Always trying new recipies...when we can

So I wanted to try something new, and I heard asperagus is good so I found a recipe on pinterest and tried it. Well I sorta liked it, and Nick I know didn't like it, he just ate it to make me feel better. But I think I would eat it again, it wasn't too bad. Plus I have a whole bunch in the fridge that I need to not waste, so guess who is going to be eating asperagus for lunches...ME!!

It is a parmesan cheese, bread crumbs coating. I used it on the chicken too and the chicken turned out great! That I will do again for sure. Just dip it in egg whites first and then the breading, and I dipped it back into the egg whites and then coated it agian to make it extra crispy, so so good.

This lighting doesnt make it look good

This lighting made it look great! O and it tasted just as good.

That chicken was supreme, It was just a tad dry but I don't know how to fix that, so any of you who know how to keep chicken tender when you cook it, please tell me!!

So many different faces

 Lexi has so many different faces, one day I just tried to get as many of them as I could. She is the cutest, I can't get over it. She is such a joy in our life and I love being a mom. I love watching her grow and her personality come out. She lights up whenever she is with mom and dad and now even when my parents are around. She is such a sweet spirit and wonderful addition to our family.

This is my favorite

This is also another favorite

 I love when she makes these faces, they are so cute, she is so curious.

This is when she told me she was done taking pictures.

What time is it?... It's TUMMY TIME!

 

 The things we do for tummy time. So I already told you that she hates tummy time, I mean really hates it. She grunts, and crys and needlesstosay we pick her up and tummy time is over. So with the help of pinterest and Lisa we have gotten better. As you can see I have put a mirror under the bumbo so that she could see herself as she is on her tummy, and ta da! She loves to see her face. She doesn't stay down too long, but it's a work in progress.

I love the noises she was making while I had her like this, she was so mesmerized and I couldn't help but smile.

 

So another day that I had her down, I put all of her toys in the bumbo and put the mirror in front of her and she stayed longer that way. She is starting to like the toys instead of just looking at me and i'm sure thinking, "what in the heck am I suppose to do with these?"

 

 

So happy and cooing, we truely had a moment. I was showing her us in the mirror and she just was amazed.

 

After she had enough of tummy time I layed her down on the blanket and she started this. She is starting to turn, yay! Later on we had her in bed and she was trying to get closer to me, and Nick just barely put his hand on her and pushed a little bit and she turned over, o she is growing so fast!!

First week down

 

So one week down, This picture is really horrible but I need to do this to help myslef. Plus that shirt is really big; thank you boobs for making me look even bigger, not! Anyways, So my first week went ok, except for the fact that I am having huge chocolate withdrawls, so what happens; my mom buys chocolate, and yes I had some. But I can say that I ate rather healthy for the week, Costco trip was successful, I got the veggis I needed and am eating really good. I exercized really good too, I was so sore all week long. The dvd is working. Well in making me sore, so far I have only noticed maybe a pound lighter, from the scale it is teatering between 197 and 198 so I didn't lose that much this week, I can't wait for the weather to get better, then I could actually go outside and walk, which is really the best for me at this point.

 

I really hope that this next week I could give you better results, we are going to Delta, and I am determined to go walking since the weather is a lot better over there, we will see, I'm sure my wonderful mother-in-law would love to go walking with us!



OK enough is enough. It's time to get to it!

So go figure, New years goal has failed.  What is new, seriously? Time and time again I have tried to start my diet, and get into a good exercise routine and I do good for a week and then for some reason I get side-tracked and I am back to square one. I am so sick of my crazy obsession with sugar; ok maybe I am not, why can't there be a sugar diet were you can lose weight? Wouldn't that be nice?

Well enough is enough; It's time to get into shape, i've had 9 weeks to recover. So since I am a visual person, I am going to take a before picture, I am also going to take a picture every week to help me see my results. For Christmas this last year I got a bunch of workout dvd's and workout stuff to help me get into shape. I am now telling you that I am finally going to commit to a weekly post on how I am doing.

I cannot look into the mirror anymore at the person I am not, it is time to feel healthy, alive again. I sure wish the weather was nicer so I could take Lexi out on walks, I know that isn't really an excuse, but I don't know about you other moms, but this smog is not healthy to be pushing your semi-new baby out side. I care about my sweet baby too much.

Now I know a lady never says how much she weighs, nore does she like being asked, but in this case I feel like it is necessary. So right before Lexi was born I weighed 237, I know a lot right, thats what I thought. Right before I got pregnant I weighed around 173, so that means I gained about wompin 64 pounds. Ok not OK! I am now about 198 which means I have lost about 39 pounds, ya that is a good amount, but not near what I want to be. 25 more pounds to lose til my pre-pregnancy weight, and 23 more pounds from that, to be where I want to be, a healthy weight for me 150 pounds.

I know this won't be easy, in fact it will be super hard for me, mainly because I LOVE to eat. But I know that this is what I want, and I want to be healthy. Now if I can get Nick to stop eating and asking for brownies and cookie dough. I sure love my husband but he loves to eat as well, but if you know him, he gains nothing, i'm serious.

So here I go. Today I started the Lindsay Brins postnatal boot camp, and I can already feel the burn. It is a 12 week body workout, and I will keep everyone updated. I said I would post a picture, but I need Nick to take it so I will update this post when I get it, until then wish me luck on my journey to a happy healthy body!

