Apple Family Visit...

Aunt Sara and Uncle Brett came to visit!!! Aubrey loved it! They drove down from Raleigh on Thursday and spent the day catching up with our little Pallone family. The last time they had a chance to see Aubrey was when she was 2 weeks old. Aubrey is now 20 weeks and just a bundle of fun to be around.

Sara and Brett arrived around noon and instantly got their hands on our little girl. Oh Aubrey just soaked up the attention! Sara sat on the floor and played with Aubrey for the longest time. She was absolutely wonderful with her. Unfortunately each time Brett held Aubrey he was unfortuantely showered with spit up, but took it like a pro!

I played the schedule driven mommy roll pretty hard even while they were here. So much of me hates being such a stickler for a schedule and missing out on so much. When it was time for Aubrey to eat and take a nap Sara, Brett, and Bryan headed to the outlets to do some shopping. Sigh....I miss shopping....Haha, but I love my little girl! She comes first no matter what.

When Bryan got home from the outlets Aubrey was just waking up. Sara and Brett headed back to the hotel to rest up before returning for dinner. We decided it was the perfect time for the three of us to run to the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients for dinner. At the store, Bryan wears Aubrey in the Baby Bjorn and I push the cart. Aubrey has gotten to the point where she likes to be involved in everything so anything Bryan touched, Aubrey would reach for. It is so adorbale! She is such a good little helper!!

Unfortunately feeding and nap time for Aubrey did not work out in Bryan's favor. The moment we got home from the store if was time to eat and sleep again. Bryan and I quietly discussed what needed to be done to prepare for dinner and he got to work. Bryan did and AMAZING job. He handled the entire meal BY HIMSELF and it all turned out perfectly! I was very impressed with my wonderful husband and I think Sara and Brett were too!

After dinner we took Aubrey and the doggies on a walk. Sara brought Tink so Emma had some company! The walk was soooo hot! We got home and I immediately gave Aubrey a bath to make her more comfortable. The rest of the gang hung out downstairs eating ice cream and watching a movie. A great way to end a fun day....

Aubrey had such a wonderful visit from her Aunt and Uncle. We got a few of the most adorable pictures from their visit and honestly can't wait to get more. Hopefully we can all get together again soon!!

4th of July!

It's a little late to post about our special holiday, but it's better late than never...

Sunday morning I woke up wanting nothing more than to take Aubrey swimming. I couldn't wait to see how she reacted to water and the freedom to do whatever she wanted with her little legs. I had been secretly thinking about this for a while and finally decided to do something about it!

The week prior I had taken just a few minutes to look at baby floats but wasn't truly thrilled with my selections. I had also glanced at a few small pools thinking we could maybe get by with putting one on the deck so we didn't have to drive to the pool. So as soon as I woke up, I filled Bryan in on my thoughts. We spent a little time looking through pools and baby floats on the Toys R Us website. I was getting so antsy just looking at the website and asked if we could just hurry up and go to the store. Haha, I was so excited!

It was Aubrey's first true holiday (Memorial Day doesn't really count) and I wanted to make it really special for her! We all loaded up in the car and were the first ones to walk in the door at Toys R Us. The moment we walked in the door there was a stack of one of the nicer pools we had looked at online. They were already marked down 50% and were an additional 25% on July 4th. I also had a $10 off coupon. I looked at Bryan and smiled. We had decided...we were definitely taking Aubrey swimming that day! We found a horrible baby float and purchased it as well just to have one.

Bryan, Aubrey and I head home ready to start our special day. Aubrey went down for a nap and slept much longer than she normally does. I think she must have known Mommy and Daddy had some work to do! Such a sweet girl. My parents helped Bryan and I set up the pool just perfectly on the deck. Any larger and it wouldn't have fit! It took a surprisingly long time to set everything up so we were grateful for Mom and Dad's help.

Aubrey woke up just as they were filling the pool. We slathered her with sunscreen, which she was not exactly thrilled about, and then put her very first bikini on her. Oh that silly thing barely fit but I wanted to get pictures of her in it at least once.

We spent about 30 minutes introducing Aubrey to swimming. She wasn't exactly sure about what was going on. Mom and Dad video taped and photographed her first experience. Thank you Mom and Dad for helping us document such a special first experience for us and Aubrey!!

Below are some pictures from our special first real holiday with Aubrey. Enjoy!

Scary Morning...

