Saturday, March 30, 2013

Jillian's First Easter Egg Hunt

This morning, we went to our old church for their Easter egg hunt! They had a great turn out, and we had a blast :)

Of course, Jillian's favorite part was the Easter Bunny. I had a feeling she might not be scared of him since she's really into bunnies right now. However, the moment that bunny walked through the door, she squealed like a teenage girl at a Backstreet Boys/N*SYNC/Justin Bieber/One Direction concert! She ran as fast as she could, waving her hands in the arm. Once she got close, she would wave with one hand, switch to the other hand, and repeat while jabbering loudly. Once she saw other kids hugging him, she started to do that instead.

In fact, once she was done hunting eggs, she would go give him a hug, then walk away. After 10 seconds, she'd turn around, and run back to him. If there was another kid with him, we'd make her wait, but boy was she ready to see him again ;)

I did capture one of those moments on video too!

I'm glad she had a fun time for her first official egg hunt. We'll have one at our church on Easter morning, but this was a fun prelim :)

Here are a few pictures from this morning. Enjoy!
{This is kind of how our life is right now. Blurry and fast paced, but sweet :)} 

{Found an egg!}

{Into the basket it goes} 

{That must be her "I'm concentrating" look} 

{Crawling can still be faster sometimes!} 

{Here you will see the two sides of Jillian}
{Side 1: Sweet, Cute, and Giving a Friendly Hello} 

{Side Two: Out of my way! I'm got eggs to collect and a bunny to see!} 

 {Oh sweet bunny! I haven't seen you for two whole minutes!}

{So enthralled by the Easter Bunny}

Friday, March 29, 2013

Quick Update

My birthday was fairly quiet and calm, but trust me when I tell you I felt blessed all day :)
Countless messages all over the internet, text messages, flowers from my parents...
Some of my good friends at church even took me to lunch on Wednesday at Pei Wei! Seriously, it's been great.

Well, then I've had a crazy 3 days since. Hopefully things will return to normal soon. Well, after Easter... and after our trip to Minnesota. So May right? HAHA I kid, I kid. Mid-April should bring some normalcy back to our lives.

Hope y'all are doing well and have a good weekend!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

27 On My 27th

In honor of my 27th birthday, here are 27 randoms about me :)

{And be sure to follow me on Instagram today for my birthday from my perspective!}
  1. After being pregnant with Jillian, I cannot eat KFC. In fact, I can't even look at one without my stomach churning. I can eat the strips from Popeyes and Chick-fil-A sandwiches/nuggets, but don't even think about suggesting KFC. {And trust me, grilled is not any better than fried.}
  2. I don't know why I bother trying any other way because I can only sleep comfortably on my stomach. Period.
  3. Over the course of my life, I have lived with 9 cats, 3 dogs, 3 hamsters, 3 hermit crabs, 2 parakeets, and 1 dwarf rabbit. {Never all at once mind you!}
  4. I have a stronger connection to our life in Arkansas than my brother.
  5. I'm double jointed in both my knees. I usually have to lock my knees during choir concerts so I don't feel faint.
  6. I have never liked the taste of milk. Chocolate milk is fine, but plain milk leaves a weird after-taste!
  7. I used to tell people I was allergic to coconut because shredded coconut freaked me out. I still haven't tried it as an adult, and I'm a little worried I might like it.
  8. I do better with directions, (especially cooking instructions), when they have specific descriptions instead of just, "stir until well blended." {I mean, what does that even mean?!} 
  9. When I'm bored, I go on IMDB and look around at connections of actors, movies, etc. This has caused me to have an extremely useless amount of movie trivia and celebrity knowledge. 
  10. Thanks to my dad, (and a little of my mom), I have a song for just about anything. I also change lyrics to fit whatever situation is going on. {For example: Jillian had a rubber duck and couldn't turn the page of a book. So I sang, "Put down the duckie if you want to read your little book!" like this song.}
  11. When Phil tells me he doesn't recognize a song I'm singing, a little part of me dies :-/
  12. I was born the Wednesday of Holy Week. How do you think my pastor parents felt about that? ;) That means my first church service was Easter Sunday. 
  13. I collect coffee mugs and always use them!
  14. After being pregnant with Jillian, I'm prone to vertigo and have more fainting spells than I ever did before. Since I am a fast fainter, (I've even had a doctor comment on it), I hit the ground in an effort to not faint. I figure, if I'm going down, I should do so willingly ;)
  15. My favorite pizza is Papa John's, but I am pretty loyal to Pizza Hut too. My ideal pizza is pepperoni and mushrooms!
  16. Since there are hardly any songs about girls named "Courtney," and only 1 I know of about brown eyed girls, my parents made up "C is for Courtney" based off of a Sesame Street song. {Sensing a theme here ;)}
  17. I had texting for 1 month my senior year of high school, and didn't get it again until I got married!
  18. I could eat chips and salsa, and tabouli salad every single day, and I would never get tired of either.
  19. I have watched through the entire Sex and the City, and Gilmore Girls series 4 times each and own all the seasons on DVD. I'm working on Bones, How I Met Your Mother, and Big Bang Theory. It may take awhile since they are all still in production. 
  20. I used to hate baseball and football because it took away my dad and brother's attention. Now, I love baseball, and college football. I still prefer to go to games as opposed to watching them on TV.
  21. I fell in love with Shakespeare after taking  a class my last semester in college. Before that, I only like "Much Ado About Nothing."
  22. I still write poems and short stories, but don't always save a copy. Just writing the words down, even if it's briefly, can be therapeutic for me!
  23. I already have a plan for my 30th birthday. If I'm going to be hitting a milestone, I want to on my own terms ;)
  24. I'm so glad Jillian loves to read because I'm not a big reader. I always wished I was.
  25. I actually like to paint and draw a lot. I know I'm not that great at it, but I find it fun!
  26. I love roller coasters!
  27. I'm a closet math and science nerd. I enjoy both, but never applied myself in school.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Courtsmas Eve