Valentines Day Holy cow!

I can not believe how fast two months have flown away. I feel like we were just at the hospital and everyone was coming to see us. Now tomorrow she will be two months old, it's CRAZY! Lexi is learning so much, she is the cutest. She will open her mouth when we do and she is even trying to say what we say( in baby language of course ) We are becoming fluent in that. She is growing every day and I just love watching her learn. She does not like tummy time so I have to try to make it fun, so sometimes I use the yoga ball and put her on it and move her around a bit, I don't really see it working but she has always been good at holding her head up well.

 

Since today is Valentines day, I heart attacked Nicks school bag and I made a simple dinner with heart shaped bread, I also decorated the table with some hearts. Not much but it was something that I like to do. I also cleaned up the house a bit so Nick doesn't have to do anything, especially since he has a test tomorrow he has to study for. Nick is taking me to Olive garden tomorrow since we can't do much today, and he got me something that is suppose to come in the mail, but it didn't come today; maybe tomorrow or sat? I'm excited, Nick never I mean NEVER surprises me so I am SO excited!!

 

Today people have the excuse to say I love you and get eachother gifts, but Nick tells me all the time that he loves me, I don't have to wait for February to know that. It's just nice every once in awhile to have the excuse to go out to dinner and get a gift.

 

I have always hated Valentines Day but now that I have a wonderful man and daughter to spend it with, it's not all that bad.

 

With that said, I love you all, hope you guys have a great day!!

Happy in CLOTH diapers

 

So funny story, those of you I talked to about not ever doing cloth diapers; I lied. I was totally and completely against them, until I did some research. I really thought that they were going to be gross and that's coming from a former CNA. Boy was I wrong, it is maybe a tenth of what CNAs have to do seriously. After reading Changing diapers; The hip mom's guide to Modern cloth diapering recomended by a friend I met in Oregon. She taught me how easy it can be and I was hooked. Now just mentioning it to Nick, Ha. Well the book helps you talk to your husband about it too. Hint: start with how much you will save, that's what got Nick.

So besides how much you will save and how much you helping the economy out they look so much cuter than those old styles they had way back in the day.

Now starting out with cloth is really hard to get used to, at least it was for me. There are so many brands of cloth diapers I really only had advice from a friend who used gdiapers and they worked great for her baby, so gdiapers is what I went with. With starting off with the gdiaper newborn kit, PS don't start out with that if you want to do cloth diapers, I really wanted to give up on them; they did not fit on her as well and seriously she leaked out almost every time, so we were constantly having to change her clothes.

So I started to look into other cloth diapers and tada I found the perfect cloth diaper for me, o and Lexi. Bumgenius, hands down best diaper ever! They are almost like disposables minus being a disposable haha. Compared to a gdiaper they are and all in one diaper and they will fit her til she is potty trained, yippee! Why didn't I look into these earlier my husband says, wellllllll, that's all I have to say.

Bumgenius is a little bulkier, and not as cute of colors(they are getting cuter) but they are awsome. Plus when Lexi starts to walk and falls down on her bum, she will at least have some cushion to protect that cute little baby bum of hers.

Now like I said cloth diapering is hard to get used to; you have to buy the diapers, and the cleaners and the stuff to hold them in, and the stuff to make it smell better, and the sprayer( you will hate it if you don't), but after all of the up front costs, you are on your way to saving thousands of dollars, WHAT, o yes I said it, thousands!!! Cause not only am I saving money on Lexi, but they can be used for our other baby Johnsons to come. Now if that doesn't make you want to cloth diaper I don't know what else to tell you. Nick was skeptical at first and until we start seeing the money being saved he still will be, but so far I LOVE them.

Now getting my husband to actually change the diapers is my next task. See we still don't have a sprayer so I have to spray it off with a bottle sprayer which hurts my hands and gets me frustrated, hense you NEED the sprayer. Nick will not clean them, so i'm starting him off will just changing it and I clean the diaper, but I can guarantee you as soon as we get the sprayer, he will be helping out as much as he can.

I would not spend the time telling you how much I LOVE the diapers if I didn't love the diapers and if they didn't work for me. So if you have any questions please feel free to ask, I love talking about it, and I am proud to say I am different than my family. Sometimes doing something a little different makes you a little bit stronger. Plus who knows maybe I will start a trend, PEOPLE do NOT be afraid to cloth dipaer!  

O by the way for those who are wondering, we did not start cloth diapering til all the Myconeum was out of her system. And if you are breastfeeding the staining is worse so I heard, I wouldn't know about bottle feeders.

I guess you could say I am a tiny teenie bit of a crunchy mom

 

 

These are the cloth diapers, they are the smalls. She grew out of the newborns so quick, it really wasn't worth getting them. Plus with this brand you have to buy the smalls, mediums, larges, and extra larges if you need them. This brand is way more expensive. They are cute though I can't deny that.

My bumgenius came!!! They have gotten a lot of new cute colors

Plus with this brand each diaper comes with not one but TWO inserts, while with the gdiapers you have to buy them. These inserts are so absorbable too. I just love them.

Look at all the many colors

 

Doesn't she just look so cute in them? As you can see in this picture I got the snap ones, which will last longer than the loop and hook kind( velcro kind ). She looks so happy in them, I would too if I had that soft fabric on my bum.

 

Happy Happy Happy in CLOTH diapers!!!