Ryleigh heads to the West Coast

As everyone knows, we spent the last 10 days in California, and I have been trying to figure out how best to blog about our time there.  When I added up the number of photos taken between Yaya and I, I decided it would best to do it with a photo timeline.  Here goes....

DAY ONE
Mommy, Daddy and Ryleigh get up SUPER early (4:00 am) to head to the airport.  Even though she was still sleepy, Ryleigh stayed awake with excitement as she made her first trip through airport security.

Until finally, she made it on her very first airplane!  Ryleigh was such a good little traveler.  She stayed happy pretty much the whole time, other than the few minutes before each of her little cat-naps.  Mommy and Daddy had to force her to sleep a little bit, she just wanted to stay awake and watch everything!  She made many new friends on each of her flights. 

When we finally arrived in L.A., Poppi was there to pick us up.  We made the drive down to Orange County where Yaya, GGma and GGpa were waiting for us.  We spent the rest of the day lounging around and catching up on some much needed sleep.  Ryleigh adjusted great to the time change and was in bed her first night by 8:00pm California time...but not before Yaya snuck in some playtime with her.

DAY TWO

Ryleigh was a good little sleeper and slept until 6:30am California time.  Of course, Yaya and Poppi were up and ready to play as soon as Ryleigh was, but Daddy was able to sneak in some time with his baby too.  They had fun playing in the fuzzy blankets.

Finally, around noon, Yaya, Mommy and Ryleigh headed back up to L.A. to pick up Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah.  Ryleigh was very excited since this was her first time meeting her Aunt and Uncle. 

 It took her a few minutes, but she quickly caught on to Uncle Jason's charm and they became fast buddies. 

Ryleigh spent the rest of the day playing with and getting to know her Aunt and Uncle.

DAY THREE

Now that Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah are married and Ryleigh is no longer in-utero, Yaya wanted to take family pictures on the beach while we were all in California.  So we dressed up in our pink and blue polos and spent a good portion of our afternoon at the beach playing in the sand, touching our toes in the ocean and snapping pictures.

Ryleigh's first touch of sand



I think she likes it!

Four Generations

trying to eat the sand

the ocean was a little cold for her

 

liking the grass much better

beach time is exhausting!

After beach time and nap time, we were ready for playtime and ribs!  Poppi and Daddy had a "Rib Cook-off" and spent a lot of time caring for their rib racks.  While they did that, Ryleigh spent lots of time with Aunt Bekah and Uncle Jason.

Nothing caps off the night like Sing-A-Ma-Jigs with Poppi and a bedtime story from Yaya!





DAY FOUR

Easter!!  When we woke up the Easter Bunny had found us all the way in California!  He left a basket for Mommy and Daddy, Ryleigh and Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah.  Ryleigh wasn't quite sure what the big deal was, but Mommy and Daddy were excited to see all her chocolates!

After seeing what the Easter Bunny brought, we all got ready and headed to church where Ryleigh met LOTS of new people.  She also thoroughly enjoyed the sermon because I have never seen her pay so much attention in church before!  Easter Sunday was also the first time that Ryleigh has ever worn real shoes.  Hooray for such a milestone!

We spent the rest of Sunday lounging around and spending lots of time with Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah on their last day in California.

 

Poppi snuck in some Ryleigh time too!

DAY FIVE

This was a big day for Mommy, Daddy and Ryleigh.  We first spent the morning with Aunt Bekah and Uncle Jason before they left to go back home to Buffalo.  But not only were they leaving, so were Mommy and Daddy!  For the next 3 days, Mommy and Daddy went to Las Vegas and Ryleigh stayed with Yaya and Poppi.  This was the first time the 3 of us have ever spent the night apart!  So the next couple days of pictures will be filled with pictures of Ryleigh spending time in California and then some pictures of Mommy and Daddy spending time in Las Vegas.  Yaya did such a great job of sending us pictures while we were gone! 

Morning cartoons!

While Mommy and Daddy drove to Las Vegas, Ryleigh took a much needed nap...in the garage.  She became quite fond of her garage naps.  In fact, it's where she slept the best.  And the good thing about California is if you don't keep your car in your garage, it pretty much acts as another room.  Almost like a basement!  It stays a perfect temperature and it's completely dark!  Ryleigh loved sleeping out there on GGma and GGpa's mattress.  After her nap, she spent lots of time with Yaya, Poppi, GGma and GGpa.

