weight check-in

i haven't posted one of these in a while, because i haven't had much to be proud of. for a while i kept getting really frustrated because i was doing what i thought was my best and still watching the scale go up a little or stay the same. then, after insight from a couple of wise women, my habits are starting to adjust a bit, and thankfully my last couple of weigh-ins have been better! i have lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks, and i don't remember where i was in the game when i last posted, but overall this puts me at 21 pounds above my ultimate, dream goal. but i'll get to that in a second.
what was the life-changing advice i was given? first of all, my beautiful sister lauren, whose discipline and determination i truly admire (and envy!) gave me a couple of exercise tips. instead of mostly using my elliptical, she recommended using that only for "recovery" days and instead focusing more on the routines available through the nike training club app. which stinks because those things kick my butt! definitely a harder workout than i'd been doing, but so worth the results! she also helped me see that there was indeed a fair amount that i was doing right in the exercise department, which means (ominous music here) i need to focus more on what i eat. my brain is still in pregnancy/nursing mode, where you're supposed to have a significantly higher amount of calories...which to my greedy tummy means "go wild!" but i really don't nurse emmy much anymore, so i probably don't need nearly as many calories as i'd been counting on. plus i'm a total sweets junkie and have gotten a little overindulgent there.
BUT, all that being said, the other wise advice i got was from my sweet best friend, michelle. we were talking about weight loss, and she said something to the effect of "yeah, i could lose another 10-15 pounds, but realistically i just don't have the time or energy to maintain that." that totally resonated with me- i would love to be able to work out 5-6 days a week, but realistically i have a toddler that still doesn't sleep through the night, and some mornings i just want to sleep any extra bit i can. i also used to do a 45-60 minute workout, but again, sleep has become a valuable asset, and i just can't afford to part with more than enough to get 30 minutes of exercise in. and as far as eating goes, yes, i need to be more careful about what i eat, but ultimately, i'd rather be a size or two bigger and still get to treat myself sometimes.
so my new goal, rather than a specific number on the scale (although, yes, that dream number would be nice to see) is finding a balance that allows me to enjoy my life, my food, and yes, my sleep, while also being healthy and in shape!

(mostly) debt free!!

this week, the last bit of cody's student loans got paid off, leaving us (other than our mortgage) DEBT FREE!! woohoo! we're so thankful for God's provision in our lives, including his pointing us to our church's Financial Freedom class a year ago, which has helped us get things on track. now that that's done, we'd like to be able to snowball into our mortgage and make those numbers go down faster, but for now we need the funds to pay for cody's school again! the loans we just paid off were from his undergrad, and he has since gone back for his master's. we haven't had to take any more loans out for that, and luckily his company pays for about half, plus 2 of the 4 years he was given scholarship money, but now we still have quite a chunk to pay for. but once that's done, we'll continue to work toward not owing anything to anyone (except our lives to Christ, of course!)

answer your phone

PSA: if your wife has good reason to be worried about you, answer your cell phone!
tonight cody went to panera to work on a school project and ended up locking the keys in the company car (and discovering it after panera had already closed). he called to tell me, and then said the roadside assistance person texted him an eta of 10 minutes...and 50 minutes later, i still hadn't heard anything. granted, i'm a worrier by nature, but we live literally about 3 minutes from panera, so even if the guy was a little late and they had trouble opening the car, i should have heard SOMETHING. i called cody, voicemail answered. i texted him, no response. texted him to please respond because i was really starting to worry...still no response. so then i proceeded to call him over and over until he finally answered on the 4th or 5th try. he didn't want to answer because they guy was talking to him! i think a worried wife is a forgiveable reason to be rude & interrupt! i was literally minutes from calling the police, picturing him mugged or beaten or something!
now, to be fair, here's his side: apparently the eta text they sent actually said it would be 10-something pm, which was an hour from when he called, not 10 minutes. he just misspoke that part, so he didn't fully realize why i would be so worried. then, as the guy was arriving, cody got multiple calls from a random number that turned out to be the service letting him know help was arriving...so when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket from my calls & texts, he just assumed it was more from them.
the lesson here, folks, is to always at least look to see who's calling you!
(cody, i love you very much, and i can't imagine how awful it would be if something happened to you. that's why i'm giving you so much grief about the whole thing, not because i'm mean!)

big girl

cody has said a few times that he feels like in the week he was gone, emerson grew a month's worth. she's been having a bit of a language "growth spurt." here's some of what she's picked up lately:
-she will sign "O," say "Cheeo," and point up at the cabinet where we keep the Cheerios when she wants some
-she has started signing "eat," although it's not usually to say she wants to eat, just while she's already eating- not as helpful!
-for a long time, she's been waving bye-bye and saying something like ba, but now she's gotten really good at saying "bye"
-she will hold her hands up near her eyes, open them up and say "Peeboo"
-she says "baby," which was her first word, but now she actually says it right, and she signs it now too.
-she makes all kinds of animal noises, anytime she sees or hears the right animal: dog, tiger, owl, monkey, and most recently elephant.
-she says "oui oui" to talk about these little french books we have, versions of the little miss/mr. books. she also says "Ba Boo" for Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?, "Boo! Boo!" for "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," "High" for "Higher Higher."
-she says "uh oh" ALL the time, whenever something isn't quite right, whether she drops something unintentionally or on purpose, she is listening to music and a song ends, or sometimes just if she wants something.
-speaking of wanting something, she also taps her chest ALL the time, her version of signing "please." she also says "Day-koo" (thank you). what a sweet, polite little girl!
-BUT she also has figured out "NONONO" and shakes her head if she doesn't want to do something. also, if you ask her a question, whether or not she understands what you ask, she will shake her head yes or no.
-this week she also started trying to say "water" and "Rory"(our cat's name), but the way she says them is hard to decipher which is which. another tricky one is "Deeta," which is "Lights on."
ok, i'm sure i'm missing stuff, but i'm already going on and on bragging about my little communicator. she's just too darn cute!

survivor

well, i made it- cody was gone all last week, leaving me alone overnight with emerson for the first time since she was born, and we both survived! he went to dallas with his group from work to do some user testing, and he seems to have enjoyed the trip and the work. i was nervous about him being gone, because even before we had emerson, i did NOT do well when he traveled (i get scared and don't sleep well at night). i was especially nervous this time about what would happen if emerson had one or several bad nights of sleep. there have been many of those types of nights when the only saving grace has been to wake cody up and ask him to take a turn! but thankfully, both of us girls slept just fine with him gone. but i did realize that even though on a typical weeknight, cody only spends about an hour and a half with emmy, i myself need that time and greatly missed it last week! i love my little girl more than words can express, but mommy needs a break once in a while! so welcome home, cody!