What We've Been Up To

(Let me warn you the following will be photo collage overload. I have not posted pics of my kiddo in some time and he deserves his time in the spotlight. Enjoy!)

Loads and loads going on around these parts...only problem is most of it is being shared on Instagram and not being transferred over here. This girl is nothing short of obsessed....and I don't even care if you judge me. My family or close friends, well you have probably noticed the lack of photo texts being sent your way showing all of little man's developments. That's because they are all being uploaded to IG - where I can post without abandon and pretend I know how to use hashtags (seriously, check out this nonsense here).

Anywho...here is what the Mango's have been up to.

• Cruz got to enjoy some time on the farm with Papa a couple weeks ago and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more - him or my dad. I looooove the fact that Cruz incessantly chants Papa when I mention his name or for minutes after our FaceTime chats with him. He adores his Papa...and stroking his full, gray beard.

• We've got a bleeder! (Who can name that movie?) Little man got his first self-inflicted, gushing-blood wound on Sunday. I thought I would've handled it worse than I did, but I actually impressed myself and didn't cry. Not one tear. Now this is quite different from the first time he bled. I bawled like a baby. He was probably two months old and I tried cutting his nails for the first time. He squirmed just as I squeezed the clippers...and you can figure out the rest. If you had seen me then, you would've thought I had just cut off his pinky.

• One thing our little family of three loves to do is EAT. And even more we love going out to dinner. We have made a little ritual of going to Vincenzo's for some Italian on Sunday nights. Partly because the food is so good (and cheap) and partly due to the fact that the servers all adore our little guy and dote on him like he is Knox Pitt. We changed up our game a bit and went there this past Saturday night to celebrate Britt's birthday...and some wine. All of us, evidently, by looking at the pics below.

• (Boys, you should probably skip over this little gem.) Well, I finally took the time to get my girls measured. They have been all messed up since having little man and basically falling out of my bras, so I assumed I needed to get a much smaller size. (Sad face.) Imagine my surprise when she told me I was now a 32D. Um, yeah right honey. She handed me a bra to try in this size while I all but laughed in her face...but then it fit. Like really, really well. And I think I almost hugged her. One, because it was so nice to have a bra that actually cradled my ladies just so. But, more importantly, because I could actually text the hubs and tell him that I'm now a size D...and predict his response which for the blog's sake basically made me feel like Pamela Anderson...or Dolly Parton. Let's just say it impressed him...
• Along other lines, I think I'm turning our son into a dog. He is obsessed with playing with Maya's dog toys. Pees, pees he screams, while signing it feverishly at the same time - wanting Nick or I to throw a toy for Maya to fetch. I swear he could do this for hours. And last night it got worse. Maya wasn't complying with his game or fetching fast enough, so Cruz decided he would. Each time I threw the ball, he would look at Maya who was lazily laying on the carpet and then take off crawling or walking to the toy and bring it back for me to throw again. We played this game for roughly an hour. And he never tired of it.

• A couple weekends ago, I braved a day out by myself with Cruz and my sister's kiddos. I was a bit nervous because to honest sometimes it's hard to manage my one guy who is constrained to a stroller most of the time, let alone three other kids who can't be strapped in anything (although the thought did cross my mind to pick up a couple of those monkey backpack/leash things on our way). They had been stuck in the house most of the weekend, so we decided to go have lunch and then hit up Amazing Pizza Machine for some games. And we had a blast! They were so well-behaved and we even got a couple great photo ops (check out C copying my "funny face" - too cute!)

• And lastly, if these cute little girl scouts don't stop guilting me into buying their delicious cookies, I'm going to go mad...or gain 20 lbs. Who can resist a frozen Thin Mint? Not this girl. Mmm, vodka.

I Really Love My...Dyson Handheld

I've been meaning to post about our favorite products as it relates to baby for some time now....obviously a long time since I intended to do this every few months and he's now 15 months old. Fail.

So, first I feel it only right to make a plug about my most favorite product in the whole world - the Dyson Handheld Vac....and even though it wasn't created specifically for life with a baby, it should be marketed that way. Every mama should have one. 

Best.Invention.Ever.

