Geeze. It has been a while. So much has been going on and I don't think I can even remember it all to post. BUT, I do have pictures of some things, so I will try.
Two weeks ago I took a vaca day and Anika and I headed down to the Seacoast to meet my pregnant friend Jen at a Mom and Baby Wellness Expo. Two of my other friends live near the Seacoast and they joined us as well, with their babies. There were a lots of things there to look at and buy.
I ended up buying Anika a custom made tutu. I could have picked my colors and waited for the lady to make me one and mail it...but I am impatient, and I wanted one THAT day. ha. So, I picked this pre-made one out for Anika. It was $23.
I will definitely be ordering one to match her 1st Birthday party theme as well. The maker is Little H and she was very very nice. She has an etsy site. After the expo we went out for lunch.
Ry's baby was playing with one of the butter knives on the table and the waitress got really pissed off. It was pretty funny. The waitress was the worse I have seen in a while. She messed up a lot of things. After lunch, Jen, Anika and myself went to the Kittery outlets. We went to the crate and barrel outlet where I saw some cheap wine carafes that I am now kicking myself for not buying for Andrew's party. With a guest list of 65 ATTENDING so far, I cant afford to buy good wine. I am buying box wine and putting it into carafes, hopefully. If I cant find any, then I will use Old wine bottles with the labels taken off. Then we headed back down to MA where we went to some baby boutiques where Jen wanted to look at some stuff. Um, has anyone ever seen the UPPAbaby strollers? You can attach another seat for a bigger kid as well. AND, they have a bassinet to put on top for newborns. Holy cow. Good thing we didn't live in the city when I was pregnant. There is a WHOLE other world of great baby stuff outside of stupid Bru. Also, Jen is registering at all local woman owned stores. (local for her, not me) But, I love it! We also went to my FIRST cloth diaper store. I have always bought on line (or received as gifts). The Diaper Lab was very neat and I got some more diaper detergent. If you live in MA, you should go to the store! Also, you should go to Magic Beans store. After shopping Jen and I headed back to her house and Anika and I had a sleep over. Jen made a super healthy dinner (Coming from a girl who used to eat Snickers for breakfast in college!) ha. After putting Anika to bed, Jen and I both fell asleep on the couches watching TV. Boring preggo and mom of a 7 month old. haha
So, what else have we been up to.....
Anika is standing on her own...for 30 second intervals. She is also climbing the stairs. Oh ya. You would think we would have learned about stairs after she fell down them. But, we didn't have the stairs going upstairs blocked off at the bottom for a few minutes because Anika had never even wandered over that way. I was in the kitchen, walked around the corner and she was not at her toys...I found her HALF way up the stairs going up!! Oh ya- she was pretty proud of herself. ugh. The child has no friggen fear.
There was some crazy stuff going around the Internet about co sleeping last week. Specifically that letting your kid co sleep is worse than letting your baby sleep with knives. See here. And, see this blog post by my friend Brittany because she summed it up better than I can. LAST weekend (when I took this picture), I woke up at 6 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, but the rest of the family was able to. And they all slept until 8:30, so I went down on my treadmill! And, I know Anika looks like she is co sleeping dangerously, but I put the pillow there while I grabbed the camera...and her face wasn't really buried in it. The week before last we also went out to dinner for my dad's birthday, but we had already planned to take him to brunch on Sunday when he asked us to join them Thursday. SO...we did both :)
Sunday brunch.
"Happy Birthday Grampa...but I like to look at my daddy!" After brunch, I needed to work it off. I went hiking the weekend before and posted a pic on FB. My aunt quickly piped up and said how I should NOT be walking in the woods during hunting season without proper colors on. So, this time around, Andrew made sure we were in bright colors.,..and he came with us. 
Piri loves her walks!!
I walked around the corner and found ANika IN her little wagon! haha. She is such a ham. I will have so much to say in her 8 month letter....unless I say it all here already. lol.
