Where to begin...

Hmmm....so much to say. Well, I guess I'll start with where we left off. We got back Sunday evening from Hilton Head Island, SC. We discovered it a couple of years ago on our road trip and loved it. It takes some getting used to (when looking for places you have to look close to the ground because there are no big signs), but we love it. Karissa had a great time. She screamed all the way down....12 hours....not fun, especially when I didn't know how to deal with that because she rarely cries at all. We decided it was a combination of teething, being in a different vehicle and car seat, being tired and hot (I didn't realize how hot it would get on the way there so I had to change her into cooler clothes), and being constipated. Thankfully, she was over all of that on the way home and slept most of the way. Other than that, she was happy and loved it. I'll let Dave post about it later with some pics. In the meantime, you can check our Facebook page for pics. Karissa is doing better than ever. Monday we had her weight check appointment. She is up to 11lbs. 11oz. The doctor was very happy about that. She is now in the 5th-10th percentile for length and almost there for weight. Except for when she is tired or eating, she is now jabbering and talking almost non-stop. She likes to talk! We can't go anywhere with her without getting stopped by people. We aren't complaining - everybody likes babies. But nobody says she's "cute" like other babies....everyone says, "She is SOOO beautiful!" It is nice to hear....of course we would believe that about her regardless of whether others did or not. :) This week will again be a busy one. She had her appointment on Monday along with Dave's first softball games of the season, library yesterday, church tonight, she'll be trying cereal as soon as I can get to the store, and Friday will be her first time in Baltimore and first Yankees game (her first time to Yankee stadium is later this month). And her Uncle Nathan will be coming and meeting her for the first time. On a sad note, I have stopped nursing. She is now only on formula until I start cereal. Many people were encouraging when I was nursing and others wanted her on formula to gain weight. I was scared that she wouldn't still nurse once on formula and sure enough, I was right. I tried for a few weeks and she just got less and less patient so last week I decided to stop. I've come to terms with it and as much as I didn't want to give it up, I've accepted that we're done and stopped blaming myself for not providing for her. So now, on to the weigh-in Wednesday. I'm up one pound. I'm actually not too disappointed. I totally planned on shredding over vacation....forgot my weights, was extremely busy, and just didn't get to it. Haven't gotten to it in the two days I've been home either. I didn't snack much on vacation, but did drink soda and ate at Paula Deen's restaurant (that alone could have made me gain a couple of pounds lol). I've had some health issues since being home that stopped me from working out too. I know...excuses, excuses. So, I decided my heart has just not been in it. I want to lose weight, but just haven't wanted it bad enough to give it my all. I decided I was going to start shredding all over again from the beginning....30 days straight without stopping and trying to follow Natalie as much as possible instead of the easy way out and following Anita all of the time. I logged on to Shrinking Jeans this morning to see they are doing the challenge again too! Great! I'm going to do some Tae Bo and elliptical work until they start again on the 11th. This time I'm laying out some goals for myself: I'd like to lose 10lbs, but I'm going to focus more on losing inches instead of a weight number because I'd like to get more muscle. I'm going to drink more water, eat more veggies, fruits, and proteins and less junk. Hopefully, I'll lower my body fat percentage. We'll see how it goes. Okay, now I'm done....now that Dave has looked and said I'm writing a book, I better shut up. lol Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!