18 Month Update

Mer is 18 months old! It's hard to believe what a big girl she already is. Long gone are the baby days, and here now are the toddler times. Things have bee a little trying lately. She's not eating much, possibly due to teething. She is a bit fussy and has really been in that "gimme me" phase lately. BUT... the cute stuff and the sweet stuff she does far outweigh the difficult aspects. Mer is learning new words daily which is really fun to experience. My favorite is Spongebob, although it comes out more like Baabaab. She is running now, which makes this mama nervous on the concrete. Mer is a true water baby, she loves her bath and any other container of water she can access. The other day I found her giving the tv remote a bath in my cup of ice water. Later that night I heard her dunking something else. I ran in the living praying it wasn't my iPhone and found her sock in the cup. I gave up on having water out for the rest of the night. She tries to dress herself although she isn't terribly successful. She is fiercely independent and doesn't want to hold hands when out and about, and frankly she'd just prefer you to carry her. She doesn't want help eating and usually won't eat if we try to feed her. She wants the spoon and the food all to herself, which typically results in the need for a bath afterwards. Other fun things include mimicking everything we do and dancing. 

Yesterday we went to Council Grove for a family dinner because Mike's cousin was back in town from Dallas. It was beautiful weather so we gathered on the porch. There was quite a group of us outside and Mer is the only little one in the family. Someone started asking her to show them where her nose, ears and toes were, all of which she can find, and afterwards they'd clap for her mad cheer. Oh boy did she love that! Pretty soon she was just pointing to a body part, then clapping, which got everyone else clapping. This went on for quite awhile, it was pretty darn cute. It's always so nice to visit out there because there is no shortage of people to love on her and entertain her. Her 18 month checkup is on Friday so we'll see then how big she's gotten! 

Xoxo Jamie

Struggle

Today marks three weeks down on this new lifestyle of mostly healthy eating and working out. Three weeks! That's like forever! Ok not really. Last time I tried to change my lifestyle it lasted three weeks. I'm still mostly going strong. Friday and Saturday were not good eating wise. Stress was my excuse to order two large pizzas. We gave the leftovers to my mom to get them out of the house. I'm trying not to beat myself up over that. 

I know this is true, but wouldn't it be nice if all it took was one good salad?

Anyway, I've been pretty excited about my workouts, so excited that I've been pushing myself to do more, more than my body is ready for. I've spent this week pushing myself into pain after pain, making each workout after that a little harder and a little harder. Today I couldn't make it very far due to the pain. So... I'm dialing back to Couch to 5K. I've tried this before and couldn't do it, but I know I can now. I'm going to walk tomorrow while I try to heal up and will start on Tuesday. I'll keep you posted! 

Xoxo Jamie

101 Things in 1001 Days

So I have recently started journaling and stumbled on this idea when looking for journal prompts. When you're in school your goal is to make it to the next graduation until you enter the real world. Once you have that job, it's day to day survival. Where are the goals? Promotion? Don't get fired? I'm sure they are there, just less prevalent for some. I like this idea for setting some serious and not so serious goals.

