Shades and Scales

I guess I’m a sucker for cute stuff for Bean. After having her at the pool briefly the other day, I decided she needs some sunglasses. I had bought a pair at Target, but they were still too big and didn’t stay on her face. So with some help from Google I found Baby Banz. Guess that’s a take off Ray Banz, but whatever. So they have these super cute retro style glasses for babies that have the soft neoprene type fabric that wraps them around their head and Velcros into place….so of course, I had to have them for her. They came in on Thursday and I think she looks pretty darn cute in them if I do say so myself!





I’m also tired of not knowing exactly what she weighs. Trying to subtract from the house bathroom scale and then trying to convert 10th of pounds into ounces, well it was driving me nuts and I wasn’t going to take her to the pedi every few weeks to see how much she weighs, so I found a scale on sale on Amazon. It also came in on Thursday and we got it set up quickly and determined that she now weighs 10 pounds ½ ounce! And no crazy subtraction and division was required to figure it out. Now I can weigh her once a week and just make sure she is gaining well, which hasn’t been an issue, but the NICU spoils you in finding out how much they weigh every day, so I just want to know and now I can!

Now for my next iphone app rave. Since we’ve already established I’m a book nerd and will hope that Mallory will enjoy reading as much as I did as a kid, and even Ben read a lot as a kid….I recall stories about him reading his families entire encyclopedia collection, which is probably why he’s such a vat of useful and useless knowledge. I’ve found the app Tales 2 Go. Basically is audio books for kids but instead of having to buy each book/story individually you get a free month subscription and then if you like it it’s $24 a year for their entire collection of books and it’s broken down into age groups. It really doesn’t claim to start until 3 years, but I figure it can’t hurt to play them for Mallory while driving down the road and since the Edge has the sync system with my iphone, it goes right through the speakers. So far we’ve listened to some of Aesop’s fables and a book about frogs playing soccer, but it’s much more tolerable than say, Sponge Bob. So far I really like it, and I really like the fables, stuff that kids probably don’t get much exposure too anymore. It played the one about the crow who wanted the water in the bottom of the pitcher but couldn’t get to it so he put all the rocks in the pitcher and brought the water up to him. Totally forgot about that one, I love books with “morale of the story is”. Can’t wait to read her all my Serendipity books from when I was a kid and I still have them all and they are in great shape!

Mom's been watching Bean yesterday and today since she can't start full time at the new sitter's until next week, so I think they've been having fun doing some bonding time. I find it funny how Ben's mom likes to fix things I like and mom likes to fix things Ben likes....Mom brought all the stuff with her to make Salmon Croquets, Black Eyed peas and Fried Squash. I like all that, but that is very much a BEN meal!

I wrapped up Day 2 of the first week of my Couch 2 5K program at the gym today over lunch and came to a couple realizations:
1. I need to order more Sweaty Bands. I forgot mine today and had to resort to the crappy ones from Target that I keep in my gym bag as backups. About 30 seconds into my workout I quickly realized how much it is worth the $15 to have a hair band that does not slip and stays on my head when I'm working out. Will be buying a couple more so this dreadful experience never has to happen again.
2. Running is a lot like riding a bike. For the most part I'm in horrible shape but although my endurance is crap, half of running is form and breathing technique and after running off and on for 15 years now, those 2 things you just never forget, so thankfully the endurance can be regained as I continue on my plan to get my butt across the finish line of the Nashville 1/2 Marathon in April.
3. I love my SPI Belt. I had bought myself one around Christmas when I ordered one for my friend Mary Ruth who also runs. I've heard people on the running forums rave about them, basically they are little bitty streatchy pouches that are on a belt you wear around your hips/waist. Think fanny pack but much sleaker and smaller, specifically for runners/walkers that doesn't bounce and you can fit an iphone, cash, key and that would be about it. I've yet to use mine until today and I love it. My iphone was shocking the crap out of me via the treadmill some how so I went to my gym bag, got it out, stuck my phone in it, snaped in on my hips and carried on. It never budged, the ear phone cords were perfectly long enough to reach from my rear to my ears with just enough slack to move around without cathing your arm in your cords. How did I ever live without it??

