8 months

Weight: 13.7oz (she has lost a little since she started crawling!)

Length: 24 1/4in (updated 9/11/14)

Milestone: we now have a mover! Beth gets around fast now and it will only get faster. She doesn't quite crawl .. It's an army crawl with one knee! She now has 4 teeth and 4 more are coming in! Clapping!! Beth has started to clap when you ask her to, AND she will growl back at you! She sat in a grocery cart for te first time! She was always kept in her car seat ... That's done with unless she's sleeping!!

Sleep: We are in a messy spot with the sleep again thanks to the time change! Night time is a mess because of teeth, she is waking up around 2 or 3 and goes back to sleep after we go back in and turn her sound machine on. Naps are great she will take small 20min cat naps in the car and 1 really good 2-3hr nap!!

Eating: Everything! She even had penne vodka and some of her sisters french fries the other day thanks to Aunt Lala (Beth's godmother Lindsay who has been our saving grace with Beth's feeding issues). We introduced yogurt this weekend and she loves it, just like her big sister. 

Diapers: 2's, this won't be changing for a very long time!

Clothing: 6 months.. 9 months is way to big on her!

Mood: She is a happy baby.. Even with 4 teeth coming in she always smiles!

Loves:

• Food
• Crawling
• Clapping 
• Going for walks when the weather is nice!

Hates:

• Teeth!!!!
• Being hungry!
• When she can't reach something

The Doc is in...

Last Halloween I was pregnant with Elizabeth and was already thinking about the fun sibling Halloween costumes that would soon be in our future. I thought about Alice in wonderland and the rabbit, or Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter, a chef and a lobster, firefighter and a Dalmatian ... The ideas were endless! I started to get nervous in August that Madison would NOT want any part of it! She was going to fight whatever costume I picked and my sibling costumes would be gone.

To my surprise when I asked her what she wanted be she said Doc McStuffins and Beth should be Lambie! For those of you that don't know who Doc and Lambie are they are a new disney show that came out about 2 years ago, it's about a little girl who's mom is a pediatrician and had given Doc all of her old tools, so Doc uses these tools to fix stuffed animals and toys! They come to life with the help of docs magic stethoscope! There is always a coordinating "people problem" to go with the toys problem!  Lambie is Doc's favorite stuffed animal and sidekick.

My plan for sibling costumes was a success and it was all thanks to Madison's suggestion of Doc and Lambie :). Finding a doc costume was easy, finding Lambie however was not. I was not going to pay $50 for a lamb costume that I didn't even know if Beth would wear, and I was not having one made for her(for the same reason), we actually got super lucky and found a white and pink lamb costume in her size for $10 at Party City!!! All I needed to do was remove the bow from the neck and add a pink tutu which cost us $5.99 at Target!   Here was the final product:

Everyone thought it was the cutest! I am biased BUT I think it was the cutest costume of the year ;)

This Halloween was also Beth's first!!

Xo's

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

I love all things pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin latte.. I could eat pumpkin flavored items all year. I am so happy that my love of pumpkin has been passed down to Madison! She was asking me all week to make her favorite fall treat- Pumpkin Cupcakes!

They are a super easy and kid friendly snack that everyone will love! 

Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

That's it! Mix them together bake at 350 for around 8-10min - pay attention because everyone's oven is different.

This recipe only makes about 12 cupcakes.. If you would like more cupcakes and less of a pumpkin taste then follow this recipe ...

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1/2 cup of water 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

4 eggs

Combine and back at 350 for 8-10min (or as needed depending on your oven)

Now comes the good part- icing!! We make our own cream cheese frosting! 

Ingredients

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened 

4 ounces of cream cheese, softened 

2 cups powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl beat butter and cream cheese together (if you have an electric  mixer - USE IT!). Slowly add the powdered sugar until it's smooth and creamy. Whip in the vanilla extract and voila!

I know I'll be making this again soon for Madison to take to school to share with her friends!

Xo's

Fitness Friday -- on a Saturday

Oops! I wrote this Thursday night in preparation for Friday and I forgot to post it .. I just noticed I can actually set a post time for it and it will post for me! This blogging thing just got a bit easier!

Anyways.. I am so excited to share with everyone that I am now a Sweat Pink Ambassador!  

Never heard of it? No problem...  I will fill you in! I will write up a post this weekend about why I wanted to become an ambassador and what it means to me! In the mean time ...

Check them out over at www.fitapproach.com

Anyways.. The reason for this post! I was chosen to do a review of a fitness video website called Gigabody (www.gigabody.com)! I will be giving 1 lucky follower a free month membership to Gigabody! Stay tuned over the next few weeks for my thoughts and progress using the site and for details on how to win! 

Happy Halloween :)

Or now... Happy day after Halloween and good luck with all the candy!

10k - check

Fitness Friday is back!

Last weekend I ran my first ever 10k, I have run 3 5ks this summer, which was less then I hoped for but things happen.  I needed a 10k to have a time to submit for my half marathon in February! 

The weekend itself was extremely busy so I wasn't fully rested for the race. I woke up at 415 Sunday morning and jumped on the train to the city. The race was on Roosevelt Island to I got to cross something off my NYC bucket list - ride the tram!!