1. Lose 50lbs. 

2. Complete a "Week in the Life" project.
3. Buy a house.
4. Run 2 miles non-stop.
5. Go dancing with Mike.
6. Floss 2x day for 2 weeks.
7. Write and mail 30 handwritten notes.
8. Start a charity Christmas tradition.
9. Complete a woodworking project.
10. Watch Buffy with Mike.
11. Make a meal with all local food.
12. Meditate everyday for 1 month.
13. Quit eating out for 1 month.
14. Make pasta from scratch.
15. Give up pop for 2 months.
16. Read the last Sookie Stackhouse book.
17. Journal everyday for 1 month.
18. Try a new food everyday for 7 days.
19. Catalog my jewelry.
20. Start a letters to Meribean book.
21. Spend a cold winter day in bed.
22. Finish's my niece's quilt.
23. Send my little brother a care package.
24. Learn to French braid.
25. Paint my nails funky.
26. Take Mer to the Omaha Zoo.
27. Compliment a total stranger.
28. Spend a weekend in Kansas City with my mom.
29. Ride a train.
30. Spend 48 hours phone free.
31. Go to a Kansas City Chiefs game.
32. Make a cookbook.
33. Hide friendly notes for strangers to find.
34. Take Mike and Mer to Squaw Creek.
35. Read 100 books.
36. Participate in a political campaign.
37. Visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
38. Spend a sister day with my sister.
39. Go to the Kansas City Farmers Market.
40. Can something.
41. Paint a huge canvas.
42. Start Mer's jewelry collection.
43. Read to Mer 1x day, 15 mins a day for 1 month.
44. Watch 5 documentaries.
45. Make a will.
46. Create a book about my grandmother to Mer can know her.
47. Interview all our grandparents and make a video.
48. Send a secret to Post Secret.
49. Make bakalava.
50. Make a multi-tier cake.
51. Do something big for our 5 year wedding anniversary.
52. Learn about 6 different religions.
53. Get a facial.
54. Send 10 letterpress cards.
55. Attend a dinner theatre.
56. Pay off all but 1 credit card.
57. Visit Turner Falls in Oklahoma.
58. Make/try Indian food.
59. Make homemade fry bread.
60. Take boudoir photos post weight loss.
61. Create an address book.
62. Take a foster parent to lunch.
63. Go to a casino.
64. Donate blood.
65. Write Mike 10 love letters.
66. Make a Christmas roast.
67. Host Thanksgiving.
68. Go to a comedy club.
69. Have a tea party.
70. Take jarred lunches to work for one week.
71. Go to the ballet.
72. Micro finance a loan through Kiva.
73. Go 30 days without buying unnecessary items for myself.
74. Create a photo book for my niece.
75. Create a photo book for my other niece.
76. Create a photo book for my nephew.
77. Send a postcard with Postcrossing.
78. Complete an Instagram 30 day photo challenge.
79. Have all the light bulbs in my house working at the same time.
80. Give up chocolate for 2 weeks.
81. Complete 2013 Project Life.
82. Buy a new Coach purse.
83. Start Mer's college fund.
84. Eat the recommended serving of fruits and vegetables for 2 weeks.
85. Have 5 freezer meals in my freezer.
86. Make something out of paint chips.
87. Make Gilbert Cemetery books.
88. Complete the 30 day marriage challenge.
89. Visit a state I've never been to.
90. Visit all the museums in St. Joseph with Mike and Mer.
91. Have lunch with my grandparents and Kate at the art museum.
92. Celebrate someone's half birthday.
93. Write to an author I love.
94. Take Mer to a pow wow.
95. Make and give a journal kit.
96. Make and give a cupcake kit.
97. Participate in the World Wide Culture Swap.
98. Redo a piece of furniture.
99. Play tennis with Mike 10 times.
100. Potty train the Meribean.
101. Let Mike buy a gun/get another tattoo/do something I don't like.

Start date: August 18, 2013
End date: May 15, 2016

Time to get busy!

xoxo Jamie

Meet the Roberts Family of 3

So who are the Roberts Family of 3? Allow me to introduce you! 

Meribean (obvs not her real name, but her real nickname!) She is a sweet, loving, walking, jabbering, yogurt loving 18 month old! 

Mike (aka the Hubs) An awesome dad, a loving husband who drives me bat shit crazy but makes me laugh, and an all around good guy.

Then there's me, Jamie. I love my family and my job (most days). I love to craft and cook and create. I could spend my days shopping, goofing off with Meribean and watching the Big Bang Theory (boo for reality!) Anyway, that's us! Tell me about you! 

xoxo Jamie

A 1200 Calorie Day

Weight loss sucks, yo! This shit is hard and I don't expect it to get any easier. And I've decided that's okay. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, right? I want to live to be really old and do so many things with Mer. I want to live to gross out her kids the way my grandparents gross me out! I want to be the fit mama at the park who has no trouble keeping up with her! I want to wear pretty boots that will actually fit over my calves! So I'm counting those calories and I'm moving my ass, doing things the old fashioned way. Today I've lost a total of 10 pounds! I'm so excited! I have SO MUCH more to lose and I'm determined to do it! I cannot expect Mer to grow up healthy and live a healthy life if I don't. Here's to another 10! Soon I'll tell you what my 1200 calorie day looks like. 

Xoxo Jamie

What's the point?

Last weekend, the hubs and I took our kiddo (Meribean) to Science City. We walked past this room that looked like the labs from my college days. When I initially started college, I wanted to go into something in the science field. I had a love/hate relationship with those labs. I never wanted to go to class, but man did I love science. In college, I was always busy. Go to lectures, go to labs, do homework, go to work. There were always projects, always things to do. Post-college, I find myself always in search of the next project. So my purpose with this blog is to document my life, this is my project, but it's also a way to document my other projects, a few of which I have recently started:

1. I have reached out via Facebook to see if anyone in the Emporia community is interested in starting some sort of meals for people in need database. I know these exist in churches, but I'm not religious and I want a way to give back, and I feel like this is such a simple and yet important way to achieve that.

2. I'm doing the 101 Things in 1001 Days project. I set 101 goals to achieve in 1001 days. I'll be posting my list very soon.

3. I'm thinking about doing Project 365, and this will be a great way to easily document each day. I want to hold on tightly to this time that we have right now with Meribean, because I know it's fleeting, and who knows if we'll ever have more!

4. I'm working on losing weight and what a great way to be accountable. Publicly announcing it so I'll be embarrassed if I haven't made any progress when I see someone I know that reads this!

5. Frankly I've always wanted to start a blog, I did briefly once. And my sister has a kickass blog, http://acraftyescape-katie.blogspot.com/ , and I want to be just like her when I grow up :)

xoxo Jamie