Commencing Phase Two!!

I may not have gone into detail earlier about why I joined Weight Watchers. So here's the lowdown...

Back when I was so miserably out of shape with my third pregnancy, it seems I spent a great deal of time looking forward to getting back into shape. Now I was not hating the fact that I was being blessed with another life. It's just that the third pregnancy was particularly hard on me. I was extremely tired and stressed, probably due to the looming project of building a house, or maybe the fact that I was 35 years old, or maybe even because I was chasing two children around. I had no energy and my home was getting further and further away from clean. I daydreamed about someday looking (and feeling) as good as I did in college. Come on! A girl can dream!

I thought about two things mostly. My body. And desperately wanting it to be honed and healthy. And my face. I was tired of the brown patches of pregnancy and the tired eyes with dark circles and the lackluster complexion and the start of the finest of lines.

I decided that as soon as my body was no longer needed for growing and nourishing this third lovely child I was going to turn the focus on myself. Instead of being a living breathing baby making and growing and feeding machine, I was going to become me again. Only a stronger, healthier, and younger looking me. As I said...a girl can dream.

My hope was that I would by six months post partum be well on my way to losing the almost 60 pounds I had gained. That's funny on so many levels.

Level one. I didn't know that I would spend the first three weeks of Little md's life trying to not claw the skin off my body from a horrible pregnancy induced rash.

Level two. I didn't know that sending a child to school for the first year would cause such a total upheaval of anything resembling relaxation.

Level three. I didn't know that trying to keep up with housework in my new abode would demand nearly every waking hour. And speaking of every waking hour....

Level four. I didn't think Little md would be still be waking to eat several times a night at ten months old. This type of prolonged ridiculous exhaustion is soooo num minding...uh I mean mind numbing.

Level five. I certainly didn't prepare for not losing any weight while breast feeding.

I found myself in January weighing in at 140 pounds. Heavier than I have ever been sans baby on board. I was tired. Miserable. And still wearing the occasional article of maternity clothes. I decided to do something. Weight Watchers seemed like something I could do. It was online--no meetings. And my mom was going to sign up with me, so I had a buddy!

WW sets goals for you. I mean I set my final weight goal of 112, but they will let you know when you do 5% or 10%. Anyway. I decided that when I reached the half way point (which worked out to 14 pounds) that I would treat myself to some type of reward.

Today was the big day. I made it. 14 pounds. I was super excited. It has really been hard work. I miss just noshing. And soda. I really miss soda. Even if I only drink caffeine free stuff. The good thing is...I'm eating healthier. More veggies and fruit, less sugar.

Oh and here's a funny. I own two pair of jeans that fit. One is Levis the other is St. John's Bay (a JCPenney brand.) The Levi's have been getting looser and looser over the last few weeks, while the others are getting tighter. Or at the very least not getting looser. What is that about??

Back to my reward. I decided to pull out the issue of Good Housekeeping that I've been saving that lists their top rated skin care anti-aging products. And make a shopping list. As my reward. And as Phase Two of 'getting back my groove'...uh or whatever. 'The Plan'.

I decided to start with three items. A day cream with SPF for moisturizing, a night cream for repair and renewal, and an eye cream to help with dark circles and fine lines. Well the top three in those catagories were two Olay products and one Loreal. My HEB only had the Loreal, so night cream it is. I started using it tonight...

commencing phase two!!!

How we spent D's birthday weekend...

The titles just get snappier and snappier. So to celebrate this year, I took D out to dinner Friday night after conning my parents into watching the monkeys. Which I am realizing I already posted about. ANYway...

Yesterday I tried to clean. Normally when I start to clean I'm like a whirlwind going on and on and forgetting to eat. But I am trying to fight off a cold, so it was more like go in one room start working...rest...rest some more...eat....do a little work...eat...rest...all the while sucking on lemon drops. But then I hit my second wind or something and used my new Bissell Floormate to clean the kitchen and the long hall. After I finally got the hang of it (in no small part to NOT reading the directions) I actually liked it. It's work, but like D says "is it harder than mopping?" And the answer is no.

And for about four hours the floor was spotless. Then I let the family back in the kitchen. Eggs, Dr. Pepper and Doritos ensued. I was careful to only spill water--I'll have you know.

Hehehe while I'm typing this I'm feeding Little md fruit puffs and he takes them on the tip of his tongue like communion hosts.

D took Little d to sell GS cookies door to door with her troop. He's been gone almost two hours. Hope they are having a good time.

Little m is munching on goldfish. I paused to watch her and she said "what? I'm talking to Lunie." Lunie (pronounced Loo-knee) is but one of her three imaginary friends. Jake and Jeremy being the other two.

I am still doing laundry. I think I started the loads a little over two years ago. Seriously. It is taking forever to catch up. I have three loads of kid's clothes alone! Then I decided to change sheets, so there's a couple of those plus all! the! towels!

I must get off here. Fruit puffs are no longer a good enough distraction.

Weigh In Friday!

Okay hold your horses there....three pounds down! I am now a 128...woohoo!

I also wanted to add to my last "rookie mom" post, that I still feel like a rookie mom. And I'm pretty sure that feeling is never going to go away.