It took Mommy and Daddy about 4 1/2 hours to get to Vegas.  We stopped at the Mad Greek Cafe on the way and had the best gyros and baklava ever!  We stayed at the Paris Hotel and spent the first evening wondering around the strip after eating yummy sushi and Koi.

DAY SIX

Ryleigh spent her first whole day without Mommy and Daddy keeping busy.  Yaya happily paraded her all over town by taking her to breakfast at the IHOP, then grocery shopping, taking her into work to meet everyone, then walking around the Irvine Spectrum where she got to watch puppies play!

no pancakes for me...just toys!

Mommy and Daddy spent their day away from Ryleigh walking around Las Vegas.  We started out with a yummy breakfast at the Mon Ami Gabi restaurant.  Of course, Mommy had eggs Benedict : )  We then pretty much made our way into every casino and hotel.  We gambled a little bit playing the Wheel of Fortune slot machines, but didn't win any money...didn't lose any either though!  We watched the lions play at the MGM and walked through the shark reef at the Mandalay Bay and finished our evening out with a delicious dinner at Jean Georges Steakhouse in the City Center.  A perfect little get-away.

in front of all the champagne

My eggs Benedict

Daddy's blueberry french toast

the designer in my loved this restaurant in the Aria

the designer in me also loved how the architecture of the building cast shadows on this awesome waterfall wall

Did you know that the MGM has 37 lions on hand and they all live on a farm about 12 miles away from the hotel.  They switch out the lions every 6 hours.  Isn't that crazy?  

DAY SEVEN

Mommy and Daddy left Vegas in the morning, excited to get back to our little munchkin!  She spent her day waiting anxiously for our return, obviously!  She spent a little bit of time at work with Yaya, but for the most part she just hung out at Yaya and Poppi's house.  Yaya is convinced she is on the verge of teaching Ryleigh how to stick her tongue out.  Good thing we didn't leave them alone much longer!  It had been a long day for everyone, so we just ate leftovers and Mommy and Daddy played with Ryleigh after being apart from her for so long.  Daddy wanted to take her swimming so bad, but the pool wasn't heated.  He settled for dipping her toes in for a little while.  We think she'll enjoy swimming when the time comes : )

DAY EIGHT

GGma and GGpa left and started toward Michigan this morning.  Ryleigh enjoyed her time with them and so did Mommy and Daddy.  Later in the day, Mommy's friend, Alex came to visit.  We spent the afternoon with her catching up and playing, but unfortunately, it was a pretty fussy day for Ryleigh.  We just hung around the house  practicing sitting on our own and then promptly went to bed as soon as possible! 

DAY NINE

For our last full day in California, we decided to spend time enjoying the outside and the beach as long as possible.  We took a leisurely stroll in Laguna Beach playing in the sand, water and on the rocks.

After a fun-filled day at the beach, we headed back to Yaya and Poppi's so Yaya could get in as much cuddle time as possible before we left for home the next day.

DAY TEN

After 10 days in California, it was time to head home.  We had so much fun exposing Ryleigh to all sorts of new things...the ocean, sand, sunshine without humidity, limes, lemons, splashing in the tub, tea (on her binkie thanks to Uncle Jason), puffs!  She also left California having learned how to sit on her own!  She was again, a wonderful little traveler and I know she was very excited to get home to her Lucy dog!

Speaking of Lucy...she had fun on "vacation" too.  We would have loved to bring her, but we just couldn't find a way to get her there.  But she stayed with two wonderful families that made sure she was loved and taken care of.  She made new doggie friends as well as human friends.  She got to learn what life will be like when Ryleigh gets older...walking to the bus stop, going for visits to school.  Needless to say, we know she had fun because she has been sleeping ever since we got home!!  She is one pooped bully!

sleep at last!



Stats

We visited the doctor today for our 6 month check up.  Doctor Mills says Ryleigh is looking really good and healthy.  She weighs 18 1/2 pounds and is 28 inches long.  She falls into the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. 

Yaaaaay!!

