done that whether I was standing there to catch him or not. I'm surprised he hasn't broken any bones yet.

Big ol' baby bed, and he sleeps his entire body on the pillow.

Rare but appreciated cuddles.

This is him on our way home from his first day at "school". Zonked

The end.

~Amy~

Persevere

I planned to use this post to catch up. Yes, it's been FAR too long since I've blogged. Lots of reasons but two big ones: my smart, precious boy is into everything. Constantly. As in, I'm picking up the 40 books he's unloaded from a bookshelf and he's in the kitchen unloading a cabinet. When he's asleep folks- I'm either working out or flat exhausted (sometimes both!). The other reason is simply that I've kind of felt inadequate in the blogging department. I have a Google Reader filled to the brim with ah-mazing posts every morning by women I am SO inspired by and I sit down and think, what in the world could I say that is worth reading?? Maybe that sounds silly or pitiful...but I'm just being honest. All that said, I do want to continue blogging. Maybe no one reads its and that's okay too, but my word for the year is: persevere, and that's what I'm going to do!


Catch up post tomorrow, have a wonderful Wednesday!


~Amy~