Just Ran Into...

Vince Vaughn at the Borders store on Michigan Ave!! What a way to end the day!!

Wordless Wednesday

One of the best parts of Summer: watermelon

Old but New

This bookshelf I actually made and painted with my dad when I was young. Now it sits with a new brighter coat of yellow paint in a new little girls room. Before Claire had a tiny white "cheap" bookshelf that she was quickly out growing! Now she has plenty of room for new toys and her ever growing book collection. Her story books sit perfectly at her level so she can go and look at them at any given time. Let's just say, they are rarely on the shelf and always on the floor. I put them back on the shelf and Claire puts them back on the floor - she enjoys a messy room! The bookshelf use to be white and I decided to make it pop by painting it a bright yellow. I think it looks super cute next to the orange and pink wall! I'm very happy with Claire's room now. I actually feel that Claire's room is finally complete!

Normal?!

I got my period today! You are probably thinking, "good for you!?" The reason I'm excited is that I had my last period 4 weeks ago - 27 days to be exact! After 11 1/2 months of breastfeeding and irregular periods/spotting, I think I'm experiencing my first normal cycle. Let's just hope it last and stays normal. Fingers crossed!

 

Happy Monday Everyone!

 

Widstrand Family Photos by LaRoche Photos

ICLW Baseball

Kymberli at "Im a Smart One" came up with this game!

Here's what to do if you want to play ICLW Baseball:
1. Copy these instructions and post them on your blog.
2. Answer the Base Questions.
3. Find other participating bloggers who have the same answers you do. Find at least one blogger for each base and link back to them in your baseball post. You may find more than one blogger with common answers for each post base. Your post will be a work in progress. Get YOUR base answers up ASAP,  then go back often to edit and add the links of bloggers who share answers with you!
4. Once your base answers are up, go to I'm a Smart One/Kymberli's blog and add your baseball post hyperlink to the list. Kym's blog is home base; check the list to find the other players.

Here are my answers:

1st: Dr. Pepper
2nd: Carmines
3rd: February
Home: Monsters Inc.

Wordless Wednesday

Claire is a silly little girl!

It's a Twister, It's a Twister

Let's just say Friday was very very interesting!

Friday started out great. Claire and I went to some yard sales with my mom. I got some great deals on kid books. Claire's library is getting bigger! My mom then dropped Claire and I at my parent-in-law's house. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, grandma, and two cousins from Florida all decided to venture to the beach. We decided to stop at a little hot dog stand right by the beach for lunch. It was super hot out so we ate our lunch faster than normal. We got to the beach and were already sweating as soon as we got out of the car. We finally got to the beach and found a great shady spot under a tree. We all went down to water and the coolness of Lake Michigan felt great because of the humidity of the day. I call Claire my little "water whore" because she loves water but only warm "bath" like water so she sat on my lap and enjoyed the view. The kids played, ran up and down the sand dunes, and had some snacks. All of a sudden the lifeguard blew their hone and said, "out of the water due to lightening strike!" Everyone exited and luckily grandma was listening to the cubs game so she heard that we were in a thunderstorm warning. We packed up pretty quickly and made it to the beach shelter right before it started raining. It rained for a second and then it stopped. We thought that was it! We made it back to our cars, when my brother-in-law called and said "it's bad and it's coming your way!" We were all a little scared as we exited the beach!
As my sister-in-law, niece, Claire and I were turning on to highway 20/12, I mentioned how weird it looked and was wondering if we were in any other type of warning. Not three seconds after I said that, I saw what looked like "smoke". I mentioned to my sister-in-law that it looked like "smoke" was coming our way. She said, "that's not smoke!" She called her mom and said, "I know what it is, pull over now!" She pulled over on the road and my sister-in-law and I pulled into a parking lot. It was a tornado and it was coming straight at us. All we could do was pray and hope that we would be okay. We say the tornado coming at us, the trees bent sideways, the derby was flying all over and all of the sudden the wind picked up. The SUV shook like crazy and we just sat their in silence. Finally it started to clear but the rain and wind stayed.
We felt comfortable to start moving again, making our way back to the expressway. We were following my mother-in-law as we got on the entrance ramp to interstate 94 when all of a sudden she stopped. We didn't know what she was doing but as we looked down the road we saw why. There was a huge tree blocking the road so we all had to turn around and take the back roads home. The wind was crazy, the rain was coming down in buckets, there was flooded roads - it was a crazy mess outside! Mother Nature wasn't messing around! Finally the weather started to clear and the rain slowed. We all made it home safe and sound. Sadly, when we arrived at my in-laws house they had no power! Power didn't return until the next morning!

Friday was an adventure, one for the baby book for sure!

Welcome

Hello everyone! Welcome to my blog!

My story is a simple one. My husband and I are high school sweethearts and tied the knot December 2nd 2006. In 2008 we decided to start trying for a baby. I found out I was pregnant November 14th 2008! After 38 weeks and 2 days of carrying our little girl inside, she decided to enter the world! Claire Constance was born July 10th 2009 at 9:39am. Claire weighed 6lbs 7oz and was 20inches long! The moment she was born into the world, was one of the happiest days of my life!

Now Claire aka Bug is 11 months old. The last 11 months have been one wild, unforgettable ride. From learning how to smile and giggle to rolling over and sitting up at 4 1/2 months old to scooting and then crawling and now cruising, talking, waving, clapping, and dancing. Everyday Claire is changing and growing - I love being a mommy. It's truly the best job anyone can have!