I'm also realizing how important this blog is to me. I need to write more because goodness knows that I'm not keeping record of anything anywhere else. I mean not just to record each and every little cuteness and milestone of the kids, but maybe if something ever happened to me...here would be my voice. For them to read about and someday learn about me. I don't mean that in a conceited way. If something ever had happened to one of my parents growing up, it would have meant the world to me to hear in their own words what they thought about everything from politics to tampons.

Soooo I'm going to try to get back into blogging. Which should be easy peasy--just like that whole 'I'm gonna walk on the treadmill everyday' idea I had in January. Here's an update. I walked on the mill twice. That's two times.

Anyway: here's what the kiddos are up too...

Little d. Picture day today--was a vision in fushia and white spring butterflies. But not sequined shoes...because even after trip number two to the store, I didn't get a size that fit. She has a little (big) crush on a boy. The same one from the beginning of the year. She's not sure if he has a crush on her. She's in girl scouts--as a Daisy. And looks so cute in her little blue vest. She (okay D and I) sold quite a few cookies this year. We had the raspberry tea Valentine's Party last Monday and it was a success.

Little m. Still in diapers. Will she ever be potty trained? She not only keeps me on my toes, she keeps me in stitches. Between her expressions and the things that come out of her mouth!

Little md. Cutting a top tooth now. And he has discovered the dance. He bops up and down with bended knees holding on with one hand and waving the other in the air. And grinning ear to ear. It may be the cutest thing you've ever seen. Sometime he sings along.

As for me. I'm still exhausted all the time. And right this second I may be coming down with a cold. Lovely. But I went out to dinner with my hot husband and then cruised through Academy. Nothing like a hot date with the hubby to perk me up. Special thanks to my parents for keeping the monkeys tonight. I am a lucky lady!

Writing assignment...

About a million years ago I used to read blogs written by other people just to pass the time. Oh and because some of them were uproariously funny. Like Mama Kat. So the other day I clicked on her blog again to find myself laughing until tears appeared. I noticed one of her writing prompts was "you know you're a rookie mom when..." and I thought huh. I should totally blog about that.

Well. You know. Me and the whole spare-time thing. I knew there was NO way I would get it done by the due date. Nor did I really want to post and link to another blog right now. My blog is not really viewer friendly right now what with the fits and starts of posting. But I thought it might be fun to try it anyway. Been awhile since I posted anything just for fun. SO here goes...

You Know You're A Rookie Mom When...

The color of poop in the diaper surprises you. Because let's face-it can be just about any color under the rainbow for no reason whatsoever. Except maybe the little sneaks ate a crayon when you weren't looking.

You can't concentrate on a TV show with a kid screaming in the background. I admit I sometimes still have trouble with this one. I've found that sometimes you have to turn the volume all the way up to 18 to actually hear it well enough...

You want sleep more than sex. My mom reads this, so I'm just going to leave it at that. Except to say that sometimes it's still a toss up. But when you're a rookie mom--there is no 'toss up'. It's always sleep. Always.

You wash your hands after wiping your kid's snotty nose with a Kleenex. I know it's horrible to admit, but when you're on kid number three and you know they are all going to get snotty in the end...well the skin on your hands just simply can't take the extra stripping of oils. I mean you are already washing them after diaper changes and dirty laundry and washing dishes. Eesh.

You can't watch the news for fear of seeing a sad story.

You know when you are not making sense and can catch your mistakes. In fact I would say that when you slip so deeply into the oatmeal-for-brains region that your six year old tells you that you didn't buckle her in while leaving the school parking lot, you can officially consider yourself no longer a rookie.

And last...for now...you know you're a rookie mom when no one is calling you for advice. Or maybe I should say you know you're no longer a rookie mom when someone does call you for advice. And it is a pretty good feeling. {Even if you don't know the answer...}

Weigh In Friday!

Well today I weighed two pounds less than last week. So coolio.

I celebrated by eating Sonic tonight. Ick. It has been soooo long since I ate greasy crap-ola. Again I say Ick.

I hope I'm not coming down with something. I am so exhausted this week. Just beyond drained.

It's not a riveting post, but it's real.

A new dress for a funeral

Yesterday I went dress shopping with my mom. Tomorrow I will go to San Antonio for a funeral. My cousin passed away after battling colon and breast cancer for three years. Doctors gave her two at the time of diagnosis, so she beat the odds. But at 47 she was still way too young.

Every morning for the past two or three weeks, after I drop Little d off for school, I pray. I start out praying for Little d to have a good day. Then I've been praying for Sandy. For her peace and comfort. This morning I prayed for Little d as I usually do. But then when I finished, it kind of hit me that Sandy is gone. So I took a breath and prayed for those she left behind. Sandy's mother, {who has lost her husband--almost thirty years ago to a sudden heart attack, and her son--who committed suicide a year ago} and Sandy's husband who took such great care of her, especially in these last few weeks, but really the whole time they were together.

My dress is black and white and red. I bought a shiny alligator skin red purse to match and a red trench coat. I'm planning on looking together on the outside even if I'm not really feeling all that together on the inside.

Snow day!

Minus the snow.

Well the school closed at noon today. I could not be more happy to have the long weekend. It's supposed to snow, but we'll see if it does. I know one thing for shoe-wa....it is COLD out there!

Home made chicken noodle soup tonight. Yum!

Little m's on Tamiflu. She's doing well though. I don't really think it's the flu, but we're following doctor's orders.

D's training in Corpus Christi got cut short! Yeah! He got to come home last night. So all my family is here in our toasty warm house.

So thankful today!