baby weight?

exactly how long after you have a baby do you have to lose the weight?
i'm not sure that there's a specific time frame, at least not one that i've ever heard of, but i feel pretty confident that when your child is 9 1/2 months old, you can no longer call it 'baby weight.'
when i first got pregnant, i promised myself that i wasn't going to gain a tremendous amount of weight, and that went out the window.
then, once i had becca, i promised myself that i would lose the weight within the first few months. again, out the window!
now that i'm still HUGE and no longer have an excuse, i've finally decided to jump on the weight loss bandwagon!
while i will NOT be posting my weight here, as i would never want to embarrass myself that much, i will be posting my weight loss. i'm hoping i can use that 'accountability' as motivation!

so, week 1: lost 5 pounds!
it's always so encouraging those first few weeks:)
let's just hope i can keep it up!

we are mobile

here's the proof I know you've all been waiting for....



so it's official!
we have ourselves a crawler:)

new title, new look

so, the change has begun.
my first change is...

the name.

i've never really had a name for the blog, and i felt like i needed one -
something fun,
something catchy,
something that described me.

i also wanted to have a blog makeover, unfortunately that wasn't in the budget this year month, so I had to do my own design! i've got a couple of other 'things' in the works:)

so why 'hormones & stretch marks'?
well, because you know when you have those bad hair body days?
you know the ones where you just feel fat and you can't manage to find ANYTHING in your closet to wear? and then you get yourself all worked up, and you start stomping around, and then before you know it you're crying?
well, it was one of those days that inspired my new blog name.
i seem to have those days more often now that i have carried a child within my womb.

the stretch marks, well, they're there to stay - i like to consider them my battle scars!
and the hormones, wow! nobody can prepare you for those. again, they just come with the mommy territory. i like to consider those jp's battle scars:)
and since we've survived the war (with battle scars to prove it), we're living our lives as new parents - one day at a time:)
so, welcome to hormones & stretch marks - enjoy!

single, fabulous brother in SC (who is going to kill me)

So, many of you might be wondering why I'm doing a post about my brother - well, other than the fact that I love him! A blog that I follow, Kelly's Korner, is doing a post on singles. The last time she did this, three couples ended up meeting, and two of them are now engaged. With those kinds of odds, how could I pass this up? As I was looking through the posts, I decided that I would add my brother to the 'list'. He doesn't know that I'm doing this, but if he meets the girl of his dreams then he'll be forever greatful to me:)

So here are his stats:
He is 26 and lives right outside of Columbia, SC.
He currently works 2 jobs, and he is back in school getting another degree - something to do with computers.


Travis is very adventurous and loves to have fun!
He enjoys boating and water skiing in the summer and snowboarding in the winter.
He's always up for anything fun and loves hanging out with friends.
Here he is after doing the USMC Mud Run last year.



He also happens to be totally in love with my sweet girl - and she absolutely LOVES her Uncle Travis:)

So, here he is ladies! If you think he sounds like the man for you (or someone you know), email me at ahpyle624@gmail.com and I will get you in touch with him!

He's really sweet AND he's pretty stinkin cute if I do say so myself:)

Criminals (or people I wouldn't like) need not apply:)

9 months

I was going to start this post off apologizing for once again being late with Becca's monthly post, but lets face it, they're always late. Why apologize?
Anyways, as of last Thursday, my baby girl was officially 9 months old.
She's growing so fast and changing so much.
She's definitely more observant - I think that's a nice way of saying she's extremely nosey:)
Her curiosity with the world around her is amazing to me.
I wish I could see the world through her eyes.

Taking pictures hasn't gotten any easier - it's almost impossible to get her to stop long enough to look at the camera. And I'm not sure why I thought sitting her in a chair with her toy blocks in front of her was a good way of getting her to look at me and smile.


O well, we figured it out!

Here are some stats on this sweet baby:

* she is only drinking breast milk still - I'm hoping to make it to April
* she weighs 20 lbs 2 oz (75th percentile)

* she is 28 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile)

* she is finally crawling - some

* her preferred method of getting around is still rolling

* she is wearing 9 month clothes, but really needs 12 month in pants

* she wears a size 3 shoe

* she is still in a size 3 diaper

* her favorite song is the ABC song

* she has 3 words: Jack, Dada, & Mama

* she is a Momma's girl - I'm enjoying this because I know it won't last

* she has 5 teeth - her bottom 2 and 3 of her top teeth (Dr. G said that last top tooth should pop through any day!)

* she can go from a laying down position to sitting up

* she can stand up on her own while holding on to some of her toys

* she is now eating meat and loves it - surprise, surprise

* she'll eat anything except avocados and carrots

* she loves drinking water out of her sippy cup

* she sleeps through the night from about 8:00 - 6:30

* she naps 3 times a day:)

I love watching this little girl grow.

I know that before I can blink my eyes, she'll be graduating from high school.

I'm trying to soak up every second that I can - even the occasional 1 AM 'I need to be rocked' times:)

change

i don't normally

like change.

but in some cases,

i'm ok with it.

i've got some changes

planned for my blog.

nothing life changing,

nothing that will achieve world peace,

but definitely change.

what are these changes?

i'm not quite ready to

share them just yet

(mainly because they are still in the making)

but they will be coming soon!

so check back often

so you don't miss the change -

but don't expect to see many other

changes after that.

i like to keep things the same -

well, most of the time anyway!

