10 Months

My sweet baby turned 10 months old on Friday.  She is such a little ham and we just get so much joy from having her in our lives! 

Here's what she's been up to lately:

• just got her first tooth about a week ago!  She has another one coming in right beside it now...I was beginning to think she wasn't going to get any teeth before she was a year old.
• sleeping all night IN HER CRIB!  I did NOT let her cry it out.  I don't really know how I got so lucky with this.  I started to put her in her crib for naps and she did cry but no longer than a couple minutes before she just tuckered out.  I just made this a pattern and then started doing it at night too. It's like she just realized that she needed to sleep in her crib!  She does get better sleep in there too.
• cruising around the living room, holding onto to all of the furniture.
• standing for a second by herself before falling down
• eating solids 3 times a day, with 4 bottles 
• laughs really hard whenever her daddy says "poopy" to her
• really loves her baby
• went to the pool for the first time today!

We love you sweet baby so so much!

Love, Mommy

Baby Names

This week's Show Us Your Life is baby names!  When I was pregnant with Emmie this was such a hard decision for my husband and I to make! We went through so many baby girl names and were pretty set on her name being Kennedy Lane.  For whatever reason it just didn't fit and we changed it to: 

Emerson Lane

We already knew we wanted her middle name to be Lane because we were pretty sure we were going to call her Laney (we don't, we normally call her Emmie).  I had come across Emerson at some point in a baby book and just loved it.  It's a unique name and we immediately decided that we would call her Emmie Lane.  

There are quite a few names that I really like for future children!  I'm pretty sure that we won't stick to "E" names, but instead will probably choose names with the same sound as Emerson.  My favorite name for our next baby if it's a girl is Anniston, but my husband is not too crazy about this one!  For boys, my husband and I both like Jameson and Anderson.  I wish we had some cool family names, but unfortunately we don't.  I'm also a big fan of one syllable middle names.  Can you tell I have thought about this?!  Haha...babies are too exciting!

Food Products

I've been wanting to do this post for a while because people ask me ALL the time..."what do you eat"? and "Just give me a diet and I'll follow it".  My advice for those people that want to just "follow a plan" is this:  you won't be able to stick to the plan forever because you will surely get tired of the same foods over and over.  I try to give my patients/clients education so that they can understand food labels so that they may begin to build their own plan:)  It really is about lifestyle change.

I'm a dietitian, not a magician!

I have no secret!  But I do have the knowledge and education about food and food products and try to use this to the max to get the most nutrition out of foods!  The truth is, I try my best to make healthy choices, but just like everyone else, I am a busy wife, mom and I have a full time job.  So I will keep it real here and be the first to let you know that we all eat junk from time to time.  But, I do try to eat healthy foods and wanted to showcase a few products that we eat here in the Rushing house!  (And no I am not being paid for this!...I wish I was though...hint hint, Morningstar!)

Morningstar Farms Meal Starters.  Specifically these crumblers.  They are about the price of a 1 pound package of ground beef and serve as a decent replacement.  We use them in spaghetti and lasagna.  I'm also a big fan of Morningstar breakfast sausages every now and then.  They taste like the real deal!  Another favorite, Morningstar black bean burgers.  These are great.  I usually saute these and then cut them into strips for quesadilla night.  They are so good.

Greek Yogurt!  Not any brand specifically, but I've tried Oikos, Chiobani, and Dannon and they are all good.  I'm not crazy about the honey flavor, but again, I don't really like honey.  Greek yogurt is very thick and has about 15 grams of protein per container and no fat!  You can use the plain flavor as a substitute for sour cream. 

Sandwich thins!  Again, no specific brand, we have tried Arnold's and I think Nature's Own.  These are 100 calories each and come with 5 grams of fiber!  They taste good too.  We use these instead of hamburger buns and obviously for sandwhices. 


These are just a few items that we like and are relatively healthy choices.  Obviously we also eat "real" food, not in the form of products!  

Happy Thursday!

Tiffany

Moving on up

This is my husband's second week at his new job and because we couln't get childcare lined up for this week for Emmie, I am staying home for the rest of the week.  It has really been nice to have a little bit of a break from work and spend more time with Em.  It has also been hard.  I'm not so sure that I could be a full time stay at home mom!  I think part time would be perfect though.

I have work to do tonight for my second job.  A grocery store tour with some physicians and clients.  I hope it goes well...I have been trying to prepare between naps.

Yesterday, Emmie and I went to meet Shan on his lunch break, then she and I headed to the mall and target.  She was so good for me!  I'm always a little nervous to go out with her by myself but she is always well behaved and attracts a lot of attention.  She pulled a lady's hair who got to close...haha!

We had her 9 month well check this morning and I wanted to post her stats:

• 22 pounds 11 ounces (>95 %)
• 27 1/2 inches (50%)
• 18.5 inches head circumference (>95th%)

She is doing great and reaching all milestones.  We did have a discussion about Emmie not sleeping through the night in her crib.  Her doctor told me that we needed to let her cry it out and the first night it could last for 6 hours!  I really don't think I can do that.  Does anyone else have any suggestions!?

Tiffany