Movin' Mama

Ever wonder why you see so many pictures of Drew like this?

No clothes, ma!

It's because, here in Georgia, the temperature has been above 90 (and many days above 95) for the last two months (and more!).  It's so darn hot!  Drew has developed an almost permanent heat rash; even inside, with the air conditioning, it just doesn't seem to get cool enough, so he stays in only his diaper most of the time.

That heat has also been my excuse for not being more active yet.  I've been wanting to "get moving" for a while, but getting to the gym means I need to plan ahead so when I think about it I just keep telling myself, "oh, we'll just take a walk when it gets cooler this evening."  But it doesn't ever really get cooler.  

On the particular evening shown above we thought it was finally a comfortable bearable somewhat tolerable 84 degrees at 8:30 pm.

But now I've had my 6 weeks of recovery time (plus some!) and it's time to get serious because of this...

That?  That's my bridesmaid's dress for my friend Lisa's wedding on September 11th.  September 11th!? Yup, that's less than 3 weeks away (probably pretty darn close to 2 weeks by the time I get this post published!)

Thankfully the dress fits.  Fits is about all I'm going to say though because it definitely doesn't look very complimentary.  I may already be below my pre-pregnancy weight, but my pre-pregnancy shape is nowhere to be found.  Where there used to be (some) solid lines there now seem to be squishy circles and curves. And while some of those circles and curves will probably be part of my "new shape," I'm still hoping to rein things in a little.

So I've made the commitment to hit the gym again.  Stacey, my faithful gym buddy while I was pregnant, teaches right by my house and gym so we've agreed to meet up again on the afternoons that Jason is off from work (so Drew doesn't have to go to the daycare yet).  We've finally been able to get shakin' on the ellipticals again (my fave!  But they were a little too bouncy for a woman with a watermelon for a belly) and we've even hit up a Spin class (talk about a good butt workout!)

And while the cardio is obviously good for me, especially my CF, my main goal is to tighten these abs again.

I left this picture out yesterday because of my wonderful marshmallow belly

My dress thankfully zips up around the belly just fine (believe it or not but the place it doesn't really fit is my chest! I've never had that problem before!), but it hangs funny and sort of makes me look like I'm expecting #2 already. So... Stacey and I are also getting all comfy on the mats for some of these bad boys...

and these...

 and these...

and even some of these...

But I'd love to know your go-to moves for tightening this problem area!

Enjoying Spring (break!)

Flipping through the photos of my spring break I had to laugh at how... girly?... I look.

From photos of my (almost) pink daffodils that were sadly found strewn across my lawn...

Apparently whatever child or animal cut down my

daffodils didn't realize how much it would hurt a

pregnant woman.... I cried over these! :P

To photos of Easter egg dyeing...

To the various craft projects I've been doing to keep myself busy (and get things ready for Floodling!)

Finished products:

Artwork for the nursery wall... these need to be framed still!

 Changing pad covers!  One in use and one waiting! 

I plan on making one more but need more fabric.

And for good measure, a photo of Rico eyeing the measuring tape, which was apparently very offensive to him!

I've had a good break so far though now it's time to really start cleaning.  I always plan to get that done on my breaks but I generally put it off as long as I can.  I did vacuum, sweep, dust, wash windows, etc. the other day, but the house itself is a mess (as can be imagined after the above craft projects).

Oh, did I mention that amid all of the above craftiness, this arrived?? Thank you to my Grandma Paulen and Jason's mom!

I'm so excited about our stroller.  I still want the car seat stroller frame (so we can plop the infant car seat on top and go) but this one does accomodate infants too.

So, happy Easter and happy crafting!!

Strollers and car seats???

So my outing yesterday was fairly successful.  I am glad I went alone and gave myself plenty of time to peruse and meander through the stores.  I played with and touched plenty of things... my dad will tell you how much I LOVE to touch things (it used to get me in a lot of trouble at stores because it frequently led to breaking or spilling things), but in this case I felt it necessary to touch, feel, and play so I could really get an idea of what I was looking at. Opinions are welcomed and wanted again!! :D  (Again, you do not have to log in to post a comment, you can choose "anonymous" then you can sign your name.  Or you can e-mail me!)

While I sorted out a few of my questions by playing with some things, I now have some new questions.  First off, what kind of stroller do I want???

Do I want a "travel system" like this one from EvenFlo:

These "travel systems" seem to be very popular these days. Basically they come with an infant car seat that clips on top, but the car seat can be removed and underneath is a regular stroller for infants to toddlers.  They have all kinds of perks like cup holders, baby wipe holders, storage beneath, purse hooks etc.  This particular one was easy to maneuver, folded down with a one-handed push of a button and twist of a handle, and I loved the handle on the car seat and the stroller itself:

 

I was also a fan of this model from Graco.  It was heavier than the above one, but only by a bit.  I particularly like the pattern.  It was also easier to fold up one-handed and the pieces seemed to snap together a little more easily.  But it didn't have the "twisted" car seat handle nor the one-handed steering handle like the stroller above.

But maybe I want a stroller and car seat seperately?  Most of the travel systems are really bulky and heavy.  I like that you can plop the car seat in so you don't have to transfer the baby, but I don't like how cumbersome they seem.  I did find this though:

It allows you to clip in an infant car seat, as pictured below (ignore the pink, I grabbed the closest appropriately branded car seat):

It, like the others, folds up with one hand but is soooo much lighter.  And I understand that it will only be good while baby is in the infant car seat, but I keep reading that most people recommend getting an umbrella stroller or a simple stroller like this later on anyway....

 

I am NOT a strong girl, especially in the upper body department, and though I was working on that with a personal trainer (pre-pregnancy of course), and I know I'll get more strength once I'm lugging a baby around, I really don't want to deal with something heavy and cumbersome.

When it comes to car seats in the first place I don't even know what I'm looking for!  All of the above involve infant car seats, but do I want an infant to toddler convertible car seat?  My question is how soon we'll be thinking about having another little one.... and I don't really know right now.  But if one is going to be a toddler and another an infant at the same time (which is most likely), it seems we ought to have separate car seats anyway otherwise we'd have to buy a new infant car seat to accommodate the baby while Floodling is using the convertible one as a toddler seat.

In any case, I think I really like this pattern, what do you think??  Is it neutral enough to accommodate future little ones should we end up having a girl later on??

 

Close up of fabrics:

 

And I also liked this one (I was kind of surprised that I did):

 

Close up of fabrics:

Both of these were Graco and had matching high chair, play pen, swing, etc.  Obviously I need to choose a brand/model I like before I choose a pattern I like... otherwise I'll end up choosing a stroller/car seat based on how "pretty" it is (a bad habit of mine that I am trying to avoid), but just curious what you think.

I also did some searching for fabrics in another attempt to settle on a nursery theme.  I came up with this combo in the "dino" department that I thought was cute, but maybe a little bright:

I also ventured into new territory... doggies:

As for something simple and theme-neutral, I really liked these prints:

Overall, I think one of my faves is still the "golf" argyle print:

 

I found some really cute stick-on leaves (that peel off the walls later) that might go with the above, and with a golf theme... I think they would be cute covering one wall.

Enough visual material for you today?  Can you tell I am a visual person???

I would REALLY love some opinions and thoughts! :D