Professional photo shoot!

This past Sunday we had a photo shoot with Tammy Bevins, which was our wedding/everything photographer...we love her! We did Joanna's "12 month pics" a little early, more like 10 1/2 month pics so that we could get them all back in time to make her 1st birthday invitations.:)

She had soooo much fun and is such a ham for the camera. We got some really cool family shots and alot of just her playing in the grass, sitting up, crawling and standing.:) I can't wait to see them all. Here is one that the photographer is teasing me with, just posting one and one only on facebook!! ARGHHH I am soo impatient when it comes to seeing pics!



She is getting so big so fast..where did my little baby go:( ::tear::

Need sleeping advice. ASAP

Ok so the GPM's know my dilemma but for those of you who don't here it goes. For the most part Joanna has been a pretty good sleeper but everything is starting to change. Her normal go to sleep time used to be anywhere from 9-10pm which was fine with us because sometimes by the time I get home with her its after 7pm. 90% of the time she would sleep through the night and there were rare occasions when she would wake up especially when she was teething.

Well let's fast forward to this past two weeks...:(...she is starting to get more cranky at night. She wants to be held, then doesnt. She pitches more fits and every little noise wakes her up. Her new bedtime(and thats fighting it) is 11pm. I am totally exhausted and its starting to wear on my husband too because I am more crabby towards him.

Last night we decided to try the cry it out method around 10ish because she was getting to overly tired point. Well my husband had to do, I couldnt. I stood in the hallway and cried right along with her. At one point I had to walk by and she saw me and she continued to cry harder!! It totally broke my heart and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.:( After about 30 mins or so she was still screaming and I told H if he didnt go back in there I was going to get her. He went in there and fed her a bottle and she finally drifted into sleep.

What to do from here?? Should we try it again tonight, maybe a little earlier? UGH I am soooooooo stressed over this and I know its going to cause my H and I to fight.:( Please help.

Let's do a Tasty Tuesday..

So, Joanna is slowly moving into solid type foods, stuff that she can pick up and eat herself. She tastes just about everything we eat. For breakfast she usually eats a stage 3 mixed with oatmeal or a whole Yo baby yogurt and some fruit. For lunch she eats a stage 3 veg or fruit, puffs, some cheese or lunch meat..or tries some of what I am having. For snacks she loves puffs, yogurt melts, yogurt, mum mums and any other small snacks she can get her hands on.
For dinner, we usually give her a veggie and a meat of some sort. She is not a big fan of the stage 3 meats and pasta for some reason..she will eat a couple bites but thats about it. She prefers small cooked pieces of meat instead.
Her new breakfast love:

Don't forget about dessert!! We usually enjoy an all fruit popsicle about every other night, she doesnt eat the whole thing of course but she gets so excited to eat it with me.:)


Her favorite drink so far: Sweet Tea! She loves drinking out of a cup so when I have sweet tea I just let her have a couple sips and she can not quit licking her lips..hilarious!

A little bit about me..

So I have realized that some of my readers may not know me very well because they havent met me in person. I thought I would just try and give you a mental picture of who I am. I am a pretty laid back person but I have my Mom's temper when I have to. I always make the joke that I am a very patient person but the "redneck" can come out in me if you mess with my friends or my family in the wrong way...which leads me to another side of me...I am from the SOUTH..yes from the south, true south. I know what you are thinking now..I live on a farm, have no teeth, uneducated..etc. Well only part of that is true. I am educated, I have my bachelors degree in Art Education and a minor in Art History. I have all my teeth! No cavaties ever!! BUT I do live on a farm, in the backwoods as people like to say. My husband and I have never lived in the "city", so NO I don't know what that's like and I probably never will and thats just fine with us. I can not deny my country accent though...I say words like "Dagum" and "ya'll", "fixing too.." Etc. LOL

We live on family land and our house is 50+years old. It definitely has character and gets on my last nerve sometimes but I can't complain too much because where we live is absolutely beautiful. Not many people can say they can look out their front window and see 12 acres of sunflowers, acres of corn/hay and three horses...awesome.:) We keep our family and friends very close to our hearts and we eat dinner with all of them at least once a week. My inlaws live right next door and my parents live 10 mins away from us, so needless to say Joanna is SPOILED!