Friday afternoon Bryan came home from work around three to spend a little time with his girls before heading back to work to close the gym. Before Aubrey was born, Bryan and I would spend several hours in the kitchen together making amazing dinners. One of our easy favorites was a Tex Mex Casserole. Bryan has been begging me to make this for the longest time. With Bryan home to help with Aubrey I got to work. He played with Aubrey, carried her in the Baby Bjorn, fed her, and put her down for a nap. It was wonderful to have the help!!!! Aubrey slept for almost an hour, which gave us a little time to get things cleaned up and talk about the evening. Of course, as soon as she woke up, our dinner was ready. It was still early! Bryan and I have been eating later and later or whenever we can because Aubrey always comes first. So having dinner early this evening was a first in a while. My body wasn't used to it.


Our evening was filled with the usual...walk, bath, mini baby massage, nursing, and bed. Once we finally got Aubrey to bed around 9:15, I realized how hungry I was. For some reason all I wanted to eat was a bowl of cereal with some fruit. We didn't have any cereal and I was trying to be good about not eating before bed so I just drank a huge glass of water. Still hungry, I was asleep by 10.


Aubrey woke up around three to spend some quality time with mommio and daddio. We changed her diaper and I nursed her back to sleep as I quietly talked with Bryan. I was feeling a little funny but brushed it off as being tired. For the millionth time told Bryan I was hungry and wished we had some healthy cereal. He reminded me that he had Cocoa Krispies in the cabinet, but I can't stand sugary cereals...especially chocolate! Yuck!! I again had some water and went to bed.


Bryan woke up early this morning to head to the gym for his workout before opening at eight. I begged him not to go...but it didn't work. Haha, he wants abs just about as much as I do! I sleepily said goodbye and went back to bed. Just before seven I suddenly woke up with my heart racing uncontrollably and my body sweating profusely. The room was spinning and my whole body was shaking. I felt sick to my stomach, but strangely not hungry anymore. I knew I had a problem. I prayed Aubrey would sleep for a while so I could get some food back in my system. I barely made it out of the bed, let alone down the stairs without falling over. I saw black spots in my vision and felt delirious. In the kitchen, I grabbed a handful of organic peanut butter pretzel bites and poured a huge glass of grapefruit juice. Today I didn't water down the juice! I sat down at the table and literally ate and drank as quickly as I could. Still not feeling better I made a piece of toast with melted organic mozzarella cheese and poured myself more juice. All I wanted to do was crawl back in bed. I made it back up the stairs, cheese toast and juice in hand, and sat on the edge of the bed eating and drinking yet again. I called Bryan to let him know what was going on. He said he'd be home in a heartbeat if I needed him, but I told him to stay. July 4th weekend is such a huge weekend for the gym.


Since starting this post, Aubrey woke up and was ready to eat. I halfway stumbled into her nursery just hoping she was still sleepy. She was. :-) My sweet girl smiled the biggest smile when I said, "Good Morning Love Bug"!!! I crawled into bed with her and nursed her back to sleep. We both had a nice 30 minute nap before heading downstairs to play. I set her up in her jumper and made some real breakfast. I'm feeling a little bit better now, just extremely weak. Tonight I'm definitely not go to bed starving!

Aubrey's Midnight Rendezvous

Oh sweet Aubrey....don't you know night time is for sleeping silly girl?? Ever since Bryan went out of town to play football, our routine of putting Aubrey to bed has been thrown off just a bit. Originally Bryan would feed her an entire eight ounce bottle just before bedtime and she would sleep through the night. We felt like such accomplished parents!! On occasion she may wake up around five or six in the early morning and we'd repeat the routine, only with a smaller bottle. She'd be out cold for several more hours. We were actually getting sleep!


When Bryan left for Maryland to play football I was a little scared of what it would be like putting Aubrey down at night. She doesn't very much like taking a bottle from me when she knows her mommy is not only right there, but is also her favorite feeding machine!! So the way I accomplished those nights without Bryan was by laying right next to Aubrey, feeding her until she was fast asleep. I'd then gently pick her up and snuggle her up in her crib. It worked and she slept through the night!


Throughout these last couple weeks Aubrey's been adamant about not taking the bottle from Bryan at night. It sadly only took a couple nights to break our perfect routine. The first few nights with Bryan home I'd feed her in bed as she drifted off to sleep. Each time it took longer and longer for her to truly fall asleep, but at least she was sleeping through the night. This week has been another story!


