consequence

A Year of Videos

Month One:

Month Two:

Month Three:

Month Four:

Month Five:

Month Six:

Month Seven:

Month Eight:

Month Nine:

Month Ten:

Month Eleven:

Month Twelve:

Wedding Festivities 8/22/09

The Dress

Fat Update

Today I started the 30 Day Shred, a dvd I purchased in DECEMBER. After letting it sit around in the shrinkwrap for six months, today I finally decided to get serious and give it a try. Um, it’s really hard. So that’s a good sign I guess. I am going to try to do it at least three times a week, maybe more. Because…I am fat. I gained 65 – 70 pounds when I was pregnant, and have lost 59 of those pounds. I am so tired of being fat I could rip my hair out. Also, it is summertime now, and I just bought a cute new bathing suit that I guess I am going to have to wear at some point.

(FYI: Mine is black.)
(FYI: That’s not what I look like in it.)

Updates to come.

Things I Am Looking Forward To

Baby steps, right?

This week, I am really looking forward to Alana’s wedding! Please go and check out my wedding party write-up on their wedding site. THEN please spend some time admiring my beautiful bridesmaid dress (think dark purple):

69 Days! I can’t wait, Slabs! <3

I’m Back!

Stay tuned…

Five AND six month updates…

Dear Holland,

I am sure by this point you must be aware of my complete inability to blog when I am supposed to. Just know that I THINK about it a lot, okay? Tonight we are going to review your fifth and sixth months here with us. Get ready.

When we left off, you were fresh out of your first Christmas. God, aren’t you glad that’s over? Me too. Soon after was New Year’s Eve and January…the lamest month around. But don’t worry, we made it through. You had quite a few landmarks that month. You grew not one, but two teeth. Your first one came in shortly before your five month appointment. We were at one of your shot appointments (sidenote: I am extending/modifying your shot schedule out of a great fear of vaccinations. So we are at the doctor a lot…oh well). Anyway, we were at the doctor for one of your shot appointments, and when you started screaming, I noticed that you had a tooth. Wow! Way to go Holland! You were teething and I didn’t even know it. You rock. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Soon after that, we were at your five month appointment and your doctor was VERY impressed by the presence of that tooth. She was also impressed by how AWESOME you are. I believe her exact words were that you are “three months ahead of schedule” on verbal and social development. Really, are we surprised about that? No. So basically, you are Superbaby. You really do charm everyone you meet, your doctor included. Other milestones of five months? Let’s see…you started holding your own bottle…

You learned how to sit up…

AND how to roll over.

So February. Month six. You actually turned six months old six days ago. I knew I was a mom when I was completely preoccupied by the fact that the 28th was your six-month birthday, and didn’t realize it was the last day of the month until the next day when it was March.

You finally became interested in solid foods this month.

We had tried rice cereal a few times and you really weren’t that into it, so your doctor told me to just skip it and try vegetables instead. You really like sweet potatoes, and I actually started sending them to daycare with you today. Speaking of daycare, last week we had a little mishap. I (STUPIDLY) decided to try and trim your nails one morning, and accidently cut the tip of your finger with the clippers. You didn’t really scream for that long, but still…I don’t think I have ever felt so bad about something in my whole life.

Your six month doctor appointment is next week on Friday, and I cannot WAIT. You are so charming and funny and amazing, and I can’t wait to see your doctor swoon over how awesome you are. You have recently become totally enamored with the dogs (which really, I don’t get at all, but whatever) and are also going through a “I only sleep in my mom’s bed” phase, which I can live with. Recent (financial) events have us living in Vancouver with your grandma for longer than I planned to, but it’s okay. I don’t mind sharing a bed with you at all.

Love,

Mom

Fingers are overrated anyway, right?