Most of you know that I have an aversion to cleaning. I like a clean house, but I don't like having to be the one to get it there....hence the reason we have a house cleaner (if it came down to it, we would be eating ramen noodles before we got rid of her). We have a fancy schmanzy Dyson vacuum that gets about as much use as my oven and to be honest it's a pain to have to lug out of the office every time we have a meal in the high chair (there's sure to be masses of food thrown overboard) or dog hair to clean up. So when my MIL gifted us with this little gem for our 3rd anniversary last August, I quickly fell in love.

We've had handheld vacs before...and they sucked.  Well, wait a sec, actually they didn't suck, which was the problem.

We literally use this every day. Generally three times a day if we are eating at home and it works like a charm. The only problem (small, in my opinion) is that little man is desperately afraid of it. He sees me walk around the corner with it in hand and he runs in the other direction. He hates the noise it makes. Check him out. C versus the Dyson...

Look at that face...pure hatred

If you have small children, furry family members or messy husbands, this is a must. Take it from me, buy it or better yet drop hints to family that you would like one..and you will never regret it.

A Little Luke Bryan In My Life

I wasn't sure what to expect when we planned a girl's night to Sioux City for Luke Bryan. Yes, I knew I would have fun with the girls. And yes, I knew I liked some of LB's music, but only a couple songs. And like the dork that I am, I wiki'd him to find out his number one hits so I could download them to my phone and listen to them all week, so at the concert I wouldn't have to just sway to the music pretending I knew the words.

Plus, when you are bringing together two groups of friends - new friends mixed with old friends (not old as in age but old as in friends forever) - you never know how they are going to get along. Fortunately, my different groups of friends always seem to get along when we intermix...I think it's the common denominator. Kidding. Kind of. :)

The night ended up being a blast. Here is a little recap.

• Dinner at Luciano's in Sioux City. Good food & many cocktails. We were just goofballs. I can't describe in on here because it would be one of those "you had to be there" kind of funny and I hate when people do that.
• Luke Bryan. Enough said. I knew he was good looking, but this guy was absolutely gorgeous in person and he moves his hips like Magic Mike. He came out in a v-neck T, tight jeans, a studded belt and a trucker hat. Um, hello yummy man. He worked the stage, had an amazing voice and was just sexy. He has definitely moved onto my list. You know the list I'm talking about. The one where you keep the top five guys you would be able to get with should you meet them in person (and because they are just dying to meet you & be with you) and your hubs can't get mad? Mine is Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, David Beckham (though he would be silent - I can't stand his high-pitched voice), Paul Walker and Richard Gere (the Pretty Woman one, not the gerbil one).  I'm not yet sure who I'm giving up yet, but he will be on my list. Maybe I can just squeeze one more on it? I think I said, "omg he's so sexy" at least 67 times that night.
• Heading back to my hometown to our little corner bar for a few beers before last call and the first comment when we walk in being, "hey, you must be a Fuchser girl because you are the only ones who wear heels in this bar." I admit it made me smile. I love being back home and I'm dang proud of my country girl roots.
• Recapping the night with my mom and Kate when we got to my parent's house while shoveling Funyuns and Doritos in my mouth (though I won't have remembered this the next morning and would try to recap it again then) and then laying down with little man because he wouldn't fall asleep. 
• Getting a call the next morning at 6:30am from Britt who was sleeping downstairs to alert me that the toilet had overflowed all over their bedroom and the basement living room and walking down there to masses and masses of water. 
• Recapping the night with the girls over C-store breakfast pizza and remembering all the fun times and convos from the night before driving back to Omaha...one of us had to work. Boo.

Fun times.

Fun with the girls and one hot man

Mama Weight ( Part Two: Post-Pregnancy)

(This is part two of "losing the mama weight", check out the first post here.)

Now for the real meat of my Mama Weight battle. The road to losing it. And I will say, it was not easy. For me, at least.

For everyone else - celebs, every mama blog I followed, other moms I ran into - it seemed to be so easy. The weight appeared to just fall off. They posted pics of themselves looking like they had looked pre-preggo just a few months after giving birth. Bitches. Kidding...well kind of. :)

For me, though, it was tough. I carried over my late-pregnancy bad eating habits after I had little man (remember the cupcakes, Oreos and pudding pies?) It took me a looong time to get used to the new sleep routine, or lack thereof.  I didn't breastfeed. I had no energy. I wore sweatpants every day. It was tough.

