Taking It All In

After particularly long days, I find myself taking a step back from everything and just staring at Kaylani. She brings a level of calm to me that I've never had (or noticed) before and I think it's because she is a symbol of things during a less complicated, more relaxed time.

There's very little that Kaylani has to worry about or even do. To her, life is whatever she wants it to be. It's the same every day for her and so different all at the same time. Every day, things take on different meanings, or she learns that she can do something new, and it's an amazing thing to watch her go through. And it's exactly what I need every now and then.

Tonight, Kaylani spent 20 minutes in her Jumparoo, and for 20 minutes, I sat there and watched her play by herself. She's grown so much since the first time we put her in that she now uses it for different purposes. Originally, it was to stare at the lights and listen to the music. Then, it was to bounce and flex her legs. Now, she still does all those things, but takes a moment to take in her surroundings. She seemed to notice every toy and feature on the jumparoo and played with each for a little bit. But it was her ability to take everything else in that caught my attention.

She ignored the music and the lights, and instead focused on the walls around her, the toys next to her, the legs of the jumparoo that were holding her up. Sure, she stole a few glances at me staring at her, but she just went back to her own thing. Play with the toys a bit, look around. Jump a little bit, look around. Stare off at something only she could see, and then look around some more. 4 months ago, she couldn't even stare straight ahead. Now, she's staring at anything she can.

Sometimes I wish I could spend my life just taking it all in. I wish that I had nothing else to do but analyze my surroundings, and then move on to the next thing that came my way. There's nothing simple about taking care of a baby, but life sure is simpler being a baby. And oddly enough, it's the baby that makes life feel so simple after all.

If you don't believe me, take a look at this video of Kaylani I posted to our YouTube page. Take a step back and just look at how simple life can be, and I bet it makes you feel as relaxed as I do right now.

A Whole New Lifestyle

Just about a month ago I made a committment to lose 10% of my body weight before my next doctor's appointment. And I said I would do it because Kaylani was enough of a reason to do it. Well, today was my next doctor's apppointment, and I did it! Actually, I ended up losing 17lbs in the last month, which means I fell 1lb short of my goal and only lost 9.5% of my body weight. Sure I may have fallen a little bit short, but when you round it up, it becomes 10% anyways!

To be honest, the actual number of pounds wasn't the real goal. The real goal was to get my blood pressure down, and it is now well within the normal range (117/70). Historically, this is when I would revert back to my old lifestyle and start to eat more and slowly put the weight back on over the next 6 months. But this time, I'm in it for the long haul. It's time to continue on this whole new lifestyle, and I feel like it's easier this time around. When you think about it, I've had a whole new lifestyle since Kaylani was born anyways.

Meeting my short term goal for being healthy made me feel pretty good about myself. The thought of meeting my long term goal for my family makes me feel even better. I'm in it for real this time and I'm saying it right now that I'm not going to fully revert back to my old lifestyle. Sure I may have gone to Outback tonight for a celebratory dinner (which ended up being a waste since they didn't have Prime Rib), but tomorrow, I'll go back to my smaller, healthier portions of food and I won't even complain about it.

There's always someone out there that will make you want to be a better person. And in some cases, you'll have more than one person. I definitely have at least 2 people, and they're both sitting in this room with me right now. One of them is talking to me about her day, and the other one is doing the same but drooling at the same time. So it's time for me to wrap this up and go wipe the drool up from Mommy, I mean Kaylani. Just remember, whatever your goals are, if I can do it, so can you!