Grab a cup of coffee or tea and feel free to browse look around. You will find pictures, stories, recipes and much more through out my blog! I look forward to reading your comments and learning more about you all! Thanks for stopping by, don't be a stranger!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day 

to my hubby

to my daddy

and

to my father-in-law

We had a wonderful day today! I let my hubby decided what he wanted to do. He decided to head up to Chicago and go to the Field Museum and then get some famous Chicago deep dish pizza. The Field Museum was so much fun. We both haven't been there for years so everything seemed new. We saw dinosaurs, mummy's, and animals that have been stuffed. Claire had a great time. She loved looking at all the animals, especially the "puppies" and "kitties"! After getting the most out of the museum, we headed to Lou Malnati's pizza. It was super delish! I had the "Lou" which is tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, and cheese! We then headed to our parents house to celebrate the rest of Father's Day with our dads! It was a great day! 

(Pictures to follow!)

Wordless Wednesday

Claire, "Good Morning but it's a tad early for pictures!"

Say a Little Prayer

Please say a little prayer for my aunt (dad's sister).

We just found out that her liver is barely functioning. 

They gave her two to six months to live.

It's very sad.

Thanks everyone!

Quick Update

Claire's stats at 11 months old:

Weight: 16lbs 8oz (birth: 6lbs 7oz)

Height: 27in (birth: 20in)

11 Months Postpartum

I truly can't believe it's been 11 months since I've given birth. It really feels like it was yesterday. I remember every little feeling and every small detail. It was one of the best moments (days) of my life!

Pre-pregnancy weight: 116 lbs

Weight when I gave birth: 145 lbs

Weight now: 115 lbs

I feel great! I've lost all of my baby weight but still my body does not look the same. I get comments all the time, "you look so great!", "you got your skinny figure back!" and I always say, "thank you but you don't see me naked!" It's the truth. I feel as though my hips have been permanently widened from being pregnant. As weird as this one may sound, I feel as if my rib cage is wider. It could be that my boobs are bigger but my shirts are not fitting like they use to. They seem so much shorter. All my extra small shirts have made their way to other family members or to Goodwill. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm very thankful to have lost all the weight really fast and to feel great. I'm just amazed how your body does not go completely back to "normal" after having a baby. It's weird but at least I get to shop for some new clothes!

I'm working out as much as a mom of an 11 month old can do. Claire and I try to walk every single day and then in the evenings Eric, Claire and I will go on another walk. So I'm trying to stay active. I did buy the Jillian Michael's 30 day shred workout video and try to do it a couple times a week. I only like doing it when Claire naps. I don't like doing it at night, when Eric's home because I cherish our family time together and during the week it's only for a couple hours a night we actually get to spend together before heading to bed. Holding Claire doesn't hurt - it's a nice arm workout!

I've really been trying to eat better. Smaller meals, with better/healthier food. Don't get me wrong, I still splurge. I love my ice cream!! I just try not and eat it all too often! I just have a major sweet tooth, it's bad. When I wants sweets, I have to have them! I've learned how to give in, in the right way! Will power comes in very handy!

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my weight and how I look. Do I miss my petite pre-pregnancy body; of course, who wouldn't. I try not to worry too much about it because I plan on having more kids (hopefully 3 more) in the near future. I just want to be healthy and keep my weight down before each kid. I like the motto, "it takes 9 months to put on the weight, give it 9 months to take off the weight!"

11 Months Old

Bug is 11 month old as of 9:39am this morning! Holy smokes, where did those 11 months go?  Although these last 11 months have gone faster than the speed of light. They have been the most fun ever! Every month something new and exciting happens. I love watching Claire change and grow. It's one of the best parts of being a mommy!

Here is a little bit about Claire:

Wearing: 12 months clothes
Talking A LOT!
   She can say: Dada, Dad, Mama, Hi, Hey, Yeah, Baby, Puppy, Bye Bye, and other baby talk
We can ask her where specific people are and she will look at them immediately and sometimes she will point.
   For example: "Where's Dada?"
She is doing one word commands with out gestures.
   Like: Wave Bye Bye, How big's Claire, Dance, High five, Clap, say "hi"
She's moving all over!
   She's a crawling champ- sometimes she crawl runs!
   She's cruising on anything and everything- even between furniture
   She's taken a couple steps but is not walking alone yet! (I'm in no rush)
   She will walk with anything she can push across the floor - push toys, music table
She loves kids and puppies! She goes nuts and starts talking and screaming at them. It's super cute.
She LOVES to eat!
  She is almost done with pureed baby food. We only have a couple more jars in the cabinet and then she will be fully on big people food!
  Breakfast:
    Fruit chunks and granola bar/pancakes/waffles/cheerios
 Lunch:
    Veggie and chicken nuggets/noodles/raviolis/bread/meat/cheese
 Snack:
    Gerber snacks
 Dinner:
     Whatever we are having for dinner
She loves to read books, especially color and animal books
She's learned how to shake her head "no", do ducky lips, and pout.
She has 4 teeth and 4 SLOWLY coming through. She is the world's slowest teether! It sucks for all of us!
She loves to go outside - standing, crawling or playing
She loves to point at everything. Of course every time she does it - we tell her what or who it is!
She has started standing up on her own.

She is doing so much and I know she will continue to grow,change and do more fun and exciting things! I can't believe she will be one in exactly one month. Let the party planning begin!

 FuN pIcTuRe: 

While I was getting ready for the day - Claire decided to play in my underwear drawer!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Baby Claire!

Rear-Facing

Mom's and Dad's please watch:



Before I watched this video, I didn't fully understand why you should keep your child rear-facing as long as possible. Now I know why. This video/explanation makes perfect sense. I will be keeping Claire's car seat rear-facing until her it's at the point where she has to be turned front-facing. For our car seat, it's 40lbs. There will be no moving her at a year or 20 lbs. I know I drive safe but it just takes one time to change a life forever. I would rather be safe then sorry!

Hopefully this video will help you make your decision a little bit easier!