Discouraged

I'm becoming very discouraged about loosing weight. I have been working so hard lately to eat healthy, and exercise 5 days a week. I have been doing really well with it! I am eating extremely healthy. I either run or go to zumba 5 days each week. I have stayed about the same weight for the past several weeks. I keep thinking, ok that sucks, but next week maybe it will start coming off. Nope. This week I gained 2 lbs! How?! ugh. I feel stuck. I lost about 14-15 lbs so easily, and then I have stayed the same ever since. I keep working at it thinking that one of these days it will start coming off.
It's one thing to have the motivation to keep going when you are seeing results. But why am I giving up all the foods I love when I gain weight with or without them? I know. It's about lifestyle, and being healthier. I feel better when I work out and eat right. But I'm not seeing a difference in the way my clothes fit, or on the scale. I wanted to be 30 lbs less than I am right now by Payton's birthday. At this point I don't see that happening, and it is so frustrating since I have been working so hard at it.
I had an appointment with a nurse practitioner the other day, and I expressed concerns to her about it. She was surprised I am not loosing with how hard I am working at it. She gave me several options of things to try. One of the options was the HCG diet..which, after doing some research, I decided not to do. The other one is a appetite suppression medication, which I ended up getting, but haven't taken it yet. I don't know how I feel about it. I really don't have that much of an appetite, so I don't know how it will help.
Any one have any suggestions? Here is what I am doing now:
I am eating 1200-1400 calories per day, divided into 6 small meals.
I eat fruits/veggies with each of my 6 meals, and protein.
I have almost completely cut out junk food (chips, pop, desserts)..with an occasional "cheat".
I run 2-3 miles about 3 times a week. I go to zumba at least 2 times a week.
I am not perfect with it, and maybe thats' the problem. Most days I eat exactly what I plan out, and nothing more. The days after I work, I don't eat at all until the afternoon, but then I have 2 small meals instead of 6. Would not eating for most of the day on those days throw me off? I struggle on Sunday. It is usually the day I slip up. We usually get together with Devry's family for Sunday dinner, and I struggle to not eat the delicious food, and desserts. The Nurse practitioner suggested only taking the medication on Sunday morning or something, to help me that day. That's an option I guess.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am desperate! My 30lb weight loss goal by July 27th is pretty much not an option, but I am really hoping 20lbs still could be. 20lbs in 2 1/2 months..that's healthy right?

Spring is finally here!

We are finally having some wonderful weather! It is rainy today, but the past week or so has been warm, sunny, and BEAUTIFUL! I love being able to take Payton outside without layers and layers of clothes. He loves it too. We have been going for walks every day, and he loves being in his stroller. He is getting so big, so fast! About 2 days after he started crawling he decided it wasn't enough for him, and started pulling himself up on all the furniture. Every single day he is doing something new that shocks us. He is cruising around on everything, and trying to stand up on his own. He loves to hold our hands and walk everywhere (watch the video below), and sometimes forgets he can't walk on his own, and tries. He has discovered how to open cupboards and pull things out. He is such a handful...but I love it!

What about Devry and me? I blog all about Payton and often forget to put any updates on us. We are both in school for the semester. I am taking my last 2 classes and will be graduating in July with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I am very very excited to be done school. Working, going to school, and being a mom has been a challenge and I'm anxious to be done with school for now. A Masters Program will be in my future, but I want at least a year off. I am trying to pick up some extra shifts at work for full time hours while Devry finishes up school.
Devry was originally registered for 14 credits (5 classes) for the semester, but after meeting with an adviser and the chairperson over his department, 3 of his classes were waived. This makes it so he can graduate a semester earlier then we thought. So he is taking 3 classes this semester, and will take 4 next winter. He will graduate with is Bachelors degree in Automotive Technology and management in April of 2011. He is working tons on the farm. They are busy with planting and preparing everything for the summer.