Weigh In Wednesday

Today's weigh in is going to have to be a short one.  There is a lot to do today...Lucy has to go to the vet, Ryleigh has her 6 month doctor visit (check back later to get her stats!), and we're packing up to leave tomorrow or California!  Soooo...since tomorrow we leave, that means, my deadline has approached!

When I started my weight loss journey my goal was to weigh what I normally weigh by the time we left for California.  That gave me 15 weeks to lose 30 pounds.  Well this week I lost....

.5 pounds

which is great!  Considering I didn't really eat that well this past week.  I guess I'm just getting excited for vacation and my will power was a little low this week because of it. 

For those of you who have been following my Weigh In's, if you do the math you will notice that I haven't lost 30 pounds.  So, I didn't reach my goal of weighing my normal weight by the time we head off to California.  Unless I lose 6 pounds by tomorrow morning.  :/

But I've lost 23 pounds since January and I feel amazing about it!  I can feel comfortable going to California, seeing my family, relaxing on the beach and introducing Ryleigh to the wonders that are the west coast knowing that I tried my hardest and I gave everything I could.  I am happy with my 23 pounds : )

But my weight loss journey isn't over.  Once I get back, I'm going to get back into it.  I would still like to lose my last 6 pounds and get back to where I usually am.  And maybe, I'll even try for a little extra. 

See everyone is a couple weeks!!

Ryleigh is Six Months!!!!!!

 Ryleigh at 6 months (April 15, 2011)


6 months.  Half of one year.  Where does the time go?!  When I look back at my pregnancy, I don't remember 6 months coming this fast.  It's amazing to look back at pictures from 6 months ago and think about how freaked out I was about caring for a newborn.  I was so protective and wanted to do everything by the book.  Heaven forbid Ryleigh start crying...we would drop everything and hold her.  Does she need a bottle?  How is her diaper?  Maybe she needs to burp.  Does she feel warm? 

Sigh. 

Now, 6 months later it's like we can read her mind.  I've learned her different cries and what each one means.  She has a daily routine that she follows, wake up, play, eat, nap, poop, eat, play, nap, yada yada yada.  Everyday seems to be the same, but so much happens in those days.  She has done so many things since we brought her home 6 months ago!  Hard to believe my little baby will be crawling here pretty soon.  I say it every month...man, time flies.

This past month has been a pretty fun one.  At the end of last month Ryleigh cut her first tooth (on March 12) and within the next week, her second one popped through too.  So now we have 2 bottom teeth!  Ryleigh is also enjoying tummy time a lot more now that she can flop onto her tummy by herself.  It's almost as if she doesn't want to be on her back anymore.  The second you lay her down, she flips right over, which is a huge difference from my blog last month!  She has also started to push up so that her arms are straight, so we're hoping she is gearing up to get up on those knees soon too. 

This month we also visited family in Jacksonville, NC for a baby shower.  It was great to spend time with family we don't get to see that often.  I blogged about it a couple days ago so you can see the pictures from that visit here.

Lastly, Ryleigh just had her physical therapy appointment for this month and Miss Flavia says that her Torticollis is all corrected!!  We are going to go back and visit her in another month though just to double check and also so Miss Flavia can assess Ryleighs sitting and trunk strength.  Just want to make sure she is on track and getting ready for crawling.  I find it very comforting visiting Miss Flavia every month and hearing her say that Ryleigh is "right on track".  It is also nice to have a professional tell me the things I can do to help Ryleigh develop her gross motor skills.  I'm sure I would be able to figure it out without her, but it's nice having Miss Flavia : )  I'll be sad when we have to say goodbye to her.

We don't go to the doctor this time until the 20th, so I won't have her stats until then.  I am very anxious to get them though.  I know she's a beast!  She is already wearing 9 month clothes, some 12 months outfits too!!  So once I get them, I'll let everyone know.  Until then, we'll recap the month in photos and videos : )

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Ryleighs first time riding in the big girl seat in the shopping cart

Her bottom chompers poppin' through!

now that she has teeth she has found a new way to play with her binkie

pushing up like a big girl!

giving Mommy kisses!

Ryleigh's first Easter basket (sent to her from Aunt Lori)

cuddling with her fuzzles (thanks Erin & Shaun!)