Snow, in South Carolina, in January?
This never happens!
And the fact that we got over 6 inches just makes it that much more unbelievable!

We were a little shocked to wake up to this on Monday morning.


Nobody, including the weather men, were expecting this much snow!


And this sweet little girl had so much fun playing in it!


We bundled her up, put on her new rain boots, and out we went to play on the sled the boogie board with her Bumbo sitting on top of it!



While Becca had a lot of fun, Grace had the most fun, hands down!


This sweet dog LOVES the snow!


She would have stayed outside all day if we could have handled the cold!


Once the snow turned to freezing rain, we put Becca in her wagon with its cover, and played some more!


She thought Uncle Travis building a snowman was too funny!


Here she is with Uncle Travis and the snowman! We were amazed at how big it was:)



The Pyles
January 2011


We hope everyone had a great snow day - we sure did!

failure

warning - this post may be TMI, so turn back now if you don't want to read about breastfeeding. if you get offended in any way, you can't say i didn't warn you!
warning #2 - i'm having a sad moment, so if you go any further, be prepared to feel sad. (actually, you'll probably just think i'm insane, but we won't talk about that)

failure - when i think of this word, it makes me cringe.
i've never been someone who was ok with failure, or even mediocre.
if i'm going to do something, i'm going to give it my all.

when jp and i first started talking about having children, we both decided that breastfeeding was the way to go. we did a lot of research and talked with a lot of people, and we couldn't ignore the benefits - both for baby AND mom.

in making this decision, we tried to prepare ourselves as best we could. i read several books, and we both attending the Breastfeeding 101 class at Lexington. while i still wasn't exactly sure as to what i was doing, i was as knowledgeable as i could be without actually doing it.

when becca was born, they immediately took her to the nursery since she was born via c-section. jp went with her, and very sweetly let the nursery nurses know that i wanted to nurse as soon as possible. i had to wait until i got into recovery, but then they brought her to me immediately. with a little coaching and advice from the nurse, we were successfully breastfeeding in no time.
becca was a pro. she latched on and we never had any problems.

ok, so why am i writing all of this about nursing?
well, as most of you know, i've been back at work since august. obviously in order for becca to still be strictly on breastmilk, i pump - A LOT! i actually joke that this is my part time job because i spend so much time doing it AND it saves us a lot of money:)
unfortunately, after being back at work for several months now, my milk supply is decreasing. i'm still pumping every 3 hours, but i just can't quite keep up with her demand.

i pumped the whole 4 months i was home with her, so when i first went back to work it didn't seem like we would ever run out of milk, but now that she's older and drinking more, combined with my decreased supply, i'm having to face the reality that we have to start supplementing with formula.

just typing that makes me sad. in fact, my eyes are already watering.
why though?
i don't think there's anything wrong with formula.
obviously it does its job since most babies drink it.
it's safe and provides babies with the nutrients they need.
but again, i can't help but feel this overwhelming sadness when i think about having to give it to becca.

i guess the bottom line is i feel like i have failed.
i have failed her and i have failed myself.

2010: a year in review

So, I stole saw this cute idea on MK's blog, and I just had to do it.
Here is a look back at our 2010!

January - Another look at our sweet angel:)

February - a wonderful shower for becca thrown by some amazing friends:)

March - WOW! I was HUGE!

April - we became a family of 3.

May - already a happy, happy girl!

June - what can you say about this sweet picture?

July - b's first vacation & first trip to the beach.

August - mommy went back to work & becca started going to nat's.

(fyi - nat is going to kill me for posting this picture again, but i happen to think she looks great!)



September - we tried rice cereal for the first time & LOVED it!

October - mommy & daddy's little pumpkin!

November - the BEST thanksgiving ever because i had my husband home AND we had our baby girl there to celebrate:)

December - a holly, jolly christmas!

2010 was our best year yet. Becca has, and continues to be, our biggest blessing. While looking back at these pictures makes me sad because I realize just how much she has grown, it also makes me very excited for our future! I look forward to watching the amazing toddler, little girl, and woman she will become! I hope everyone can count their blessings of 2010, and look forward to the upcoming year. I am excited about all that is to come - especially the new babies that are to be born this year (yes, I said 'babies' plural)! And before people get too excited, WE ARE NOT PREGNANT - I AM REFERRING TO OTHERS WHEN I SAY THAT:)

pray without ceasing

many of us have spent this past week praying for a classmate who went missing on monday.
the power of prayer never ceases to amaze me. michelle returned home to her family today.
but our job of praying is not done - it's never done.

this sweet girl is my friend allison.



allison and i have been friends for almost 15 years. wow, writing that down makes me feel really old. anyways, i'm writing this blog to ask for prayers on her behalf.
last week allison thought she had the flu. in fact she was so sick she struggled to participate in christmas. she ended up going to the doctor wednesday, and was sent for a cat scan thursday morning. she found out she had a ruptured appendix and had to have an emergency appendectomy. since her appendix had been 'leaking', she was going to have to stay in the hospital until saturday.
unfortunately saturday came but allison was unable to go home because her white blood cell count was 23,000 - normal is 5,000 to 10,000. as of today, her white blood cell count is still extrememly high. they're not sure why, but will do another ct scan tomorrow if this doesn't change.
she is still in a great deal of pain, and she is very weak because she has been unable to eat.
while there isn't much any of us can do right now, we can all pray.
pray that allison begins to feel better.
pray that the doctors are able to find the cause of the infection.
pray that she is able to return home to her family soon.