8 Months and more firsts!

Dakota is now 8 months old. Wow! Dakota has 4 teeth now that he got in a two week span. (Those were rough weeks...) He navigates his walker pretty well now and he pulled up by himself for the first time (today). I am really excited that he has started eating solids consistently. It is fun to get him to try new things, but he seems to be picky. His favorites are avacado, cottage cheese and saltine crackers.

We have had our Christmas tree up for a couple of weeks now. I thought the tree might motivate him to try crawling. No such luck yet. I also thought that blinking lights would be interesting to him. The fascination wore off in 20 minutes. He is more interested in grabbing the branches and shaking the tree. MMM! I love the smell of the Christmas tree! I love Christmas! Unemployment has it's perks...Christmas music, lights and the wonderful smell all day long. I am really interested in baking goodies, but Dakota thinks otherwise...

Tip/idea to think on: Lack of sleep makes you fat. Our bodies need sleep to not only recuperate but to reset our hormone levels. Four tips to help you burn fat and choose sleep: Get at least 8 hours of sleep (9 hours is better). Just like a computer, it takes your body time to repair and regenerate itself. When downloading a computer it takes a certain amount of time for the download to be complete. If the process is interrupted and has to reboot, some of the information will not be downloaded. The same is true of our bodies. In addition, while you sleep, your fat storing hormones are turned off. So, the longer you sleep the more your body burns fat. Next, going to bed by 10pm is best because people that go to sleep closer to midnight have higher cortisol levels (fat storing hormone). Thirdly, keep the lights dim after dark. Our bodies are influenced by the amount of light we are subjected to. This is just common sense. If you are ready to relax and go to bed, you are not going to turn on the lights. Finally, don't eat before bed. The most effective tool for fat loss, avoid food for 10-12 hours every night. This means, no meals after 7-8pm. You can check out the article at http://www.naturaltriad.com/. No wonder I can't lose any more weight- I am not getting any sleep!!!