Guilty as Charged...

*sigh* I'm a terrible blogger. *hangs head in shame*

I have much catching up to do. As soon as the little one lets me.

Come on, sis-thoe!

I miss my sisters.

At some point, you realize that you are nothing without the ones who love you with everything that they are.

Yessah!

So here we are.

My poor little baybays caught a slight cold - she had a runny nose yesterday and now its just a plugged up nose with watery eyes. She hasn't run a fever though and she is still her chipper self... unless you shove that suction bulb up her nose. My little Amelia Joy...

Betcha wondering how my menu did last week, huh? Well, even if you weren't, I'll tell ya anyways. I accomplished 4 of the 5 days. Monday ended up a bust and I switched the salmon dinner with corn chowder which was a winner in our kitchen :) We definitely liked the roasted vegetables and the stuffed chicken was pretty good and will be a repeat. The polenta and chicken scallopine was a bust :( but the cauliflower puree will definitely be a repeat for us :) This week hasn't been very successful, mostly due to the fact that my fridge is pretty much empty at this point, but we're out of town this weekend so all's well. We'll start again next week.

We are taking a mini-trip tonight through Sunday to my in-laws up in Orcutt/Pismo/Lompoc :) I'm excited to get away from SoCal for a weekend. Yayay Central Coast!

More bit o' news - We're heading to MN at the end of June! Yay! For me, its a huge deal. I haven't breathed MN air since early December and my siblings are anxiously awaiting their chance to meet Miss Amelia. I also miss my kiddies and have yet to meet Miss Elyana! Whenever I'm on the phone with them, they always tell me how much they miss me still. How can you NOT love these little faces?

WebMD'er, Anyone?

So tell me I'm not the only one.

Whenever I have something "wrong" with me, I go to the nifty "Symptom Checker tab" on WebMD and end up freaking myself out. Chris makes fun of me for it. We'll be laying in bed after Amelia's gone down for the night and I'll sit on his phone WebMD'ing my symptoms while he's trying to sleep.

So far this month, according to WebMD, I've been diagnosed with multiple diseases and disorders such as a dangerous form of Arthritis, brain aneurysm, herniated discs, hernias, Lyme's Disease, just to name a few.

Maybe I should add Hypochondria to it as well? ... or I should just lay off the WebMD.

All moms want peace on Earth...

My first Mother's Day left me quite spoiled :) Chris and Amelia set the bar pretty high for themselves this year.

I love my little family.

After about 6:30am, I woke up to this beside me (excuse the picture quality - my camera's been broken and has yet to be replaced and no, I didn't use Hli for her photography):

(She normally sleeps in her crib and then gets moved to our bed at like 6am if she's fussy - and yes, she's not in pj's - was dead asleep by the time we got home on Saturday night and I didn't want to wake her so she slept in what she was in all day :P )

And then this greeted me by my little kitchen:

And since Amelia was still sleeping on our bed, this was waiting for me on our dinner table (not going to count those calories):

& Chris even printed this picture (I've wanted it printed for awhile) and got me flowers:

and after church, Chris picked up Chipotle (yay!) for lunch, took me on a mini shopping spree (sans Amelia - Thanks Hli for babysitting!) and a movie (we opted to see Thor - and yes, I actually picked to see it over Something Borrowed) and then had fish tacos for dinner while we watched Amelia play when we got home.

Life is good.

I hope you moms (new & experienced) had an amazing day.

& of course, Mom... I love you. You taught me how to be kind and how to love other people regardless of who they are. & you taught me that this is what it is to know the heart of God. If I ever become 1/10 of the kind of mom you are, I know I would have done well.

Walkin'

Happy Thursday!

And yes, I'm updating because Amelia's down for a nap. I should do something productive, but... I do have priorities, ya know? :P

So Amelia and I have been walking the complex floors everyday since Tuesday and I've been pretty consistent with fitting in my lunges, squats, crunches (side crunches as well), and push ups. It just might be working :) It turns out to be a good 20 minutes-brisk-walk for all 4 floors. Amelia likes being outside (they're just covered walk-ways) and we don't end up getting sunburned so it's worked out so far. I've already lost 1 1/2 lbs. since Sunday :)

I've also compiled a rough menu for next week (missing jasmine rice, but we've cut that out of our regular rotation for dinner and it's helped a lot!). The grocery list looks like it'll enough to allow me to improvise more than the planned 5 meals which will be nice.

Cookin' in my kitchen next week (they're all low in calories! Loooove you, Cooking Light!):

Monday - spicy honey brushed pork chops with spinach risotto and roasted brussel sprouts
Tuesday - chicken scaloppine with polenta and broccoli rabe
Wednesday - chicken breasts stuffed with onions, thyme, & goat cheese with fresh veggie orzo
Thursday - chicken breasts stuffed with artichokes and goat cheese with roasted fingerling potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts
Friday - Chipotle-Honey glazed pan-seared salmon with cauliflower puree

and at some point, I'm trying this chicken-corn chowder (yes in the middle of our scorching hot SoCal heat):

Doesn't that look yummy? Plus, it's only 257 calories a serving!