This summer is going to be a very very busy one! We will be going to Boise the end of June for Payton's surgery, then again the end of July for a follow-up. My best friend Samantha is getting married the beginning of July in Vancouver, B.C. and we are going to try to drive up for it if possible. If Devry can't get the time off school, then I will fly with Payton. We are also planning a trip home to Nova Scotia for the end of August. I am SO excited to be going home. My mom, dad and sister (and alot of my aunts, uncles, grandparents etc) haven't seen Payton since he was 11 weeks old, and my brother has never met him. Everyone will get to see him this summer. I am so excited for everything that is coming up this summer, and also excited for the nice weather so we can enjoy daily activities outside.

Payton cruising on the couch while playing with his toys.
First time on the grass. He was not quite sure what to think of it. He kept crawling on his hands and feet because he hated the feeling of the grass on his knees.


Payton playing with Dash. We have two WONDERFUL dogs, who are so kind and gentle with Payton. Dash just lays there while Payton crawls all over him, and pulls his fur, tail and ears. And daisy is so gentle with him. Payton loves them! I'm glad we have such great dogs who have been so easy to train and well natured.


And here is a video of Payton "walking" around the yard holding Devry's hands. This is what he wants to do ALL the time.

Payton is Crawling!

Here is a video of Payton crawling! He has been army crawling for a while now, and figured out how to crawl for real this weekend.

A Daddy's Boy

Payton absolutely loves his daddy. He gets SO excited when Devry walks in the room, espcially after getting home from work. Whenever I say "daddy's home" Payton starts looking around everywhere, smiling, laughing and squeeling even before he sees him.
Well, Yesterday Payton and I went over to my friend Whitney's house to visit with her and her baby, Naomi (who is a couple of months younger then Payton). While we were there Whitney's husband, Jaren came home from work for lunch. Whitney started telling Naomi that her Daddy was home. Apparantly Payton thinks that Devry is the only "daddy" because he got really excited hearing that "Daddy" was home. Then, Jaren walked around the corner, and Payton stared at him for a second then starting SCREAMING. That was NOT his daddy! He was not impressed at all. How rude to get his hopes up about his Daddy being home. He was so upset about it, and I thought it was so cute that he loves his Daddy so much. He is definately a daddy's boy.

Spring!

I went for a run today outside with Payton. It felt SO good to run outside! I am excited that I can finally start training for the 5K I am planning on running this summer. I love the warm weather, and sunshine! I am so excited for it to keep getting warmer and warmer. Payton LOVES being outside.
we have so much going on lately.

• Payton is VERY busy discovering the world. He rolls everywhere in the house, and is crawling backwards. He gets on his knees and rocks trying to go forwards, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He will anyday though. He is babbling so much. He says "mumumum", "paaaa" "buba", "iii", and "dada." Its so hard to tell what if he actually knows he is saying something. I am pretty sure he says "mumum" knowing its me, and "ii" when I say Hi to him. He also has discovered that he can scream. He will be laying on the floor playing and just let out high pitched shreeks. He thinks it is SO funny, and keeps doing it and laughing after. He makes me laugh just watching him. He giggles ALL the time, and is just a VERY happy baby. I LOVE being his mom, and watching him learn and grow everyday. I feel so lucky to have the job that I do, where I can be home with him everyday and experience all of his "firsts." Even though I am a part time nurse, I am still very much a full time mom!
• I stopped nursing Payton about a month ago. After fighting with my milk supply for over 3 weeks, I finally added some formula and slowly weaned him. It was a very hard decision for me, and I felt like a failure becuase I wasn't producing enough for him anymore. I tried everything from supplements, mothers milk tea, root beer, pumping every 2-3 hours, increasing calories, cutting back on exercising. EVERYTHING. Nothing worked. Feeding sessions would turn into him getting mad because he wasn't getting enough, and me feeling annoyed or upset. It was not a good experience for either one of us anymore. I finally decided it wasn't worth the fight or frusturation. Switching him to a bottle was great because he could hold it himself, and loved it! Some parts were difficult at first. He was spitting up more then ever! I switched him to Soy formula last week, and since then he has hardly spit up at all. It was a tough decision, but has worked out for the best.
• We had the flu FLY through our family this past weekend. Payton woke up Friday night in the middle of the night. I went in to see what was wrong and he threw up everywhere. Then he was happy and went right back to sleep. He did it once more that night, but other then that he was fine. He had been spitting up a lot since being on formula, so we assumed that was the problem. Apparantly not. We spent part of saturday with Devry's family, and on Sunday morning Devry came down with the flu, then I did Sunday night/Monday morning along with devry's dad, mom, and our 2 nephews and 1 neice. Then Devry's brother had it tuesday. It spread like CRAZY, and was not fun at all.
• We went to boise last week for Payton's follow up appointment. He will have to have a second surgery on June 25th because the first one didn't work. We are frusturated about it not working, and that we have to go through the traumatic experience again. Luckily the hospital is writting off the first bill since it didn't work. We still have to pay for the anesthesia for the first surgery, but it is much less then we thought we would have to pay.
• All of our puppies are gone. it was a great way to make a bit of extra money. They were so cute and we are excited we easily found good homes for them all. Payton LOVES Daisy and Dash, and the puppies. Here are some pictures of him playing with one of the puppies.
  