Then I got the green light to work out from my doctor and I got somewhat serious about it. I was still on leave and stole every chance I could to fit in some type of exercise.  Logging a few minutes on the treadmill. Popping in the Tracy Anderson Post-Pregnancy DVD.  Taking advantage of the abnormally nice January weather (here) and walking whenever I could. Then my maternity leave ended and I was back to working full-time+ again. My workouts went on the back burner.

Over the next couple of months I struggled to get back to a consistent routine. Food-wise, I was logging so many hours that I would just throw whatever I could into my mouth when my stomach started growling. I drank loads of caffeine to stay awake through the day. I guess you could say I was in a rut (here) and traveling for work and for fun definitely wasn't helping (here).

In late May, I decided I needed to get serious about getting back to working out and eating better...our family Vegas trip was looming in front of me and I couldn't be the beached whale (you know what I mean) among all of my thin and trim sister-in-laws. I did pretty well. I started eating smaller portions, made healthier choices and logged a lot of miles running outside. I felt better about myself than I had in a while, though I knew I hadn't gotten back to where I wanted to be.

After our Vegas trip, I slipped again (seriously, is it annoying you how many times I fell off the wagon? Me too!) I always found something more important to do than work out. I kept telling myself I would start eating better on Monday...this happened every Sunday night.

After going back and forth for a couple months, I finally just took the plunge and signed myself up for the Omaha Half Marathon (here)...a month prior to the race. I have to say this was the most important move I had made on my road to getting back to myself. One, it pushed me to run, run, run...otherwise I would've made a damn fool of myself. And two, it gave me back the confidence I needed to prove to myself that I could do it. Not only the race, but get back to being healthy. I still can't believe I ran 13 miles at one time...and actually finished better than I thought I would (here).  That was definitely not something I thought I could or would do within a year after having a baby.

The half in September helped me jump start what I can only call the final leg of my road back to my pre-preggo self. I felt really good about myself and decided that while I was feeling good about my work out plan, I needed to get to a place where I felt good about my eating habits.

I completely dissected what I ate regularly and sought out healthy alternatives. I started packing my lunch for work so I wouldn't be tempted to grab something quick from our cafes of buffets. I decreased my portions. I increased my water intake. I made substitutions - instead of chips or crackers for a midday snack, I brought a baggie full of carrots. I made sure to have a Kind bar in my bag in case I got hungry. I cut toast out of my breakfast (subbed with two hard-boiled eggs each morning) and bread out of my lunch (and instead have lunch meat with a piece of cheese). I eat more fruit...thanks to my boy, Cruz. He eats so much of it that I always have fresh fruit around the house and I force myself to incorporate it into my snacks or with my meals. I guess I just started making better choices.

It was these things that helped me get to a place I was comfortable with. By mid-November I was five pounds down from my pre-preggo weight. (Don't forget, though, my pre-preggo weight wasn't anything to write home about).  I felt good in my clothes. I had energy.

Don't get me wrong, I still fall of the wagon. The holidays hit me like a tornado - cookies, candy, huge meals - I was all over it. I miss workouts often. I love wine a bit too much. I often blame work for my fails. I still eat the fatty foods I love. I don't deny myself my favorite meals. I just do more in moderation.

Fifteen months after giving birth to my first child, I'm finally in a place where I feel good about myself. I'm eating better than I ever have, while still allowing myself to indulge every now and again. I'm trying new workouts. I feel better about myself.

If I can sign off with anything - or better yet remind myself when it comes this time again after our next kiddo - its don't beat yourself up or stress about it. As they say, it took nine months for your body to change and grow like it did, it definitely should take nine months (or 15, but who's counting) for it to get back to where it was. Take your time and do things right. It's not only about working out, but about eating better and being cognizant of what you are putting into your body.  Thanks for listening. This was important for me to write for myself.

Mama Weight ( Part One: Pre- And During Pregnancy)

(This is part one of my post-preggo weight loss journey. It by no means has ended, but I feel that I can finally speak to this little battle and let you know how its went for me.)

I have been putting off this post for a very long time, partly because it has taken me forever to shed this baby weight and partly because it makes me uncomfortable to talk about this stuff.