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This past week Andrew and I had an impromptu date night. I was supposed to go to W*ne D*wn Wednesday (I put stars just in case someone from my area googles that! haha) with a girlfriend who teaches at a local college. A couple days before, she said she was bringing her new boyfriend. I told her if Andrew was home, I would bring him too. Either way, I scheduled for a babysitter. She is the babysitter from the gym daycare. I had her come one other time, but then Andrew surprised us and came home right after the babysitter arrived! So, I paid her for her drive. This time I figured I would use her if Andrew didn't make it home AND I would use her if he did get home (he would just join me). I ended up getting a frozen pizza so the sitter would have something to eat since she was coming from work. AND, no sitter would like the healthy food we have. Is it sad that I could not figure out how to COOK it? ha. Andrew and I went to the restaurant and ordered dinner, etc. My friend kept texting that she would be late, and later, and later. She was really only planning on coming for the wine, so that is why Andrew and I ordered without her and her bf. I guess Some kid was taking FOREVER on his exam. (I later found out the person holding her up for HOURS failed anyway!) Basically, 9 came around and Andrew and I wanted to get going. I mean it was a work night and all. I figured we would get home to a baby waiting for me to put her to bed. NOPE. The sitter said she went RIGHT down at 8 and didn't even make a fuss! And, the sitter cleaned up all Anika's toys and some dishes. I like her. Andrew isn't sure about her because she has tattoos on her hand. She is like 20...I mean, sure I think tattoos on the hand are kinda dumb...but, she likes Anika and Anika likes her....and I get along well with her. WHO Knew Andrew would turn out to be the conservative one between the two of us. When we first met, I was going on and on about being part of the young Republicans...and he was calling our then President a dumb puppet. Ugh, speaking of republicans- the choices this election? EEKS. As Andrew put it on skype tonight to his dad "They got a black guy who sexually harasses white ladies and a Texan who essentially works for the big pharmaceutical companies and tried to make it LAW that young girls get vaccinated with a vaccine that was fast tracked and given to the American public way before trials should have ended..." Ya- usually some point in any skype conversation back home to NZ, American politics are discussed and all the Kiwis have a great laugh. I usually walk away during the time. haha
Anyway, so our accidental date night ended up being great. We had great conversation and it was weird to be out without little Miss Anika...but it was good for us. Oh, and our traditional xmas pictures have turned into something else! haha. Andrew has this idea and its quite funny. So our family xmas cards will definitely be on the corny side this year. Also, Andrew is doing Movember (where men grow mustaches to raise money for Men's health/prostate cancer). He is on a team with our Australian friend and 9 others. Movember originated in Australia, but it has made its way here. I almost just put Andrew's donation page on here...but I already put it on FB and not even our close family or friends donated a dime, so I'm sure no one on here will. The thing is- WE NEED to take our xmas photos before Dec 1st (when he can shave the mustache off) so Im glad we are doing a joke card now...otherwise our nice family picture would sport Andrew with a porn stache. ugh. no thanks. I was stressing out about that.
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This weekend I spent lots of time crafting and making things For Andrew's upcoming surprise 40th birthday party. Yes folks, I wrote 40. Its a big one! I cant wait to show you what I have been working on. I also took Anika shopping alone yesterday for 5 hours. I didnt let Andrew come because I was getting stuff for his party. by the time we got to the grocery store, Anika was in RARE form. I mean...I did push it with her. There was no time for her to nap in the car between stores. It was in and out ..in and out. I totes would have judged a mom if I saw her doing what I allowed Anika to do. She got antsy up top in the seat. I had brought the car seat in (Which I NEVER do- hoping she would sleep. LOL- what a joke). She didnt want to in the sling for long. So, eventually- I PUT her in the big part of the cart. She stood up and held onto the sides, and I held her hands and pulled the cart, instead of pushed. Then, I had to put groceries in there (dont even tell me how many diseases and germs are all over the food surrounding her)...but she sat in there and SHUT the eff up while I shopped and that was the only thing important to me at that moment. I also had to go nurse her twice in the bathroom and I was THIS close to nursing her while I shopped.
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I have so many other things I could update you on, but I will just get to my last topic. I have been losing weight still. I have not had one gain since I joined WW ..so that is a big plus for me. I still have a LONG way to go to be at my goal weight, BUT I wanted to share some pictures with you...and yes, this is the FIRST time I have announced how much I clocked in at the day I had Anika.
Are you ready for it?
Can you see that number under 42 weeks? Yes. That much people! And, you want to know the crazy part? I NEVER felt that big! lol. Sure, I looked enormous in photos and the numbers on the scale were big, but somehow I never had any aches, pains, swelling (just fatness), trouble sleeping, etc. My blood pressure was perfect the whole time. I thought for sure my knees or limbs would hurt with that much weight...but not really. I mean, sure I FELT the weight, but I still felt good too! I am just so, so happy I worked out the whole time. I know that made the difference. The picture in the middle is from a wedding I went to at 42 weeks (2 days before I had Anika).
And...I have lost more weight since that picture on the right. Another wedding this past September.
I don't really plan to get as skinny as I was in a former life....because I pretty much only ate vegetables for breakfast and lunch and a small portion of a lean protein at dinner back then. It was too hard to be that skinny.
Ya- I had a pack!
But, I will feel good getting back to what I was around when I got married. I dont know if I will ever wear a 2 piece again though.
I made a crock pot veggie lasagna tonight. It was pretty decent. It was more for Andrew because I cant really eat pasta. It was Easy too.
Anika is 8 months old tomorrow. HOLY Shit. HOw is that possible??
Thanksgiving afternoon, we went to Gram H's house. You dressed up in a pretty dress. I forgot to take pictures AT Gram's so we took some at home. You played with all your 2nd cousins. The family is so big now! 
You made your first hand turkey at gym day care on Friday. So cute!!!
You cried when I took my camera away from you. 
You like to play with EVERYTHING in your room. Even get behind that shelf and play with the humidifier. 
You pull the cloth out and it keeps coming and coming. It entertains you for a bit. We are using cloth wipes at home now. They are easier than I thought. I use a solution in a spray bottle with them. I wash them with your nappies. 
It is not great up close :) 
Last week, you went to the dermatolgoist with me. I had a spot looked at on my face. It has been there since before I was pregnant. I thought it was a scar from a zit. Come to find out, it was pre cancerous, so the dr. froze it off. It is starting to scab and get yucky. I have to go back in 6 months to get it checked again. I always wear sunscreen so this is probably damage from when I was young and dumb. Luckily, make-up helped cover the spot today, but it was hot at brunch and my face was "glowing" haha 
