Monday musings

I have the flu.


Or maybe it's not the flu - maybe it's just a cold that had me feeling achy and feverish the first day (Saturday), and sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever so you can rest medicine since then but either way, I'm feeling...blah.


I spent the majority of the weekend in bed. Not easy to do with two young boys, but Patrick helped a lot and I ended up having PJ in bed with me a lot too (hooray for passing on antibodies for your illnesses to your babies when you're breastfeeding!).


Now, Patrick seems to be starting to feel blah too.

We're good at sharing.


However, my appetite has been nonexistant, so I'm looking on the bright side: maybe it will put me that much closer to reaching my weight-loss goal of 50 pounds by the end of the year. Remember that one? Yeah, well...I'm not exactly setting any records in the slim-down department, but according to this morning's hop on the scale, I am down 18 pounds since I first posted about it.

That leaves me with just 32 pounds to go.

In around nine weeks.

It's doable, right?

(Don't answer that.)

Anyway, I did manage to squeeze into a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans today and it has inspired me.

It's funny, battling baby weight while I'm still uncertain about whether I want to have another baby. I mean, to work so hard to get it all off only to get pregnant again seems ludicrous. And it generally is about the six-month-old mark, when your baby is sitting up and giggling and sleeping better and so interactive that you start to entertain thoughts like, "Yeah, I could do this one more time..." even though for the last five months, you've been thinking "Never, never, never, never again!"

Not that I'm looking to have another babe any time soon.

I'm just saying...

Here's a video of my breakfast with Jack yesterday morning.

I love hearing what he has to say.

And that he doesn't ask me who's writing my questions.

Raw food - Day Five

The pounds are not falling off (I think I've lost one), but I feel really good on this diet so far.

Mostly, I'm enjoying the freedom from the guilt that comes after eating an entire row (or two) of double-stuf Oreos (seriously, why do they even bother making the regular-stuf kind?) in one sitting.

Do you know that guilt I'm talking about? I mean, not only do you feel lousy from eating all that sugar, but you also feel lousy for eating all that sugar.

Yet somehow, you feel compelled to do the same thing the next day with your kid's animal crackers. Or a half gallon of ice cream (actually, they're gypping us 1/4 of a quart these days, and selling ice cream by the 1.75 quart container, but I'm going to pretend not to be annoyed by this since I'm not a slave to sugar anymore...or at least not this week).

I still have until Wednesday to make it a full week.

And I think I'll tack on Thursday just because this past weekend was my niece's birthday and, well, I did have some ice cream.

In a waffle cone.

And a cupcake.

Is that wrong?

Actually, it's not. She talks about the fact that if you're eating mostly raw things, you'll have the enzymes you need to digest stuff like that once in a great while.

At least that's my interpretation of it.

So Thursday it is. I'll let you know the verdict.

I have to say, it's really curbed my appetite, and it's definitely easier to live with than I imagined it would be. The key is in the combinations of foods that make your body work most efficiently. More on that later.

I encourage you to get the book at the library and give it a glance. It's an easy read and really challenges everything you thought you knew about dieting.

Happy Monday, folks!

Raw Food - Day One

Okay, so I'll admit it seems a little extreme. But remember my comment about the cake in the last post?

Yeah, well...that comment made me see it's time to take drastic measures.

My skin is a mess, my knees hurt, and by 3 p.m., I'm this shy of needing a set of defibrillator paddles to make it through the remainder of the day.

Clear!

I think losing weight is the only thing I've ever really set my mind to and not been able to do.

That's because I like Oreos too much.

And brownies, cake, ice cream, gummy worms, M&Ms, Milky Ways....need I continue?

I had candy corn for breakfast this past Saturday. And Sunday. Just candy corn and coffee.

(Actually, I wanted to put the candy corn in a bowl and pour milk on it, but I restrained myself just a little bit and only had a few handfuls.)

So today was day one, and honestly it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

Even though they were giving out free samples of Jewish apple cake and crab cakes at the local grocery store today (not something they usually do, and just typing the words Jewish apple cake made my mouth water).

But I stayed strong!

I'm going to give it one week and see if I feel as good as the book promises I will.