For some reason I took a lot of video this month, so I tried to narrow it down.  But because my child is so adorable, it was hard.  So please enjoy the vast amount this month : )

We gave this to Ryleigh right after her first tooth popped through.  It's a binkie that has nubs, so it feels good on her gums.  Apparently she thought it felt better when she pulled it in and out of her mouth.

That Daddy, he'll do anything to make me smile!

Ryleigh's first time playing in the walker she got from Yaya (don't tell Miss Flavia that we sit in it!)

making funny tummy noises

Mommy has been trying desperately to catch Ryleigh in the act of rolling over...she finally caught one!

Mommy finally figured out what can keep Ryleighs attention while she gets ready for work.  Dora.

Since Ryleigh now has her bottom teeth, I figured why not give her some solid foods.  She has this "eating teether" which is a net with a handle that you can put food in.  She gets to hold it and suck on it and chew on it, but since the net is there, you don't have to worry about big pieces of food getting in her mouth and choking her.  This was her first experience with it....and an actual banana.

Just can't stop from rolling over now!

playing in her crib

Weigh In Wednesday

The week started out good.  Wednesday and Thursday were both 29 point days, no overage points needed, which is good because I knew I was going to need them while I was out of town this past weekend...and boy did I ever!  I shoved my face full of Bojangles fried chicken, Papa Johns pizza, cinnamon streusal muffins, breakfast casserole, a salad at Cracker Barrel (which I tried to tell myself was a healthy option, but I know deep down a BLT salad CAN'T be healthy), and on top of this, I didn't work out the whole time I was gone.  I told myself I was going to be good, try to keep my indulgences to a minimum, but I quickly realized that was not going to happen.

So I prepared myself for this week to be a bust.  I knew my weekend away was going to totally destroy any chances for a weight loss this week, but when I arrived home on Sunday I hopped back on the healthy train.  Since I didn't prepare a menu for this week, I did a little bit of grocery shopping for the last 2 days of the week and jumped back into my exercise regimen.  I didn't dare step onto my scale though.  I didn't want to see what kind of damage my 3 day binge caused.

The rest of the week went smoothly.  I'm glad I had the week off of work (the hubby has been away on business since Saturday...he gets home tonight!!) because it has helped me focus on getting my work outs in and I'm able to catch up on some rest.  It's hard traveling by yourself with a 6 month old and a dog!  But anyways, this morning I reluctantly stepped on my scale hoping that maybe I would see the same number as I did last week.  I have yet to gain any weight back since I started my weight loss journey in January and I hated the thought of it happening only 2 weeks away from our California trip...2 weeks away from my deadline.  So I looked down, one eye open, then two eyes WIDE OPEN....

1.4 pounds lost?!

How could that be!?  The previous week I ate so healthy, worked out 40 minutes a day for 5 days of the week and lost NO WEIGHT...and this week, I at ridiculous amounts of food, only worked out 4 days and I lose over a pound!  How does that make sense?  I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic, but c'mon!  Maybe this just proves that sometimes, you just gotta indulge...probably not to the extreme that I did, but still, this proves that every so often a little fried chicken doesn't hurt.  Somewhere Paula Deen is smiling.



Since I didn't really cook that much this week, I don't really have any recipes or pictures.  But I did make this last night for myself for dinner and it was AMAZING.  If you like pizza, you'll love this "healthy" option. 

Fontina and Roasted Eggplant Pita Pizza
makes 4 servings

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium raw eggplant
1 bulb garlic
cooking spray
2 large whole wheat pitas
1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup fontina cheese

Preheat oven to 450.  Coat a sheet pan with cooking spray and spread onion on it; set aside.
Prick eggplant all over with a fork.  Coat garlic bulb with cooking spray; wrap in foil.  Roast eggplant (unwrapped) and garlic (wrapped in foil) until very soft, about 45 minutes.  Add onion to oven for last 20 minutes of roasting.  Remove vegetables from oven and reduce temperature to 400.
Peel and mash eggplant; set aside.  Squeeze garlic from its skin; set aside.
Set pita rounds on baking sheet; spread each with some garlic.  Top with tomato sauce, eggplant, fontina, and onions.
Bake until crisp on edges, about 15-20 minutes.  Serve hot.  Yields half a pita per serving.