I've had an interesting time with my weight and perception of my weight my whole life. Growing up, I never felt thin enough or looked like one of the models I envied on the cover of Cosmo (seriously that was my idea of perfect and, yes, I know now that is pathetic). I remember it being a topic of conversation in my house often. My mom and sisters were always talking about different diets and exercise fads, whether they were warranted or not. Let me just say, I was never big. I was scrawny, but that doesn't mean I was healthy. Then I moved out to head to college. I remember busting my butt my freshman year because I didn't want to succumb to gaining the freshman fifteen or more. But there were so many temptations: drinking, fast food, no one to make sure I was getting balanced meals.

The thing is, I love to eat and I love enjoying some cocktails even more. From college through my twenties that was our thing. Our group of friends went out to dinners, drank, partied, went to bars, took trips that revolved around partying. This is what made up our weekends. And this is what got me to my highest weight and unhealthiest state just before finding out I was preggo with little man. I can remember being the Monday morning dieter. Sunday night after laying around the house all day recovering from the weekend and shoveling some fattening hangover food into my mouth, I would tell myself I'm going to diet and exercise starting "tomorrow." It would work for a day or two and then a work dinner or after work cocktails would arise and I couldn't say no or behave myself.

After finding out I was pregnant, my main goal was to consume healthy foods for the baby and I also didn't want to balloon up from feeding my face with every yummy treat I could get my hands on (but trust me, I tried).  Early on in my pregnancy - most of my first trimester and well into my second - I had major morning sickness. I threw up every single meal I ate. At first it was annoying and kind of disgusting, but after a while it was just a part of my pregnancy experience. I knew that directly after I ate, I would need to hightail it to the bathroom to vomit. It made for some awkward bathroom convos. I often felt the need to explain to everyone as soon as I got out of the stall, especially since that early on I wasn't showing and couldn't just point to the belly.

For the remainder of my pregnancy, I ate ok. I substituted caffeine from both my daily morning Starbucks to my extremely large diet mt. dew to decaf, allowing myself the real stuff only once in a while. I loaded up on a ton more fruit and tried to limit my snacking. I wasn't drinking, so that eliminated a shit ton of calories right there. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I did succumb to my late night snacking/cravings and was oftentimes found laying on the couch before bed with a glass of milk and oreos or hostess cupcakes....or those yummy hostess chocolate pudding pies (embarrassingly, here). Who am I kidding, the "or" was probably more realistically an "and." I loved me some late-night junk. (sample preggo diet here...definitely not proud of this moment).

As for exercising, I had taken up running just before becoming pregnant. I actually remember the first time I ran Lake Zorinsky the entire way - no walking- that I found out I was preggo later that day. I was a half-assed two to three times a week exerciser (even though if asked, I more than likely would've lied and said four to five times a week). I had good intentions, but always found other reasons to justify not working out - I'm tired, I had a long day, I want to go to happy hour, I'd rather lay on the couch....you know, really good reasons.

Throughout my pregnancy, I walked a decent amount with Maya, around the lake with friends, around the neighborhood. I ran a little bit, but got tired easily.  The bigger I got, the less energy I had for any of it and I became pretty stagnant. I used my pregnancy as a get-out-of-working-out-free card. I really got used to not having the black cloud known as "working out" hanging over my head for the last month or so....and just got lazy.

Then, little man came. Obviously, I was over the moon happy. Best day of my life. But then the reality of what was ahead sunk in. I remember the first time I went to the bathroom at the hospital and noticed all of the flab (of course, a lot of that goes away within the next couple of days) and extra meat on my inner thighs, arms, love handles. I was bummed, overwhelmed by the long weight loss journey that was looming in front of me.

In my head, it was all challenge accepted. I was going to show this preggo weight who was boss and bust my ass to get back into better shape. And quickly! (Or so I thought...)

(Check back tomorrow for the next post all about the aftermath, what I experienced with my post-baby bod as well as my path to getting it back together.)

Traveling With Little Man

Getaways around here have definitely taken a different turn.

In my prior life, I used to gear up for a girl's weekend with trips to the nail salon for a mani/pedi, slathering on the sunless tanning lotion, carefully picking out my outfits and planning out an itinerary full of shopping, cocktails, dinners and bars. These days, it's turned into planning a slumber party with all of our kiddos, hastily packing a bag for two with comfy clothes, and comparing bed time schedules for our little ones so we could map out when the first bottle of wine could be cracked and the real fun would start.