Courtsmas Eve {noun} March 25th; The day before Courtney's birthday

I had quite a busy day, but it was good overall. Jillian and I had a play and lunch date, speech therapy, then a trip to the post office. We were gone from 9am - 4pm, and Jillian was having a diva-ish day. {aka throwing things and screaming/screeching at random.} Things calmed down once we both took short naps. Plus, daddy and Daniel Tiger can fix just about anything ;)

Tomorrow is my birthday! I hope to do a quick post, but be sure to follow me on Instagram because I will be one busy picture-takin' bee :)

Happy Courtsmas Eve!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Date Number One for 2013

As I mentioned in this post, I wanted to make it a priority to go on at least 6 dates with Phil this year. We had close to that number last year, but I just wanted to be sure we got to enjoy some time together :)

We hired a babysitter that works at our church nursery because Jillian really likes her. We figured it would make the transition easier :) First up was dinner at a local sushi place! We have been looking for a replacement for our favorite since it's 90 minutes away from us. Well folks, we may have found the one!

We usually order the following: miso soup, house salad, rainbow roll, a hand roll for Phil, and a recommendation from the waiter. We then compare it to our favorite restaurant and go from there.

The miso soup was good and the dressing on the house salad wasn't too bad. I still prefer the original house salad, but I would eat it again. We also added an order edamame because it sounded good :)

Then we got our plate of sushi:
{Clockwise from top left: Rainbow Roll, Sunset Roll (Waiter's Recommendation), and The Old Fashioned Roll (a cooked vegetarian roll I really wanted to try). Next to Phil's hand: Spicy Yellowtail Temaki}
{Also pictured: My glass of shiraz and Phil's plum wine sake}

We spent more than we normally do, but that's because we got so much. The prices were pretty comparable to what we'd spend at our favorite restaurant, and the food was just as good. The best part? It's less than 3 miles from our house! 

Then we went to see The Incredible Burt Wonderstone! We really liked it and laughed a lot. It was a bit slow the first 10-15 minutes, but then it was great after. Besides, I love Alan Arkin and Steve Carell together :) {Like Get Smart from 2008}
{Us on our way home}

We got home and Jillian had been a doll. The only downer of the night is our babysitter parked on the street and someone backed into her car without leaving information. She wasn't mad about it, but I still felt awful :(

Other than that, it was a successful date! Only 5 more to go ;)

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Running with Luck

For my first 5K, I chose the Run Lucky 5K that benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I did this for 2 big reasons:

1) I've volunteered for this 5K before, {I passed out bananas 2 years ago}, and a former co-worker of mine helped start it in 2010.
2) It was right around the time I'd be done with the Couch-to-5K program. This meant, I would have to follow through with training and stay on top of it!