Holland had her first injury today. Inflicted upon her by Yours Truly. Accidentally, of course. This morning I had the bright idea to clip her nails. Yes! Brilliant, Alexia.  Something I have done many times before quickly turned into Nightmare on Baby Street when she started to scream and I realized I had nicked her finger. A little red spot appeared on the tip of her pointer finger, followed by blood. BLOOD! The crying lasted about a minute and a little bitty band-aid on her finger stopped the bleeding, and I thought we were done. Flashforward to daycare, 30 minutes later: “Oh, really? She needs a band-aid? Those are a choking hazard. Isn’t there anyone who can watch her for you?” Um…no. That’s what I pay you for, Daycare. So, after facing my choices of NOT going to work (not really an option right now) and bringing her in with me, I made my choice and Holland and I drove out to Pop Art, making it in only a half hour late. We camped out downstairs in the Annex, and after dealing with a few distractions, some crying (hers) and a few computer problems, actually managed to be pretty productive.

She was really quite helpful.

27 Years Old and I Don’t Blog Anymore…

So apparently my new thing for 2009 is not blogging. As my grandmother once said, my “blog is growing mold.” So here is my attempt to bring it back from the dead. Since I last blogged (in December!) a lot of things have changed in my life, most notably being my going back to work full-time. I was looking forward to it and dreading it with equal parts of my being, and truly, it kicked my ass. I have mostly been commuting by bus, which adds an extra couple hours to my day, and by the time I get home all I can think about is getting in bed. I can’t even relate to the Alexia from years past who used to go out every night…now it is all I can do to get my laundry done and make Holland her bottles for daycare before passing out around 9:30pm. Yeah, I am pretty awesome. Anyway, what are my other excuses…work has been crazy. No, beyond crazy. But I am enjoying myself there more than I ever have before, which is nice. My two year anniversary with Pop Art was January 8th, and that is the longest I have been at any job since college, and I am really pretty proud of that. Holland is getting huge and even more fun and talky and wonderful, and requiring more and more of me everyday…but I am due a five AND six month update next week, so I will save the baby stuff for then. Until later, internet! Ta.

A Year in Search Terms

I have a stats program installed on my blog that gives me some fun information on who is visiting my blog. Nothing too crazy of course, just typical stuff like I can see the IP address of commenters (not a big deal since my commenters are Alana and my mother about 90 percent of the time). Basically I check it out on occasion to see how many people viewed my blog on a certain day. My biggest day was, not surprisingly, the day I THOUGHT Holland was going to be born, August 27th. I had 99 views that day. Big time blogging! Anyway, my favorite thing about the program is how it shows me the specific terms people searched for on a search engine that made them land on my blog. Often it is just “itsybitsybaby” or “alexia lysandra” or something that shows that they were specifically trying to find me and it is someone I know. But what is really fun are the terms people search and randomly stumble upon me. Alana has been bugging me to write this blog since this summer. With 2008 ending tomorrow, I thought I would finally document it for all to see. So here we go:

My Top Ten Favorite 2008 Search Terms That Led to ME!

10. tillamook cheese and pregnancy (Oh Tillamook…you and your cheese curds are such a tease!)
9. baby clothe swear house (This one creeps me out. Is it a horror film?)
8. “i am barefoot” (hippy la la, is that you?)
7. future nordstrom leaders (This one freaked me out a little at first (Big Nordstrom Brother! Stop watching me!) until I realized I had mentioned being in FNL in a past blog. Phew)
6. styrofoam cubes for sale (Internet search engine user, you have come to the right place)
5. where in the netherlands can i have a 3d ultrasound (Again. Totally the right place)
4. vancouver living (Holland and I will be on the cover of the upcoming spring issue)
3. why does my baby’s forehead look big (Warning: your future son or daughter MAY have a complex if you make this an issue)

Number two is a tie: “slutty baby clothes” and “fleas in bassinet.” The discovery of this fun little combo back in August inspired this IM to Alana:

12:35 PM me: somebody found my blog by googling “slutty baby clothes”
12:36 PM between that and “fleas in bassinet” from earlier in the week, I pretty much feel like i can win the best parent ever award

While those were my two longstanding favorite terms, today someone used one that bumped them out of the number one spot. Drumroll please.

And my number one favorite search term that lead to my blog in 2008 IS…………..

1. feel like shit pregnant

Yeah, I’d say that pretty much summed up my year!

Farewell 2008! I won’t miss you in the slightest!