We'll have to see how well this menu planning goes. I'm trying my best to be Susie-Homemaker.

**EDIT In** What am I doing wrong?? How come I can't post on your blogs? It doesn't show up after choosing a profile and whatnot...

What calories?

Its Tuesday & I'm only on my 2nd blog? *Sigh* Amelia's naps are no longer hours long - they're down to 40 minutes or so if I'm lucky. Babies tend to have their own agendas that 99.9999% of the time seem to clash with your own.

Anyway, so it's no secret that I'm trying to lose all the pregnancy weight that I gained. Since I'm nursing, I've lost more than half of it already. I'm down to the last 10 pounds before I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight and then from there, only 5 pounds to my wedding weight.

With Chris' work schedule, Amelia's sleep schedule and the SoCal heat, its hard to get an actual work-out in. I tried getting back into jogging in the mornings and so far, I've done it once - hah. I found out that my body's not ready to jump into running that quickly (duh), so Amelia and I have been taking walks here and there, but now, enter in SoCal's unbelievable heat and NO TREES (read: NO SHADE!). We're now trying to get into the routine of walking before or after dinner with Chris so we'll see and I'm also going to try just walking around our apartment complex since it's all shaded all 4 floors with Amelia. A little walking is better than nothing, right?

I've also decided to start doing weekly menus for us with low calorie counts. Since it's really only Chris and I (and Hli while she's here), it'll help with trying to figure out a weekly grocery list & also since Olde Town Orange is bringing a Farmer's Market closer to us (like 5 miles if even!), it'll be easier to make sure that produce doesn't go bad in the fridge - LOVE the Farmer's Market, by the way!

So with all that said, I've been trying to get several recipes down and came across Cooking Light's website and I have to say, LOVE the recipes I've come across - can't wait to try them out. They're low in calories and seem pretty easy to prepare.

Last night, I tried out a Zucchini Risotto and pork chops.

It turned out quite yummy.

Here's to trying out the rest of the recipes that I've saved - i.e. spicy tilapia, chicken breasts with goat cheese, roasted brussel sprouts... mmm...

So now I ask, how do you get workouts in and what would you do if it was too stinkin hot out to even take a walk with a newborn? Oh, also, share those recipes with me, please! :)

Alright, the little monster is stirring.

The First

Yay! My first blog post under this blogspot. I've tried to blog several times before, but it never stuck. Now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, I'll give it another shot. What can I say? I'm trying to be better at follow-through's.

Those of you who know me, know me well, those who don't, you're welcome to take a seat :)

Chris and I have had a busy, busy year and 1/2 of marriage. We bought Eye Magic Photo, Inc. right after we got married (09/19/2009 - the process of deciding to buy it went along with wedding planning - added stress!) - no honeymoon! and then we found out we were having a baby in June of 2010 - right before Father's Day - how fitting, right?

10 months later and we're the Hnou-Chris Gonzalez family. Amelia Joy was born on Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 12:12 pm. She's a beauty. We still can't get enough of her.

Being a new mom, its weird for me - especially since I used to like to consider myself as... well... fashion-conscious, but since Amelia's popped into the picture, I pretty much live in whatever I managed to put on the night before - mainly sweats or more likely a nightie. Some days, I'll muster up the energy to do my makeup and try to "pretty" myself, but that's lower on the list than it used to be. I know, me? Who woulda thunk it? Hli says its funnier that being who I am (read: kinda prissy), Amelia now pukes on my shoulder or poops on my leg and I don't even flinch. Oh mommyhood, I suppose you suit me well.

Some days, though, its a challenge being a mommy - I don't know how my mom did it with 5 of us. Those "some days" are days when my only "me-time" is in the shower and once I'm out, its 99% certain that Amelia's already needing some attention or dinner has to be prepared or the dishes need to be washed or the laundry has yet to be put away.

Slowly, I'm learning that Chris wants to help me and even slower, I'm learning how to let him help me and not be so caught up in how he does it as long as it's done (I'm just like my mom, hah). I love my husband.

Some days, its frustrating how many times Amelia wants to be held when all I want is for her to nap by herself so I can actually pick up a hobby and be able to do it. Some days, by the time Chris comes home, dinner isn't ready yet, laundry hasn't been put away, and the apartment is still a mess and yet, I have no idea where my day went.

But at the end of those "some days," Amelia lays in my arms and grins her toothless smile and bats those long lashes at me and I realize that I wouldn't have our life any other way. And then in the mornings when she wakes up next to me in bed and coos and gurgles to herself and then smiles at us when Chris kisses her goodbye for the day, I am thankful that God chose to teach me what love is through Amelia and Chris.

How did I doubt it? Mom was right - you'll know when you finally have your own kids.

This is our new little journey.