After about 6ish weeks of doing the program on a treadmill, I started working out in our neighborhood. When people tell you it's different, they are so right! Plus, this would be good training for the windy/cool weather Oklahoma is infamous for the entire month of March.

On March 9th, I did my last workout and decided to jog the full distance of the 5K since I was usually between .5 and .4 miles short in terms of time.
{Did it in 46:30!}

Then, the three of us piled into the Jeep, and picked up our packets!

The next morning, we had to be up early for choir at church. The whole morning felt so slow, and my stomach was just in knots. I had to keep telling myself it was just like a normal workout, but that didn't help a lot ;) Before I knew it, it was time to get dressed and head towards the race!

{Starting line on a cold, cold morning} 

{Phil and Jillian during the Mission Mile Fun Run!} 

I ended up jogging 3 out of the 5 Ks and walking the other 2, but I did walk briskly ;) By the time I got to the finish line, I was kind of by myself. They called my name as I crossed the finish line, and I nearly cried. I just couldn't believe I made it! I had trained long and hard since January 1st. I was very proud of myself. {And no, the tears stopped so I didn't officially cry ;)}

{Can't believe I did it!}
{Official time: 43:17} 

{Checking out my medal} 

Jillian's hands were so cold so we gave her my gloves and hurried home. Well, after I got my complimentary banana and green beer!
{She's such a cute popsicle ;)}

I just have a few nuggets of knowledge to share. You can write these off if you've done this before. More than anything, if I decide to do this again after baby #2, (which I'm not pregnant now, but more on that later), I'll have something to reference.

1) Try to train as much as you can outside, especially if you're doing a late-winter/early-spring race. Since the weather could be windy, cold, or both, it's important to be prepared no matter what the forecast says.
2) If it is windy, and you suffer from allergies, take something before the race. Not only was my body sore, my head hurt for two days after.
3) I didn't realize my tracking chip came with a zip tie for my shoe. I tried sticking in on the side of my shoe, but it kept sneaking up and almost falling out. I put it under my foot, but that was extremely uncomfortable. Make sure you can attach it to your shoelaces!
4) No matter what, drink as much water as you can hold the 36 hours following the race. Trust me, it's worth all those trips to the bathroom!
5) Make sure you have layers if it will be cold. I ended up having to wear my windbreaker jacket from my senior year of high school. Nothing like having your maiden name on your clothes, and repping your high school 9 years later amiright?
6) Don't beat yourself up if you have to stop running/jogging, even momentarily. Listen to your body, and work with it.
7) And most importantly: YOU CAN DO IT!!! All those voices telling you how you can't? You'll shut them up, and maybe even scream booyah in their face ;)

I am doing another 5K next month with my dad. I don't know how well I'll do, but I will still be proud of myself :) I don't know how many more I'll do in the future either. All I can say is, anything is possible.

{Except for marathons. I don't think I could even do a 10K let alone a full marathon. Nope nope nope. Not gonna happen.}

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

No Secret

It's no secret that I've been pretty awful at blogging lately. Writing, commenting, all of that jazz. Nothing's wrong, I'm just having a hard time balancing everything.

Jillian went from crawling to basically running in 2 weeks. She even scraped her chin pretty good Sunday afternoon :( More on that later.

I'm also in the process of figuring out some stuff on a more personal level. Body image. My marriage. My goals, and my dreams.

Not to mention church is keeping me busy. Can you believe Sunday is Palm Sunday?! As in, Easter is less than 2 weeks away? Me neither. {You mean, you don't get country songs stuck in your head just because? Oh, yeah, me neither ;)}

It's hard to keep up online while all these things are happening around me. It's also easier for me to watch from the sidelines while everyone else has more interesting things to talk about. Now that things are settling, I should be a little more social.

See ya real soon :)

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Jillian: {15 Months}

{I wanted to take a picture in her chair like the other months, but I was lucky to get this one! Girlfriend cannot sit still for anything!}
Jillian -

You are 15 months old today. I am enjoying most of this phase in your life so far! According to the doctor you are 20lbs 6oz, and 29-1/4 inches long.