Aubrey seems to have an internal clock inside that tummy telling her exactly when eight o'clock rolls around. She is ready to crawl into mommy and daddy's bed and slooooooooowly chow down. Just two nights ago took almost two hours to get her to fall asleep. I knew we had to fix something. Last night we were able to get Aubrey to bed by 9:30. We thought just maybe we were in for a good night! Bryan and I dilly dallied around the room, catching up on mundane tasks for about an hour until we finally went to bed. I was just praying she slept through the night!


So 2:30 rolls around and SURPRISE!!! Aubrey wants to eat! That means in the last week she has woken up and hour earlier with each passing day. Now I know by her sleeping five hours straight it's considered "sleeping through the night". I guess Aubrey just spoiled us before. We wanted the really sleeping through the night nights back!


Tonight I snuggled up with Aubrey on the twin bed in her room just hoping for the best. She ate for about 25 minutes and then decided she wanted mommy to wear it. Then she started talking up a storm. I knew I was in trouble. I picked her up and placed her in her crib so she could play with her friends (watch her mobile) and hopefully drift off to la la land happily. While she played I came back into our room and started making another bottle. Multi tasking is a must with this girl! :-) Halfway into making the bottle Aubrey's little "I'm hungry" cries started. Bryan and I looked at her monitor and both her fists were shoved in her mouth as she rolled from side to side. She was hungry and wanted her mommy! We decided Bryan would make a valiant attempt at feeding her a bottle to get her down. That's where he is now and has been for almost 30 minutes...He thinks I'm curled up in bed sleeping so he very lovingly turned the monitor off when Aubrey let out her first little cry. He is so sweet.


Bryan just walked back into the room and immediately crawled into bed. We are both so tired. I just can't sleep when I know he's trying to put her down. He said she ate the entire bottle and went down perfectly. Yay!! Hopefully our sweet girl will sleep for another five hours! Nighty Night!!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling....

Monday was a big day for Aubrey!! We started out the day just as we typically do. She ate breakfast with her mommy and then decided after sleeping through the night it was time to play! I laid her down on her activity mat on the living room floor and let her go to work with her toys. I walked into the kitchen to start working on preparing my lunch for later in the day. There is no telling when Aubrey would give me another free second to get some things done. Even though I'm not on the floor with her, I still continue to talk to her and keep an eye on her from the open kitchen. I happened to look up just at the right time when all of a sudden she rolled over! She propped herself up on her elbows and looked up at me with the biggest smile on her face. Oh she was so proud of herself and I was ecstatic! I quickly yelled for my mom to come and see. Both my parents and brother came running. Oh she loved the attention!!! We were all so incredibly proud of her!


Tomorrow we are finally getting our camcorder in the mail. I feel like we've missed out on so much, but we are going to make up for lost time! I'm not sure if I can post videos on here, but I'll do my best to figure it out. If so, you'll soon she Aubrey in action!!

Father's Day Weekend Away...

Bryan and I have had quite a crazy month. A few weeks ago he was contacted to play quarterback in a couple games of pro football again. Apparently the teams quarterback had somehow gotten injured and could not play in the final games. With these games he even had a shot at winning the ever coveted championship ring he's always dreamed of winning. The first game was held in Green Bay, Wisconsin and the second in College Park, Maryland. Bryan and I discussed the possibility of him playing and decided he should go for it. Now for some reason, there was a tremendous amount of chaos involved with planning out the first trip. We both got so incredibly frustrated with the issues that continued to confront us along the way. It finally got down to the day of the game and getting Bryan to Green Bay just wasm't working out. He was incredibly bummed, but I reminded him everything happens for a reason. The team unfortunately lost the game that night but still had a shot at the championship. Now for some silly reason, travel plans for the second game once again came down to the wire. One minute Bryan was going and the next he was possibly staying home. The whole thing put my stomach in knots. I just wanted a finalized game plan. Finally, a decision was made and Bryan was headed north. He was honestly so excited! I was so incredibly proud of him too.
That evening Bryan called me before the game and sent his love to his girls. I wished him good luck and begged him not to get hurt. My parents and I purchased the game on the internet and sat down to watch Bryan do his thing. Right away I knew my wishes of Bryan not getting hurt were pretty much thrown out the window. He was getting attacked from every angle! The kicker came when he hit his hand on an opponent's helmet and couldn't throw anymore. Bryan was done....which meant he was really hurting. The game quickly ended and unfortunately the team he was playing for lost. No championship games this year...