The recipe I found was off of the Weight Watchers, but instead of using whole wheat pitas I already had pre-made thin crust pizza dough from last week, so I just made one big pizza.  I also didn't roast the onions (mainly because I did it and they burned, so I threw them out and just topped the pizza with raw red onions and they cooked enough when the pizza got put into the oven, haha).  If you decide to do it my way, the pizza only needs to cook for about 10 minutes after assembling it and it will serve 6.  Each slice being one serving.  I calculated the points up and it ended up being the same point value per slice as it would have been per pita, so it's your call.

Tara's Baby Shower

This past weekend Ryleigh, Lucy and I headed to Jacksonville, NC for Tara's baby shower.  For those of you who don't know, Tara is my cousin Randy's wife and she is expecting baby number 2, a boy.  Jacksonville is only about 3 1/2 hours from Greensboro, so we made the trip.  We got to spend time with Randy, Tara, Delaney, Aunt Dawn, Riki, Blake, Brent, GGma and GGpa.  It was great to see family we haven't seen a while and some family we have never seen!  We are very excited for baby Dallas to arrive and can't wait to meet him someday soon too!!

The spread

The very impressive diaper cake Riki made.

Riki's delicious and adorable chocolate chip monkey muffins

Tara with all of her gifts

Excited about all of the diapers...I believe we counted about 800 at the end

Delaney enjoying gift time with her Mommy

Ryleigh soaking it all in...I think Aunt Dawn was teaching her how to take a picture

Delaney after enjoying her monkey muffin

my little ham

Ryleigh and GGma

Ryleigh and GGpa

Brent playing peek-a-boo with Ryleigh

Lucy is pooped and ready to be at home

Weigh In Wednesday

So this week is a little bit of a conundrum.  I lost ZERO pounds.  I know I had kind of a "big" week last week, but still, I feel like losing no weight at all is a little extreme considering the week I had.  I was super excited to weigh in this week because we didn't have Sunday care group (which usually takes up a lot of my overage points) and the majority of my meals this week were super healthy.  I had soup like 3 times, I had salads, I ate the weight watchers endorsed Smart Ones meals a few times (since I had to work the weekend, one day from 4am-1pm), and Steve and I only ate out twice, one of which wasn't even that bad (like 16 points).  I also didn't dip in to any activity points this week either...and my work out schedule was the same, 5 days this week.

So like I said, a conundrum.  But I guess it has been about 2 months since the last time I didn't lose any weight in a week, so I guess I can't be too bummed.  It was just one of those weeks I guess.  It doesn't look like I'll be reaching my goal of being my "normal" weight by the time we head to California in 2 weeks, but I'll be at least 21 pounds lighter than I was in January when I started this journey (barring I GAIN weight in the next 2 weeks). 

April is going to be full of traveling, so I'm hopeful that I can stay on track.  I have my online tracker to help me with my food intake and I created a workout schedule for myself based on when I'll be traveling.  I chose workouts off of our OnDemad and put them on a calender for the month and made sure that I was working out at least 5 days a week.  So sometimes I'm working out like, 7 days in a row but I have 3 days off in a row because of traveling.  But I'm determined to get them in...even when in California!

I'm hopeful for a big loss next week!  Until then, here is a recipe from this past week.  Even though I didn't lose anything eating it, maybe you will.

9 point dinner:  Turkey cutlets with cranberry sauce and stuffing

Turkey Cutlets with Cranberry sauce

makes 4 servings

4 (3oz.) turkey cutlets

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 tsp. canola oil

1 onion, chopped

1 cup low-calorie cranberry juice

1 tbsp. packed dark brown sugar

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 tsp. green peppercorns

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp. dried cranberries

1 tbsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tbsp. water

On a sheet of wax paper, sprinkle the cutlets on both sides with the salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, heat the oil.  Saute the turkey and onion, stirring occasionally and turning the turkey once, until cooked through, 5-7 minutes on each side.  Transfer the turkey to a plate.

In the same skillet, combine the cranberry juice, brown sugar, vinegar, peppercorns, and thyme; bring to a boil.  Stir in the cranberries.  Reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Stir in the dissolved cornstarch; bring to a boil.  Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 minute.  Spoon over the turkey.

Recipe from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook