The Laing’s

http://willandalyssalaing.blogspot.com

I weighed in this morning at 149. So thankful to have lost 2 pounds! I worked hard for it, I did really well this week with nutrition and exercise. But I had two sweets- which will probably be the new normal, I just can’t do only one a week! I have such a sweet tooth. But I am on my way, happy to have broken through to the 140′s.

I am “in-between” blogs right now, but I went ahead and posted here, but soon I will have the other one, “up and running”.

I weigh on the Wii Fit and last Tuesday my Body Mass Index (BMI) was 23.77=151 pounds and today it was the exact same!

I am not discouraged though because I know this will be a slow and steady process

I did well this week- saving my “one sweet” until Sunday, but I ate several at the shower

I walked and ran five times

I ordered Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and started a food diary

So I am calling it success

But next week I hope to have lost 2 pounds

Will did an amazing job getting the lines just right. Thanks babe!

I have posted too much without a picture of the little cutie, which by the way is 3 months old! He is so much fun!

That little cutie is becoming quite the little stinker! We think this picture looks like he is setting for a football play!

Okay I can not believe I am putting this out there for everyone to see, but I am DESPERATE for some motivation and accountability. So here it is: I weigh 151 pounds, yikes. My first goal is to get to 140 and then from there 130.  So many women have told me the baby weight would come off easily with feeding Liam, but that has just not been the case with me, which is okay, I am just ready to get this weight off! I eat pretty healthy and am active, but I am going to cut out sweets with the exception of one a week and walk and run 4 times a week and cut back on carbs and will eat more in the morning and afternoon and less in the evening.

Right after I had Liam I was really worried about the weight coming off, then I realized taking care of my family needed to be my first priority and now I know he is 3 months old and I am ready to be more disciplined and healthy.

So the point of putting this is on the blog is every Tuesday I am going to weigh and post it on here. Here we go…

I am excited!

Also I used to be able to run 10 miles, now I get winded at 1, so my goal there is to be able to run 5.

Since I have been staying home with Liam I have been able to cook a lot more. Which is saving us money and calories each day. I am always looking for new ideas of things to make for dinner, so I thought I would post a few things I have cooked recently that turned out really well. They are all very simple.

Tilapia, spinach and mashed red potatoes

-Take 2 filets of tilapia, and flavor with lemon pepper seasoning and a touch of butter, bake @ 350 for about 20 minutes until fish is flaky. Heat garlic and onion and a little bit of olive oil in skillet, add a few handfuls of fresh spinach, saute until done. Wash, slice and boil red potatoes, when soft drain and put in mixer, add butter, garlic, salt and pepper and a little bit of steak seasoning until mashed.

Avacado, Cheese Burgers with Squash and Zuccini

I really just prep everything for this and Will makes it. I slice avacado, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, squash and zuccini. Will grills burgers and adds cheese, he also heats the avacado on the grill. We just the s and z in foil. We eat burgers of sandwich rounds instead of buns- to make it a little healthier.

Roast w. Carrots and Red Potatoes

Put 2 cans of french onion soup, some Allegro Marinade, and some beef broth in crockpot, add roast, sliced carrots and potatoes, you may want to add a little water. Cook on medium for 6-8 hours, until tender. Leftovers make great french dip sandwiches. Put slices of roast on french bread, add slices of provolone cheese, heat in oven.

*It’s important to try and get organic ingredients, so you are not consuming added hormones and pesticides. It’s difficult to get everything organic on a tight budget so we get organic meat, dairy and produce.

We love our church, Christian friends are such a blessing, as well as Gospel centered teaching. Sunday’s message from Bro. Kevin Ezell was so encouraging to both Will and I. It was about parenting, there were a few points we really took away from it.

* As parents we are to provide guidance- to be engaged in what our children are doing, to let them be themselves, not pressuring them to be what we want them to be.

*As parents we are to provide discipline- to be intentional from the beginning

*And to not let them become an idol in our lives, this is a hard one for us, because Will and I just think the world of Liam, but we were reminded to find our joy in Jesus

He obviously explained it much better than I did, I am sure you can stream it from Highview.org

We also left Liam in the nursery for the first time this week, so it was nice to be able to pay attention @ church. He did wonderfully, his teachers are super sweet!

It seems everyday Liam is doing something new, he is squirming, smiling, keeping his head up very well, and trying so hard to talk, his little coos are PRECIOUS! He also clearly recognizes us. He went to the zoo for the first time and the farmer’s market. He has also been to two baby showers now, Stella Berry and Greenlee Hellekson will be here before we know it! And he also got to attend his cousin Chase’s first birthday party in Charleston where he got in the pool for the first time. He has been several times now and loves the water. He seems the happiest outside in the sunlight and in the water. He is an OUTSIDE baby. He is also super happy in the morning- probably because he is getting a full night of sleep now! Go Liam, we didn’t try at all, he just started sleeping from 10pm ish to 5 or 6am ish. I am loving it, I feel like I can be a much more helpful, patient and kind mom and wife when I am rested. He is still occasionally waking up for a 3 o’clock feeding, but that is pretty rare these days. He is 3 months old now and a small 11 pounds, but he is catching up.