On our free time my husband, Joanna and I go out on the boat on the weekends and Joanna is a waterbug. I grew up on a lake so its second nature to us. During the fall we are members of a hunting club, I know that sounds very southern...yes Joanna has her fair share of camo, but its a good family experience for us. My parents and his parents are also members and everyone comes together and stays in cabins..its pretty cool.

As far as my parenting style, for many of you that know me you know that I am "old-fashioned" and what I mean by that is I tend to do things the way my parents did with me and I don't pay much attention to the new age stuff. Joanna has juice contrary to the popular belief that it will cause obsesity, but it was actually recommended by her doctor and I didnt think twice about it. She will enjoy the foods that we enjoy but on a smaller scale of course. She will mind her manners and say "Yes ma'am and No ma'am" or she will get in trouble. I probably will not do the "time out by their age thing" I worked at a daycare and that method never seemed to work. My parents didnt ever really spank me but they would pop me from time to time if I talked back...they put the fear in me!lol..enough said.

I want Joanna to grow up loving her family and loving life as my husband and I did. I want her to love the outdoors and not be afraid to try new things. I was never a "girly girl" but I knew how to be one when I had to and I hope she is the same way. I hope she is strong like my Mom and I are and she doesn't put up with any crap.:)

Well, I don't really know what the purpose of this post was just if you were wondering!:)

This weekend..

This weekend was pretty low key. Friday we had a small cookout at our house with a few friends, it was nice and Joanna was worn out by the time everyone left--my little social butterfly. It was my Mom's bday so Saturday we went over there to celebrate and cook out hamburgers and hot dogs.:) Sunday was very low key, it was the start of hunting season, YES, call me redneck/country girl our family actually gets excited about these things. Its not only hunting season but its the time of year when we all go out and stay at our cabins with our family and friends. So, its not your typical "hunting club" its more like a lodge and a place that we can all hang out, cook and socialize. I will have to post a picture of our cabin and my parents cabin, its actually nicer than you think.
Here is a picture of Joanna in her first camoflauge! She has a dress and two pair of overalls..even some with cute pink bows on it. She is like me..I am a good ol country girl at heart but I know how to be girly too:)

Well day 1 of the diet.:)

Last night when I got home I had sort of a weird fast dinner, strawberries, grapes and a piece of sausage!lol I was not all that hungry. I also had to drink whats called "super dieters tea" because my stomach has been giving me a fit lately and usually that helps....and boy it did! I feel sooo much better!

This morning, I had DD egg white flatbread and coffee with splenda! Got to have a good breakfast, its my thing.:) I also brought my lunch and I am so proud of myself for actually remembering to grab it out the fridge on my way out. I have strawberries, grapes, a few wheat thins, jello, string cheese. Trying to the small portions throughout the day thing:)

We'll see how it goes.:) Trying to stay motivated..I feel better already!LOL

I am putting this out there for everyone to see..

Because maybe that will get my ass in gear! I really need to get my eating habits in order and get myself healthy again. I feel like crap! I feel like ever since I have had Joanna I have aged about 10 years or so. My belly is jiggly, I still need to lose about 20lbs to feel comfortable and I just don't care about myself like I should.

So here is my resolution..I am going back on a low carb diet. I am not doing it cold turkey, I just taking it one step at a time. Instead of getting fast food when I am at work, I am going to TRY and make my lunches the night before.(To save money too.) One good plus for doing the low carb diet too is that it helps with my PCOS and my stomach issues. I find that the less carbs I eat the better my stomach reacts.

I am also going to get better about taking my vitamins and medications. I feel like I am always forgetting, so I have set them front and center in the kitchen so I wont forget. I am on Amitiza(IBS-C)twice a day, I take Align too for my stomach, Metformin(PCOS)twice a day, and my BC. I think I need one of those old lady pill reminder things!

I want to feel like my old self again, weigh less, be in shape and just feel healthy. We'll see how it goes! Let the low carbing begin!..

Here's my plan and whats worked before:
Breakfast:
eggs, sausage,and/or maybe a low carb english muffin

Lunch:
Lunch meat, string cheese, jello, protein bar/south beach bar

Dinner:
Meat and veggies.

NO pasta, breads, rice..etc.