After the end of the game Bryan called sounding exhausted and in pain. He said the paramedics were working on wrapping his hand and his arm. They told Bryan he probably had a broken finger and two severe sprains in his wrist. I couldn't believe it. Bryan was hurting and just wanted to be home. He sent me a photo of his bandaged wrist and hand as soon as he got in the car. He was just dying to be home. The guys he went with wanted to be home too so they drove through the night to get back to the beach. Bryan arrived home early early Father's Day morning, completely exhausted. He crawled in bed to rest for a few hours before trying to enjoy his very first Father's Day.

Even though Bryan was really hurting, he just couldn't keep his hands off his baby girl. He missed her so much. On Bryan's very first Father's Day he couldn't quite hold his daughter, but he could wear her!

Happy "mini" Birthday Aubrey!

 Today my baby girl is three months old! I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by. With each passing day I am amazed by her even more. She's talking up a storm and moving around a little bit more each day. Her favorite words now are agoo, goop, ahh, and hi. She actually started immitating today too! Grandma was the first to notice while they were playing together. She has accomplished grabbing her toys and putting everything in her mouth. Her hands are her favorite thing to nibble on. She loves having her feet and her tummy kissed and tickled. She gets the biggest gummy smile on her face that is the most adorable thing I've ever seen. She is perfect and her daddy and I love her more than words. Our precious baby girl is growing up!

Method Behind the Madness...

June workouts have been labeled Method Behind the Madness by my amazing trainer Tyron. I love it! Tyron now has names for all of his workouts. Method Behind the Madness are continuous 20 minute workouts that wear you out in a hurry. I have been enjoying them so much. Each new day that I train with Tyron, I can't wait to see what he's planning on putting me through next. My first workout in June was called "Guns & Buns". As soon as I heard the name I knew I was going to love it...well at least half of it! I love working on my legs, but arms have always been such a challenge for me. Below is the workout he put me through...

Gun n Buns (20sec work/20sec rest) workout...20/10 Guns n Buns


STATION 1 - BUNS

1. Dumbbell Sumo Dead Lift
2. Dumbbell Swings

*Perform this compound set 4x followed by 60s rest*

STATION 2 - GUNS

1. Bent Over Row
2. Bicep Curl

*perform 4x

STATION 3 - BUNS

1. Band-Resistance 1-Leg bent knee hip extension (L-leg)
2. Band-Resistance 1-Leg bent knee hip extension (R-leg)

*perform 4x*

STATION 4 - GUNS

1. Dumbbell Close Grip Pushup
2. Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension

*perform 4x*

I sincerely struggled through this workout. It was such a challenge but I was so sore the following day. I knew I had definitely completed a successful workout.

My next workout of the week was my favorite so far. It's been three days since the workout and I am still sore! I honestly can't wait to do it again. Tyron brought a white board with each of the exercises listed in order making it easily to follow so I wouldn't have to stop if I'd forgotten what was next. So very nice of him! With this workout I only have four different exercises. The catcher was I had to complete the set of four exercises 10 times in a certain amount of time. He kind of made it into a little bit of a game too. Basically I had two minutes to complete 10 reps of each of the four exercises. If I finished early, I was able to rest until the full two minutes were up. If I finished in 60 seconds or less, I had to increase my weights and level of difficulty. And if I finished right at two minutes I didn't get a break and had to go right back into the next set. I loved it!!! I was exhausted by the time I was done and loved the fact that I had just completed an amazing workout in just 20 minutes. Even Baby Aubrey loves the 20 minute workouts because she gets her mommy back faster!!

http://www.tyronjohnson.com/ is Tryon Johnson's personal training website. On his website he explains in detail the concept behind his 20/10 workouts and why they are so efficient. He lists several different workouts in three different levels depending on the level of difficulty you're able to handle. His site also has tons of nurtritional information and fitness tips too. Each of these workouts are very similar to the workouts performed in his Knockout Bootcamp classes at MegaFitness. There is always room for one more bootcamper up for the challenge!!! If I can do these workouts after just having a baby and truly love them and see amazing results, I know anyone else that is up to the Knockout Bootcamp challenge will see amazing results and love the constant changes along the way.

10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes...