Most of you know my husband and know that weight has never been a problem for him, unless you consider not really ever being able to GAIN weight as a problem. Apparenlty there is some "get fit" program at Whayne Supply and they are encouraging everyone to wear a pedometer and try to get in their recommended daily amount of steps to maintain their weight, or lose some if that is their desire. Ben said for his height and weight he should take 8,000 some odd steps a day for maintaining his current weight. So, if you talk to Ben, be sure to ask him how many steps he walked today, although I seriously think if he only took 2 steps per day he would probably maintain his weight!

Have a great weekend and here's a few other Mallory pictures from the past couple days:

Bean's first day at the new sitter...

I dropped off Bean this morning at the new sitter with a feeling that things will go well here. Carole is her name and I just get a good feeling about this place. I like the way it’s set up, I like the way she keeps Mallory away from the other kids, how she really seems to enjoy what she does, how organized she is with everything and the fact that she’s kept a preemie before who was even earlier than Mallory.

Mallory seemed to do well with her, like she can really tell me if she didn't, but she seems happy! Carole said she did great, only cried when she was hungry our had a wet/dirty diaper. She said she interacted well with her, cooing, smiling, etc. She said she was amazed she was so interactive as early as she was. She's much more on target for her actual age as opposed to her adjusted age. Ben's going to go with me tomorrow morning to drop her off so he can meet Carole and see the place as well. I think this will be a good fit.


I like to keep up with how much Mallory weighs and since our home scale isn’t terribly accurate with weighing yourself and then adding her and subtracting the difference, I ordered a baby/toddler scale today. Now I can be confident in her weight gain and really know how much she is weighing. I think it should be in on Friday and I’m anxious to get to try it out. The NICU totally spoils you in seeing how much she weighs every day! I don’t have any desire to weigh her every day, but once a week would be nice.

I put one of her newborn outfits on her this morning and it is considerably more snug than it has been in the past. I think it isn’t going to be much longer and she’s going to be fully in the 0-3 month clothes that she has. I still need to box up her preemie clothes and ship them to the Intermediate Nursery at Kosairs so the babies without clothes can have something to wear. I’m guessing she’s right at the 10 pound range now!!

I’ve got a new iphone app to rave about. I downloaded it right before I ended up in the hospital and then never got to use it and now that life is getting back to normal I’m getting to truly utilize it. This app is called the Grocery Gadget. I’m all about planning my meals ahead of time (when possible) and only making one trip to the grocery per week. I HATE grocery shopping. Typically I have some Franklin Covey weekly meal planner pages that I use and do like but I get annoyed at half the time not having a pen, having to cross stuff off the piece of paper, or forgetting the piece of paper entirely….you get the picture. The Grocery Gadget has an interface on your home/laptop computer, just a webpage, where you can go in and plug in the items you need what area of the grocery it’s in, because I am ANAL about making sure things are listed in the way to get to them in the store so I don’t have to backtrack and waste MORE time in the grocery, and then it automatically syncs to your grocery gadget app on your iphone and voila, there’s your list at your finger tips. You check them off as you buy them, it lists them by categories that YOU make and determine and I love it! It does a lot of other nifty things that I haven’t really figured out fully yet but item, isle and check mark capability works for me!! Now if Ben just had an iphone because I could add it to his phone, make a list on the computer, sync it to his phone and it would automatically show up on his phone…..maybe one day. I love list management software!! You can also use it for lists for things at Lowes, Target, etc. It’s not just for groceries.

Finally got to get back to the gym today after not getting to go for the past 2 weeks. Did a quick 30 minute workout to get the muscles used to moving again and then plan to start C25K tomorrow....anxious to see how that goes. Got another couple chapters further in my audio book The Devil Wears Prada....how happy am I that I don't live and work in NYC! Sure it's a fiction book, but still, it can't be that far off. Not where I want to be!