The house is coming along slowly but surely, still have several rooms to paint and small things we want to do, but since it’s a new house we didn’t have much we needed to do. We are definitely enjoying being homeowners, it is much better to pay a mortgage each month than it is rent, even though most of it goes to interest! I will post some pictures of the house once it comes together a little more.

Here are a few pictures of the love bug

first time in the pool

good morning (almost every morning he spits up for some reason so I take his pj’s off and let him hang out in our bed, but he does sleep in his crib now, on his tummy, oops!

Liam with his lion on his playmat

cuddling with dad, on Saturday afternoon, today actually.

Liam in his carrier, he loved his sling but has outgrown and seems to love the Baby Bjorn even more, now that he can hold his head up he loves facing out.

He has gotten a lot of goodies lately, we got him his Baby Bjorn, and a little fan for his stroller, I got a new diaper bag- I love my one I have been using, but I wanted one to strap across me (the skip hop duo) so I can be hands free, and he got a couple new paci clips from Bella Tunno and a new monogrammed bib. His Grandma Laing sent him this really cute Night Owl onsie from Gap and a little bear to attach to his paci and the cutest book about how God knows all about him!

At Liam’s one month check up he was not even on the chart for weight. Well he gained a pound a week since then and made it on the chart at the Doctor! Way to go Liam! He weighs 9 and 1.5 pounds and he is 22 inches long.

He also got two shots yesterday and it was so sad. He has a different cry for everything he needs: hungry, dirty, tired, etc. But his little cry when he got a shot was like he was saying “I am in pain, mom, make it stop!” He is tough though and is doing fine today.

Last week his dad gave him a haircut and he looks so cute!

We just love him so much and I am enjoying staying home with him

Will and I also celebrated our two year wedding anniversary. Love him so much! He is such a good dad! And we had so much fun together on our date.

Liam and I are making our way to Charleston, South Carolina with my Dad and Lindsey for Chase’s first birthday party on Saturday. Will has to stay home and work We will miss him a lot!

Here are a few pictures

One month ago I was sitting at work super busy, when my water broke! With my due date 6 weeks away I was uncertain that “this was it”. My boss assured me that I needed to go to the hospital, she had to push me out of the door. On my way to the hospital I called Will and we decided it was probably nothing, but he should meet me there anyway. I had pre-registered the day before at the hospital, so when I got there they checked me and said my water had broke and I was 1 cen. dilated “we are having a baby tonight”. Will got there minutes later and he was shocked. He went home to get our things- my hospital bag consisted of a Bible verse written on a piece of paper and a tank top, so he did a great job getting everything we needed, that I hadn’t packed.

He called some of our family and they were shocked of course.

My doctor and nurses were amazing, Dr. Price delivered Liam and my nurse Kameron was so great. God was so gracious to us. Long story short 11 1/2 hours later and lots of painful contractions with no pain medication, we saw our sweet baby boy on April 9,2010 @ 5:23am for the first time. The feeling of seeing him for the first time was so amazing. You are just instantly in love. He was the sweetest, cutest baby we had ever seen. We just thanked God for such a blessing, we were so excited.

Since he was so early he was tiny- 4.54 pounds and almost 18 inches long. We got to see him and hold him briefly, then they took him away to the Special Care Unit. The next time we saw him he was hooked up to all of these monitors and he had tubes and wires everywhere, the doctor assured us he was in good shape, he just needed a little help breathing and eating. Within 24 hours he was breathing and eating on his own- it was really a miracle. He was in the hospital a week and the hospital allowed Will and I to stay there for free, Baptist East is the only hospital in Louisville to do that. We were tired and worried there, but our first memories of our family of three were there and it was a sweet time.

We were anything but ready, we were closing on our house a week later, but our family and church family took such good care of us, visiting us, helping us pack and paint and move, bringing us gifts and diapers, money and meals.

Huge thanks to-

Mom and Bobster, Dad and Lindsey, Lea and Buddy, Grandma and Papa Perkins, Grandma and Papa French, Uncle Kenny, Aunt Laura, Aunt Linda, Brooke and Jon, Ashley and Troy, Logan and Jeff, The Campbell’s, Jonathan and Reagan Berry, Tiffani Saltsman, Jessica Hill, Jenna Helkenson, Ashley George, The Curtis’s, Tiffany McNair, Lindsey Poenie and Kristy White, Lance Tharp, Natalee, my sweet friends from work- Erin and Marla and all the girls. I am probably forgetting others too, sorry, not to mention all of the sweet families in Louisville and Clovis that gave us shower gifts.

This first month of Liam’s life has been so enjoyable, we love him and are so thankful for the honor it is to take care of him. Being a mom is the best job in the world, sometimes it is hard and exhausting and it has made me appreciate all the moms in my life so much more!

I am so thankful for my husband who works 50 hours a week so that I can stay home and take care of our little man.

God is truly sustaining and growing Liam, he is now 5.25 pounds and 21 inches long.

Thought I should fill everyone in