You fit into 6-12 Month onesies, but you are in mostly in 12 Month, and 12-18 Month clothes. I have a feeling you may be wearing 12 Months for awhile, but you never know! You wear size 2 shoes, (if I can get you to wear them), and size 3 diapers.

Eating is great now that you're in charge ;) We always have food available and you let us know when you're done. Your daddy wishes you ate more, but overall you have a good appetite. You've tried most foods and do not have any known allergies! Some of your favorite foods include: blueberries, bananas, plain oatmeal with the previous listed fruits, cheese, turkey hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, chocolate frozen yogurt, tomato soup, Baby Mum-Mums, puffs, Cheerios, Crispix, and bread. We have several of those organic pouches just so we can ensure you get some veggies in your diet. You usually want to try everything you see and very rarely dislike what you try. We only had you using a bottle before bedtime during Christmas, but we were able to wean you off bottles completely by the time we came home. You only use sippy cups with straws and will occasionally sip from an open cup. I'm so proud of you for this easy transition! Now we just have to get rid of those pacifiers...

You have 8 teeth! 4 on top and 4 on bottom. The doctor mentioned you have one molar per side coming in, but I don't see anything. I'll have to take his professional word on it.

As of March 3rd, you are officially walking! You have done so well the past few months using your walking toy and holding on to our hands to practice. We knew it was a matter of confidence and deciding you were ready. Well, you decided to stand up on your own and take your first steps the same day! You practice hard and get frustrated easily, but you are doing great :) We are very proud of you and know this is just the beginning!

Sleep is a piece of cake! You've gotten to the point where, even if you are still awake, we can usually lay you down and you'll go to sleep if you're ready. That's not to say that, if you're not ready for sleep, that you won't cry and cry and cry and cry until we come back! You still take 2 naps a day, but you take a longer nap in the morning, (around 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 on a good day), and a shorter one right before dinner, (between 30 minutes and 2 hours depending). You are usually in bed by 8 and you sleep until 7:15-7:30 a.m. You will occasionally wake up at 6:30, or your bedtime is closer to 9:30 on Wednesdays because of church, but you still do really well!

You amaze me constantly! You can say "up" very audibly and have a few new words from your 12 month post I did. You'll probably have more soon now that you're finally walking. Reading is still your favorite pastime. You read on your own, or let us read to you. We go to a library group once a week where you play, sing songs/dance, listen to a story, then we check out a few books. You can play independently in the church nursery, but you do enjoy interacting with older kids. You also get jealous if your favorite people are holding other babies. Laughter is one of the main sounds in our house right now. You are so funny with your expressions, your playing, etc. We are really enjoying your personality as it shines through.

Some of your favorite things include: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, music, dancing, balls, bath time, going for walks (as long as we carry you a little), animals, Yo Gabba Gabba, sliding, bunnies, books, oatmeal, Baby Mum-Mums, teddy bears, Winnie the Pooh, your Halloween pumpkin pail, piggy banks, taking your shoes/socks/hair bows off in the car, and being with your mama and daddy.

Some of your not-so favorite things include: Being tired, the doctor, being cold, the vacuum cleaner, barking dogs, loud noises/loud kids, being told "no", and getting really dirty, (though a little dirt is ok).

Right before we left for your first train ride, we all got sick with the dreaded norovirus, which was the really bad stomach bug where we couldn't keep anything down for 2 full days. We were pretty miserable, and we missed the train. Luckily, we were able to drive, (slowly), up to Minnesota to spend Christmas with your Jemma and G-Chaz. We stayed until the beginning of January. We're going to visit them again in a month, and this time you will fly for the first time! We will be able to use our original train tickets sometime later this year. We're hoping to go somewhere fun this summer, but we'll see :) 


Your Uncle Mikey and Julia came to visit us just a week ago! The last time you saw them, you were not quite 6 months old and slept most of our visit ;) We are hoping to see them again in September when I'm sure you'll be even more grown up! They enjoyed hanging out with you and you had a good time with them.

Jillian, the last few months have really flown by for us. It seems like just the other day we were having your first birthday party at the house. Now that you're walking, I know time will go even faster! I am excited to see what the future brings. You are such a joy in our lives! Happy 15 Months my darling!

















Monday, March 11, 2013

Day 365

One year ago today, I wrote this post. I was ready to finally start my weight loss journey!

