Feeling Fabulous Weekly Challenge

If you're looking for Jake pictures and only Jake pictures, feel free to skip this part. ;)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently part of a challenge. It's called the "Feeling Fabulous" challenge. It's four weeks long, and it actually is a real challenge!

Here's what it is: you have 25 daily goals. They need to be actually challenging, but not unfeasible. You count each goal you complete each day as one point, so you can get 25 points per day, or 175 points per week. These are my goals:

-Spend quality time with Tyler
-Write in my personal journal or blog
-10 minutes of reading/meditation/personal time
-learn a new word/expand your vocab
-mail a handwritten letter or note
-Eat a home cooked meal
-Drink 64 oz of water
-No fast food
-Try a new recipe
-3 servings of fruits/veggies
-Fun inside the house (not including TV)
-Fun outside the house
-Apartment clean before bed
-Finish a craft or home improvement project
-Create something for my portfolio in photoshop
-Get dressed
-Exercise for 30 minutes
-Do hair and makeup
-Limit daytime tv
-In bed before midnight
-Make the bed
-Pray morning and night
-Read/sing/talk to Jake
-Store 5 oz of milk in the freezer
-Shower

I didn't think up all these goals by myself. I borrowed some from the original challenge, and I borrowed a few from Nichole. (The girl who is currently holding the challenge) and a few I thought of myself. All are worthy goals, I think. Especially for a new mom. (i.e.: shower, get dressed, do hair and makeup.)

Last week was the first week of the challenge, and I ended up with a lousy 63 points. So this week, I vowed I would do better. And I really surprised myself! I ended up with 143 points! And let me tell you, it's exhausting to do all of that in a day!

I found this challenge through my blog-stalking addiction. Nichole is a friend of a friend. Luckily, she welcomed my blog-stalking. I thought this challenge would be the perfect way to get out of my "new mommy haze." (Ya know, the no-sleep, no-daily-shower, never-do-my-hair-or-makeup, -hardly-get-off-the-couch-let-alone-cook-or-clean haze. No? Maybe I'm the only one....) Anyways, it really was perfect. It's been an exhausting week, but I feel so much more accomplished at the end of the day. And I feel much better about myself when I'm able to shower AND do my hair AND put on makeup all in the same day. And as an added bonus, I lost three more pounds!

Ok, ok, enough about me. I know you are all here for the Jake update!! We got him a bumbo seat this week, and he loves it! He loves to be able to sit up and look around see everything. (He still likes being held more, but hey...can you blame him?)

Staring at the TV...he stares at it even if it's not turned on.

He's so happy, his toes are curled.
(Really, I think he was just feeling off-balance, and was trying to curl his toes to compensate.)

Jake has started sucking his thumb. I can't get him to take a pacifier, no matter how hard I try or what brand I use. A little side story - this morning we were sitting on the couch, and he had his thumb in his mouth. I took it out and tried to give him a pacifier. He spit out the pacifier, looked up at me with a scowl on his face, and actually yelled at me! And then went back to happily sucking on his fist until he got his thumb back in his mouth. The child is a rebel already.


We had to move the straps up on Jake's infant carseat. =( It actually makes me really sad, because I miss my tiny little baby. But it is exciting to watch him grow and learn. Being a parent comes with a LOT of conflicting emotions.

Here's the day we brought him home:

And this was last week.


And finally, a side by side comparison. He has almost outgrown his cradle, and I'm not ready for him to move out to the living room! (His crib is in the living room, if you remember. I can't wait to move into a place where he can have his own room!)

The picture on the left is the first time we put him in it, and the picture on the right was about a week and a half ago. He's learned to scoot himself up until his head hits the top of the cradle! So I think it's almost time for the crib. I foresee a lot of sleeping out on the couch in my future.