I certainly wasn't a ball of energy today, but I'm still behind the eight ball in the sleep department.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Monster Pops

I have Bakerella's blog listed in my favorites way down there at the right, but I need to make sure you guys see her Trick or Treats post. These are the cutest little monster pops!

Click on the photo to see how she makes them.

If I'm feeling ambitious, I might try to make the pumpkin ones this weekend for my niece's birthday.

Might.

We'll see how it goes.

Free time and I haven't seen each other for a while.

Anyway, in addition to being adorable, they're not just lollipops...they're CUPCAKE pops, people! Oh yes. I like cake.

Did you notice the weight loss ticker is gone?

Coincidence? I think not.

Swim, swam, swum

I mean, seriously. Come on, now. Thursday, we went to Nana and Pop Pop's house to go swimming. This is Jack's swim getup. Can you stand it?

That shirt used to fit until I washed it once, but I think the midriff shirt and long trunks totally makes him look like a surfer dude.

Here are a few pictures of him and Patrick in the pool from the weekend. Can you tell who's having more fun?

I can't.

We had an adventurous Fourth of July weekend, to say the least. On Friday morning, we went to Virginia to meet up with some ladies that I met online who all have babies born in November of 2006, like Jack was. We met when we were pregnant and have stayed friends through until now. It was fun to put names with faces and to see them with their babies in person!

Then, we went to Aunt Tori's house for the rest of the weekend. It was busy-busy, but fun to catch up. Jack and O'Malley the cat were reunited, much to Jack's glee (and O'Malley's dismay). Jack calls him "Maow-Maow" and would walk around the house trying to find him. The poor cat stayed holed up as much as possible, but would occasionally oblige Jack and come out to eat now and again.

I personally did not don my bathing suit once, although it was hot as you-know-what. This brings me to my exciting news...well, exciting for me and for my friend, Andrea. We are using the buddy system to lose weight, and have a goal for outselves by the end of the year. I won't share it with you lest you snarf the beverage you're drinking out onto your laptop and fry your hard drive, but let's just say we'd like to lose 50 pounds by the end of the year. It's challenging, but it's perfectly attainable with some self control.

Of which I seem to have none.

But I did today! I even worked out!

Go me!

Have you ever buddied your way towards a goal? Whether it was losing weight, quitting smoking, or working out - did you find that having a buddy helped you stay on task?

I think it has to be the right person, though.

It's hard for me because Patrick's metabolism is so dang fast that he can really eat whatever he wants and not gain an ounce. Don't you hate friends like that? I mean, I really love him, but he can eat three hotdogs at one sitting and not flinch. I gain 5 pounds just opening the package. If he were my buddy, he'd be justifying the cookie dough I ate last night - before the diet officially started - by telling me that dough has fewer calories when it's raw.

So not helpful.

Andrea and I are weighing in every Monday, so I think that will scare me enough to stay on track. Pooh was right - it's so much friendlier with two.

Oh, and thanks for all your money-saving tips! I knew I could de-lurk some of you! Glad you joined in on the conversation!

Hold on to your G's!

I don't know if it's the kids or the summertime that make me want to drop them all over the place. We've been having a sidewalk chalkin', sliding boardin', splish-splashin', berry pickin' good time around here!

But before we get into all that, here are a few pictures of PJ. He smiles and coos all the time, until I take out the camera - then he's fascinated by it and I can't get him to smile at all. These little half smirks will have to do. I can't believe he's almost two months old. I'm dreading his two month doctor's appointment, which is on Monday. Any mommy can tell you, this one's a doozy - lots of shots!


We're back and forth on whether PJ looks like Jack. Sometimes we see it, sometimes we don't. So to help us decide, I pulled up some pictures of Jack at this age, and...well...we're still back and forth. See for yourself.



What do you think? The first one looks just like PJ, I think. But the other two...not so much. PJ just seems squishier to me somehow, with big, edible cheeks. I love it! Plus, I think PJ is going to end up being more of a blondie. We'll see.