Bryan has officially been named the nail cutting guru of the family. Shockingly though considering the way his hands look. Sorry honey. :-) Aubrey's nails grow so quickly! Normally while I'm feeding her he'll trim them while she's semi calm. I've noticed for a few days now that her nails are way too long. This morning when I saw the small scratch marks on my chest and the scratch marks all over Aubrey's face and head, I knew it was time. By this time Bryan was already at work so I knew I had to make the attempt on my own. I carried her downstairs and placed her on her activity mat. That way she had something to distract her, even if just a tiny bit. I started with her hands because they were causing the most damage. Once I clipped her pinky nail her hands started going crazy! I couldn't even hold onto her little hand. Aubrey has the strongest grip too so even if I was able to grab her hand she'd grab on tight for dear life, curling her little fingers into my skin. I wanted to give up and wait until Bryan came home, but I couldn't bear to see her scratch her face anymore. I held her hand firmly with one hand and with the other shook the activity center and then trimmed a finger nail. Well, that only worked once. I started whistling like a crazy person and Aubrey got very still. She looked at me with the most confused little look on her face. I giggled and smiled at her, but went quickly back to work. Aubrey was quickly becoming accustomed to my silly whistling so I started making crazy noises. Oh I wanted to be done so bad! I finally made it through all her little fingers and then remember those little toes digging into my tummy. While I had her on the mat, semi content, I knew I had to make an attempt. All the little stinker wanted to do was kick me and laugh. I have to admit it was pretty amusing. I did somehow manage to make it through all ten of her little toes...even the pinkies! Aubrey did such a great job! I am so proud of her putting up with me. Now we will all be scratch free for about a week!!

PANCAKES vs. pancakes

For the last month or so Bryan and I have fallen into a little bit of a bad habit each Sunday morning. We have been enjoying homemade buttermilk pancakes instead of our typical eggs and oatmeal. On these "cheat day" Sunday mornings I'd always make eggs to go along with the pancakes in an attempt to be slightly healthier, but could rarely get Bryan to eat any of them. He would take full advantage of a very yummy yet full on bad for you breakfast...Aunt Jemima and all!! I'd end up eating all of the eggs and a pancake or two with watered down pure maple syrup yet still feel horribly guilty.

This past Sunday I just couldn't eat the buttermilk pancakes again. I'm trying so hard to get the rest of this baby weight off and I knew that meal certainly would not help! Instead I opted for some healthy pancakes that I'd forgotten I had a recipe for. I even somehow managed to get Bryan to try a bite, though that's all he would have. He wasn't a fan. He's always said that if he's going to eat pancakes, he's going to eat the real deal. Ahh well, it was worth a shot. I personally like to stick to a healthy diet filled with variety. With these pancakes I never feel sluggish or guilty after eating them. I even top them with raw organic butter and watered down pure maple syrup. Sometimes I'll slice a few bananas or strawberries on top for a bit of a change. They are delicious, especially for being healthy!

Below is my recipe for the healthy pancakes. 

OATMEAL PANCAKES

1/2 cup oal fashioned oatmeal

1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Process the oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg whites, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a blender or food processor until smooth. 

Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. (I use organic coconut oil.)  Add the batter and cook over medium heat until both sides are lightly browned.  

Serves 1 - Nutritional Facts Per Serving

288 calories

28 g protein

32 g carbs

4 g fat

5 g fiber

20/10 Tabatas

While I've been home taking care of our little Aubrey, Bryan has been at the gym getting spoiled by Tyron's workouts. I have been extremely jealous! Bryan has quickly grown to love Tyron's challenging workouts just as much as I have over the last few years. He comes home in the evening raving about everything Tyron has taught him and how efficient and extremely effective the workouts are. Besides Bryan gaining strength and energy, the fact that his body is changing drastically before his eyes is proof that the workouts are excellent. We're both enjoying all the changes.




Now for me, I've got to get this baby weight off my tummy! Ugh, it's just awful!! My goal with Tyron is to work out with him 3 days a week and 3 on my own. I'm currently 130 pounds consisting of way too much fat and not enough muscle. My goal weight is roughly 124 pounds. This is definintely the hardest part! Tyron and I have been able to meet twice a week for a couple weeks. This coming week we are going to try very hard to keep our goal of meeting 3 times. Let's keep our fingers crossed!


Last week my wonderful mom took care of Aubrey for a couple of hours so I could slip away and work out with both Bryan and Tyron. Tyron actually played photographer while he instructed us on what to do. We all had the best time! The name of the work out was 20/10 Tabatas. It consisted of 4 supersetted exercises repeated 8 times with 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. It sounds confusing, but it is so simple to remember. You basically work out hard for a solid 30 minutes and that's your work out! Tyron's workouts are very efficient and so much fun!


Below are a bunch of pictures of our workout. We all laughed the whole way through so the photos are far from serious. In my future posts I'll be listing specific workouts. Today is just a bunch of fun photos. Hope you enjoy!