Confessions of a Selfish Mother

For those of you that were going to nominate me for 2008 Mother of the Year... you may want to start considering other candidates, because I have a confession.

I have started (and almost finished) weaning Emma from breastfeeding because I was tired of the post-pregnancy chub. Let's just say that I could be the President of the Chubby Wubby Baby Club (squeeze your cheeks together and give me a great BIG smile). I have tried (unsuccessfully) to lose weight for the last 8.75 months... but every time I started to watch my calories, my milk supply would decrease and I would have to supplement with bottles. SOOOOO... I continued the breastfeeding and the regular eating.

Well friends, I have decided that I've had enough. I'm pulling out my selfish card and playing it. For the last 3 weeks, I have been doing the Weight Watchers CORE plan, and in doing so, my milk supply has almost completely gone away. I now breastfeed her once a day and use bottles and solid baby food the rest of the time.

The good news? In just 3 weeks, I have lost 10 pounds! And I feel great. Yes, I feel slightly guilty about weaning Emma for my narcissistic purposes, but I submit to you all that I am a better mother to Emma when I feel better about myself. So there. Guilt... BE GONE! OK, maybe you CAN nominate me for mother of the year. That's Tammy, spelled T-A-M-M-Y. Because DANG, I'm going to look GOOD in the Arizona Republic photo spread. :)

Welcome Back, Old Friend!!

Our family is so glad to have "The Office" returning to us this evening. I never knew such joy could be found in a television show. Church, definitely. Children, a good possibility. But TV? In all honesty, it was "The Office" on DVD that pulled me through the first 3 LONG, EXHAUSTIVE, LIFE CHANGING weeks after Emma was born. I watch the first 3 seasons in their entirety and laughed my sore "under sides" to pieces. Good thing for the bladder "supplies" they provide you after giving birth. Saved our couches. :) Welcome back Michael, Dwight, Kevin, Pam, Jim and the rest of the gang! Welcome back Thursday night joy!

Took a few shots of Emma in her Aloha tank top to prepare for our upcoming trip to Hawaii!! Only 23 days, 17 hours, and 21 minutes. But who's counting?
Bought Greg this shirt for Christmas BEFORE Emma was born. I thought it was amusing. She has almost out grown it, so I thought I better catch a few photos before it exposed a little too much of those precious stomach rolls.
Here she is studying up for her next exam. WHAT?!? - your kids aren't reading legal text books at 8 months? I guess she is just gifted. Who needs pictures in books when you can have legal mumbo jumbo? Hopefully she can find as wonderful a study group as her Daddy had. (shout out to Tamara, Drew and Char!! WE LOVE YOU GUYS!)

I am WOMAN hear me ROAR!

Once upon a time their was a toilet handle that was always STUCK. Because the handle was always stuck, the toilet water RAN and RAN and RAN... driving the princess of the castle crazy.

One day this princess had ENOUGH of the constantly running water and decided to take castle maintenance into her own hands. While trying to SIMPLY replace the toilet handle, she chipped a little too hard at the calcium build-up and cracked the toilet tank in half. "OOPS!", said the princess.
Being a tad bored that week with all of the kingdom's monotonous tasks, the princess decided that she was up for the CHALLENGE of fixing the entire tank of the toilet. The prince replied, "Are you SURE?", to which the princess responded, "How hard could it be?".
After paying 2 chickens and a cow for a new toilet tank at Castle Depot, the princess set off for the task. Only a FEW swear words later, the princess had indeed taken off the old toilet tank with all of it's EXCESSIVELY rusty nuts and bolts - and replaced it with a brand new toilet tank with EXCESSIVELY clean nuts and bolts (and a working lever that doesn't leak water!).
"Hooray for the princess!!", cried the kingdom.

MORAL of the STORY: Their is NOTHING a princess can not achieve with a Diet Coke.
WHAT THE? How did an incredibly cute video of Emma with my water bottle sneak into this post all about ME, ME, ME? Selfish little lady, isn't she?

She has graduated from the kitchen sink!!

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Baby Blueberry has arrived!!

Emma's 4th cousin (on the Adams side) was born today! Greg's brother Jamie and his wife Gina had their baby this morning! Weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 7 ounces. I dare say he is going to give Emma a run for her money in the weight division. They have not decided on a name yet, but their daughter Anna has called the baby "Blueberry" all along. For those of you that know Jamie and Gina, you can check out more details on their blog at : http://jamieandgina.blogspot.com/

CONGRATULATIONS JAMIE AND GINA AND ANNA!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

We overdosed...

ON MUSICAL THEATER!

I guess you could say musical theater is our crack/cocaine and we overdosed last weekend. But what a wonderful trip it was! No hangovers, no arrests and purchased at a fraction of the cost! I am lucky enough to be married to a man who enjoys musical theater as much as I do and who feels that it is completely justified to spend our money on good tickets. I know Greg is a rarity and I am so grateful! In fact, on our second date EVER, my handsome prince took me to see "Beauty and the Beast". Only 2 days prior to him asking, and LONGING to see the show, I said to my friend Lara, "If he asks me to see Beauty and the Beast I will marry him." I'm a woman of my word.

We saw Rob Gardner's Blackbeard on Friday night (opening night) and it was PHENOMENAL. Really amazing. The singing, the acting, the set, the music, the score, the costumes, the script, the lighting, everything was really WONDERFUL!! We are going back three more times and I can hardly wait to see it again! Thanks to Auntie JJ who babysat our little angel while we enjoyed dinner with great friends and a super fantastic show.
We saw "A Chorus Line" on Saturday night. This was the first show of our Broadway season tickets at Gammage. Let's just say that after Blackbeard, I was a little disappointed. It is a little dirty, a little boring and for being a show about dancing, there was surprisingly little dancing. Frankly, I would much rather watch "So You Think You Can Dance" and would concur that the dancers are more talented on the TV show than we saw on stage. We had a wonderful time with my Aunt Sharron (who we share tix with) and are very appreciative of Greg's parents for watching Emma.
On another NON overdose/crack/cocaine note... our precious angel is turning 8 months on September 11th. Greg and I found this outfit when I was about 6 months pregnant and I almost started crying in Old Navy. Really, her shirt says it all. We are so happy and so grateful that after 5 years of waiting and wishing and hoping, our adorable miracle baby was finally born.

Cabin FEVER!

Last weekend, we got cabin fever... but not your "typical" cabin fever! We got cabin fever, like John Travolta got Saturday Night Fever! We forgot the cares of the world for one beautiful weekend, got on our dancin' shoes, and let our hair down for 3 beautiful days! Can you feel it? OH BABY - IT ROCKED!

Here we are at the Canyon Lake Fish Hatchery.

Here's the Saturday Night Disco Cabin Fever Gang. It's very fair to say that this was one of the best weekends we have had in a long time. Good food + Good friends = Crazy Good Time!
Emma bundled up ready to go on a walk to "Patrick's Pond" near the cabin property. This is the first time she has worn a sweatshirt. We just don't need those extra layers in the Phoenix sun.
Why do LDS men think it is OK to wear church socks with their tennis shoes on Sunday? WHY? I don't wear my hose under my jeans and with my flip flops!?!?
After a hysterical game of "Quelf". If you have never played, you MUST get it for your next group gathering (http://www.quelf.com/). We laughed until we cried. Here we are with our various poses and actions that we had to complete through the game. It may not look hysterical to you, but just looking at this picture, makes me giggle with the memories.
Thanks to our cabin fever buddies for a FANTASTIC weekend!!