Once over on the island I headed to Starbucks for a pre race pick me up! It was freezing cold and windy so I stayed in Starbucks for as long as I could!

Once it got a little closer to race time I started getting good luck messages and I started to get butterflies in my stomach. I sort of had a time goal of 1:09:13 which would be an 11:15 per mile pace. My other goal was to finish. 

I am proud to say I finished :) 

 

Here is my official time and results 

It was slower then I originally wanted but it was the first time I ran in the colder weather, it was the first time I've run more then 4.5miles and well I didn't properly train. Training has started for my races at Disney in February .. I hope to run my 10k with a time of 62min! 

I've had so many things that have attributed to my setbacks in the past 2 months.. Getting back on a work schedule has been one.. I sub at a preschool so my weeks are unpredictable, even if my plan is to take Madison to school and head to the gym it doesn't always go that way! Chris has been working a different schedule as well so my 5am gym workouts are out of the picture since he leaves at 530am! I have no motivation to work out at home at that time. Evening workouts are tough because that's time I get with the girls and Chris or to finish any household chores I need to finish.  

Lastly I have some medical issues that workout against me.. Litterally. My body attacks itself. I have Hashimotos Thyroiditis. Short story- my body produces thyroid antibodies that attack my thyroid. It is all easily controlled by taking medicine daily.. BUT I have not taken my medication since May... At my doctors recommendation.  My levels were in a good place then and we wanted to see if it was a fluke or if I am part of the small percentage of people that just get over it! 

Well I'm not one of those people. Your body actually stores thyroid hormone and that's what happened back in May and slowly my levels have been getting messed up again. I have been gaining weight (totally against what I'm doing), exhausted at all times, hair loss, mood swings, and intolerance to cold. 

As of this morning I am back on my medication and am hopeful my levels will be better in a few weeks when I go back for more testing! 

Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be back to my motivated self ;)

Here a few photos from my race .. If you need some motivation think about this - 1 year ago I was pregnant with my 2nd child, had never run more then the miles required by whatever team I was on and now I am finishing 10ks!  

Doesn't matter what your skill level, fitness level or weight.. You can do it!!!

Catch up post #1

Time to do what all bloggers love best - catch up.  

The lack of posts is due to the fact I have no extra time.. You would think how long does it take to write a few words about what we've been words and post a few pics BUT it really does take a good 45min- 1hr to finish this post. 

Anyways .. To the point. First catch up post is about MADISON'S 3rd BIRTHDAY!!!

 I can't believe our little munchkin is already 3. I remember feeling like my pregnancy would never end, then feeling like labor would never end and now I wish time would slow down. This little girl has an attitude which we could do without but she also has a sweet side that makes us weak in the knees. Madison is a great big sister, she brings Beth her bottles and toys and is currently trying to teach her to crawl. 

Figured we do a "Beth style update".

Weight: 27lbs (10percentile)

Length: 36 3/4inch (25 percentile)

Milestone: Spells her name!!! We are working on writing her name but she can recognize her name sometimes, she can spell it and she will point out any m she sees and says "M for Madison!"

Sleep: Madison goes to bed between 7 and 830 depending on how her day went. Yesterday she didn't want to nap, reason - "I'm 3, I don't need to nap"

Eating: This girl can eat! Finding sometime she likes is tough! Her diet consists of waffles, crackers, gummies, yogurt, broccoli, chicken nuggets, fries, ice cream, cake, grilled cheese and cheese burgers!

Diapers: Only pull-ups at bed time! She has been completely potty trained since April!

Clothing: 3t!

Mood: She is a full on "threenager" .. 3year olds body but a teenagers attitude. Her mood changes every hour.

Loves:

• Ballet
• School  
• Frozen
• Coloring with chalk! 
• Her sister

Hates:

• Being told what to do
• Pizza
• Bed time!

Well catch up post #1 is complete! Check back tmrw for a Fitness Friday post! Can't wait to share my experiences running my first 10k last weekend!

7 months.

Elizabeth 

 

I can't believe it's already time for the 7th month post!! Beth is closer to 1 then a new born!!! 

Weight: 13lbs 2oz

Length: 24 1/4in (updated 9/11/14)

Milestone: this girl is ready to go! She is getting to frustrated with not being able to crawl.. Only a matter of time! She currently rolls every where and gets everything. I can't even keep track of how long she sits for!  She said DADA and MAMA!!!  More so dada but that's ok.. For now ;) She has started reaching for people when she wants to be picked up or go to them!   She is also finally big enough to sit at Mima and pops table!!

Sleep: Beth loves her sleep! She is doing 10-11hrs straight at night! Napping is still a foreign concept to her. She will only nap when she's with Mima (which is great for her!!) 

Eating: Great!! As you can see in the above photo she is eating everything (spinach and peas). She loves apples, pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, pineapple, avocado and more!!!

Diapers: 2's, this won't be changing for a very long time!

Clothing: Finally 6 months!!!

Mood: She is a happy baby.. Even with 4 teeth coming in she always smiles!

Loves:

• Food
• Rolling around 
• Sitting infront of a mirror!
• Bath time with her sister 

Hates:

• Her car seat
• Waking up on her stomach. 
• Getting stuck when she rolls herself into something 

Madison

Check back next week for Madison's 3 year .. Yes 3 YEAR Update!!

Xo's