  

And just a fun pic of my cutie loving life with his toes :)

Payton's First Haircut

I finally gave in and gave Payton a haircut. It was a few weeks go, I just havn't gotten around to posting about it. His hair was getting so long in the front that it was constantly in his eyes, and the long hair was throwing people off about his gender (which doesn't make sense to me...because I would never dress a girl in blue and green sports/cars/tractor covered outfits).
I cut it myself, and it actually turned out pretty good, considering he wouldn't keep his head still.

We had to keep him occupied with food to stop him from grabbing the comb or scissors. Therefore, his face is covered in food in all these pictures.

Birthday and pictures!

This past month has flown by! We are so busy enjoying life! On Feb 25th, I turned 23. Devry spoiled me rotten. He brought me breakfast in bed, sent me for a massage, bought me flowers, took me out to Red Robin for Lunch, and made cake, brownies and icecream to share with family. It was a wonderful day!

Here is Carter and Trey, Enjoying cake and ice cream!

All of us blowing out the candles!

Trey waiting to blow out the candles. They made me a very neat card, with chocolate bars replacing words! Devry brought me my favorite flowers, Gerber Daisies.

Payton's favorite part about my birthday was the balloons! He would play with this balloon for so long and had so much fun!

Today, I took Payton for his first swimming lesson! Rexburg does not have a community pool, which is something that has dissapointed me for a long time. Through a friend,I found out about a lady that has an indoor pool at her house, and teaches swimming lessons. I contacted her, and signed Payton and me up for the "mommy and me" classes. The pool is wonderful! It is warm enough that payton didn't get cold, and big enough for kids' lessons. I am so glad I have found it!
Payton really enjoyed it today! He was very serious at first, trying to take it all in. Once he got used to it he started kicking and splashing, then would smile and laugh. I am so excited to take him next week!

Because it was just me and him, I didn't get any pictures of him in the pool... maybe one of these times Devry will come with me and take some pictures. Instead, I have some pictures of him in the tub after we got home. He LOVES the water!

For my birthday, I got a new phone. It is a Palm Pixi, and I LOVE it! It has email, internet, tons of apps, facebook and pretty much anything I need. It has a great camera, so I have been taking tons of pictures. Here are some of my favorites of my sweet boy!

Payton Enjoying his dinner. He is really wanting to feed himself lately, grabbing the spoon from me.

This picture I took because it made me laugh. Payton is rolling all over the place, and getting very very close to crawling. I went in to get him from his nap, and he was completely backwards in his crib, playing with his toys.

Having fun outside. I am loving that the weather is starting to warm up, and I can actually take him outside for more then a couple minutes!