We took off for Kansas City early Saturday morning (the hubs tagged along for a night in the hotel + some poker), dropped him off and then C and I headed to what can only be called as my heaven: an outlet mall.

Eating our socks is a cool car ride game.
Bouncing on the hotel room bed.
Locking the kiddo in the shower = hours of playtime fun.

Little man and I spent approximately five hours at the mall. If you would've told me my 15 month old little boy was going to be such a great shopper, I would've laughed in your face. But this kiddo rocks! And I just about die when he gets all flirty walking around and waving quick hellos to all the ladies. He knows how to work a room. And, of course, they all melt.

We hit up T. Rex Cafe for lunch, which could only be described as my nephew Aasyen's favorite place in the world due to his dinosaur fascination. On a side note, after lunch we headed over to the retail section and I loaded up on a bunch of goodies for Ace's birthday. The only problem: it's in May. I'm sure to have forgotten I picked up his gift or at the very least misplaced it over the next couple months. I'm just not one of those "shop for Christmas gifts throughout the year"-type people. I would rather be a "pulling my hair out of my head piece by piece because I don't have my shopping done and Christmas/birthday is just a few days away"-type person.

The many faces of Cruz. T Rex Cafe

But I digress...

The shopping was nothing short of a success. I had certain things in mind that I didn't find - a new pair of tennis shoes for little man since last time daddy took him out on his own, he only came back with one shoe on and they were the new Puma ones we had just bought for him over Christmas - but I scored on many other things. 

• Under Armour - zip-up jacket/matching pants for Nick, t-shirt for Cruz, two workout tanks for me
• AE - pair of ankle-skimming jeans and a bracelet for me
• Nike - a pair of compression pants for me, zip-up white jacket & workout pants for Nick
• Converse - a pair of slip-ons for Dominic's birthday
• BCBG - a stud covered clutch for me in silver/slate and gold/cream for my MIL (replacing the one I got her for Christmas that I just didn't love), a new pair of heels, a $9 hi/lo skirt (score!) and a summer dress for me
• Old Navy - a pair of swim trunks for Cruz
• Gap - two v-neck t's and a pair of gray linen pants for C

(I told you it was a successful trip!)

After our shopping escapades we met my girl Patricia at her place (she moved away almost a year ago this month and I miss her Irish self terribly, but cherish the time when we get to see each other). Her little man had left early to visit his dad, so that coupled with the fact that our friend Heidi and her boys were sick and couldn't come over meant C had both of us to himself all night. We made our dinner - pasta for C and Boursin cheese, crackers, rotisserie chicken for us - and opened up our first bottle of vino.

Lot's of girl talk, a visit from her English neighbors (I was loving the accents going back & forth) and some more vino later, my sorry self passed out at 10:30pm (seriously, I told you my girl's trips have changed drastically) and awoke at 5am feeling terrible. I can only describe it as a mix between stomach flu and food poisoning, so you can imagine what was happening. I was in and out of the bathroom all morning, I could barely walk, but lucky for me little man seemed to sense this and stayed pretty immobile. Mostly because I bribed him with a box of donuts.

Mmmm donuts....my little Homer Simpson

This virus was a major B and really messed up our trip - I ended up being sick for two days after - but am finally back to my happy little self. In case you were worried...

Life Lately

This comes to you from me, finally feeling like myself again (if not just a tad hungover from the glass of wine, part of a martini, six beers and one shot from last night, but more on that in a later post). Had a rough one this week - sick with what I have self-diagnosed as food poisoning/stomach flu from hell. The highlight: I couldn't eat anything and dropped four pounds. The lowlight: I gained that back last night (damn, I knew it was too good to be true).

We've had loads going on around here these days. Cruz continues to impress me every day. I didn't think I would be one of those moms that would constantly gush about my kid - he's so cute, he's so smart, he can do this/that - but it just so happens that my kid is the cutest and the smartest and he does everything well, so it's all warranted. And if you still don't believe me...

See, it's not just me.

So, I've got loads of posts ready to get together about all the super exciting things we've doing around here. If not for your reading pleasure, then for my memory. I've heard about preggo brain, but I didn't believe that my memory could get any worse than it was before giving birth. But it can...and it did. And it's still bad 15 months later. 

I'm signing off for now to sleep off this hangover, but more to come soon. I promise!