I never really mentioned it again. I did one update before something changed. Phil's dissertation was pushed back again, and we had to live off of credit cards for about a full month before he started his big boy job. This meant having a cheap grocery bill was more important than losing weight. I took a few months off while we got our future figured out. Then we bought a house. Since then, I kinda tracked my calories, kinda sorta worked out up until Christmas. After I got the norovirus right before Christmas, I stopped tracking. Then I decided that I would make participating in a 5K as a goal for 2013. I started the Couch-to-5K program on January 1st and have one more workout before I'm officially done.

My actual 5K was yesterday, (more on that later), so I weighed myself on Saturday morning. A year later, this is where I stand!

Starting Weight: 235.6
Starting Upper Arm: 15"
Starting Chest: 45"
Starting Waist: 39"
Starting Hips: 50 1/2"
Starting Thighs: 27 1/2"
Starting Calves: 18"

New Weight: 207.4         - 28.2 pounds lost
New Upper Arm: 15"      - 0" lost
New Chest: 41"              - 4" lost
New Waist: 35 1/2"         - 3 1/2" lost
New Hips: 44 1/2"          - 6" lost
New Thighs: 25"            - 2 1/2" lost
New Calves: 16 1/2"       - 1 1/2" lost


I am far from done, but have no fear. I have a plan and I'm pretty excited about it :) If I'm able to remember, I'll try to update a little more often. Otherwise, you'll just have to wait another year to see where I am ;)
 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Random Memories

Get ready for some randomness...

  • I wanted to complain about how the "big winter storm" stalled for 6 hours and we basically got puddles and a light dusting of snow overnight. Then we heard an elderly man in an area with 20"+ died because his roof collapsed. Even though it wasn't so bad here, it was still awful elsewhere.
  • I am not sad to see February go. It was definitely better by the end of the month, but I'm ready to just start over. Plus, my birthday is this month :)
  • We found out recently that Jillian does have allergies. It explains why she would get a cough and clear, runny nose if we took her on walks this fall. Usually, allergies do not manifest until children are 2 or 3 years old. Since Phil has such severe allergies, she was almost destined to have allergies early. Now we have to give her Zyrtec or Claritin before we go out and about, or when cedar is high. I'm just glad we know about it now! I was feeling like I was causing her to catch colds because I would take her out and maybe didn't bundle her up enough.
  • Phil took Jillian to our church's Daddy Daughter Dance on Saturday night. It was the sweetest thing! He brought her flowers, (me too =P), they dressed up and he escorted her in his arms most of the night. I volunteered to help serve dinner, and help out at the dance. I was able to watch their interactions and it made me appreciate Phil that much more :) Jillian may not remember, but we have video and pictures. If nothing else, it's something that is etched in my heart forever!
  • Sunday night, Jillian decided it was time to walk! She started standing up from sitting and taking a few steps. Since then, she will practice the last 2-1/2 hours before bath time. She won't practice during the day when it's just the two of us though. When she does, she goes all out and walks all over the house! Jillian does seem to get frustrated easily, but that seems to be a firstborn trait. She is doing so well and it just goes to show that she finally walked when she decided she wanted to!
  • My brother and his girlfriend came over Monday night. It has been 9 months since I've seen them in person, and I was so happy to spend time with them! They're in the state for less than a week, and they are trying to visit as many people as they can. I know I'm family, but I'm still honored that they saved some time for us :) The best part? They were here when Jillian was really grooving with her walking! She even asked to be held by them individually. Jillian was not only 5-1/2 months old the last time they saw her, but also asleep! I know they really enjoyed interacting with her. We're hoping to visit them in September, but we'll have to wait and see to be for sure. 
  • I have 3 more workouts before I'm done with C25K. My 5K is on Sunday. It's going to be cool, windy, and possibly rainy on race day. Talk about trying to convince me to just walk. I am not just real excited about the weather, but I am excited about the race. It may not be pretty, but I'm gonna do it!!
  • I'm officially doing a 5K with my dad! We have plane tickets purchased and we'll get to see my folks soon :) It will be Jillian's first plane ride and my first one since March of 2010. Any tips or advice for plane travel with a 15 month old? It will be a nonstop flight lasting 90 minutes so hopefully it won't be too bad.
How is March treating you so far?

But I Know What It Feels Like

This post is going to be awfully vulnerable and hard for me, but I really want to finally say it out loud. I got permission for my daughter ...