Every morning, Jack and I go berry pickin' in the patch that's in our yard. The people we bought the house from planted it, and while I don't think it's the most attractive part of our landscape, we decided to keep it because we get literally hundreds of berries from it in the summer! Jack says "bevy," and it makes me think of how Woody Allen might say "berry," which cracks me up.

Patrick has worked wonders on our lawn this year, taking it from patchy to lush and green. We're surrounded by Chemlawn customers, so by comparison, ours looked really bad last year. But, through lots of elbow grease, fertilizing and seeding, now we're holding our own. In the process though, I think the strawberry patch got seeded as well.

Jack calls the tallest blades of grass "trees," so I just ask him to help me pull the trees out.

Yesterday's dessert of the day was Rice Krispy treats - a fave. I justified having two by saying that they were the same genre of dessert. Besides, I cut them myself, so I might have just cut a big one into two smaller halves, and I was allowed to eat both halves. Whatever. The strawberries help with my sweet tooth throughout the day, too. I decided that fruit does NOT count in my one dessert per day rule! I may be wrong, but I think my rule is already helping my waistline. Who knew? Don't answer that.

Now, on to the splish-splashin'. Yesterday was just gorgeous - the first day warm enough to set up the frog pool. Patrick's Mom brought this little pool for Jack when she came for the christening, and if this doesn't look like hours of toddler fun, I don't know what does.

Is that not the coolest thing? Jack loved it! I can't stand how cute he looks in his little swim trunks.

That's what happenin' around here. I'll leave you with this shot of Peej lookin' cute in his sun hat. Again, he was beaming until I took out the camera. Oh well. Peace out!

Sugar detox

It's day four of implementing my one dessert per day rule, and I think I'm going through withdrawal. I have a wicked case of the munchies, and a piece of cheese just does not do for me what a piece of chocolate does. But I'm hanging in there. We have a wedding at the end of the summer and I'd like to lose some weight before then - so it's walks with the boys and sticking to the one dessert rule. So far, so good.

Of course, there was a double entendre with that title because my love for desserts is what has me in the wardrobe pickle I'm in - so that's my just desserts. And then, as we all know, I'd like to eat just desserts, so you see...it's a little play on words. Get it? Is this thing on? You guys are like my accountability group. Except I have no idea who reads this thing. What's a girl have to do to get a little comment love around here? Come on, now - don't be shy.

Okay, on to some pictures and a funny story. You deserve that much if you're still here because I'm feeling extra silly tonight.

Going to Aunt Tori's house was like Christmas around these parts, since she gave us some really great things that her kids have outgrown. We're experiencing the fun that is the Little People collection - so cute. Jack just loves them. And we also got something Patrick has been dying for: a bike trailer for the kids. Well, for now, it's just for the kid, but eventually, they'll both be in there. Patrick loves riding his bike for exercise, so we've been talking about getting one, but there's just no room in the budget right now. Then, lo and behold, we're walking around the zoo and Tori asks me if I know anyone who could use a bike trailer since her kids are too heavy for her to pull. Cue the choirs of angels, "AAAAHHHHHH!" Thankful, once again, for our minivan, we brought that baby home and it's been used every day since.

We literally laugh out loud every time we see Jack in his helmet. I guess this is not a good thing because it might make him too self conscious to want to wear his helmet, but when you see him in it, you'll understand:


See?

Ok, now on to the funny story. Do you see the small stuffed Dalmatian dog in there with the yellow vest that's "sitting" next to Jack? Here's the story of how he came to acquire that little gem.

Monday morning, Memorial Day, I was sitting in the living room talking to my sister on the phone. Patrick was going to take Jack somewhere - I forget where - in the minivan. He went outside, and about two minutes later, he came in and said "Eileen, I need help." Well, we all know he needs help (ba-dum bum), but I could tell this was serious, so I hung up with Devon. "I just locked the keys in the van, and Jack's buckled in there," says he. Ok, not to worry - I'll call the police. I didn't want to call 911 because this wasn't really an emergency, it wasn't like we were in Arizona with 110 degree temperatures or anything. So I called 411 and asked for the non-emergency number for the local police station. When I got the dispatcher, I told her what happened and where we live. "How old is your son?" she asked. 18 months. "And is he in any immediate danger?" Not at all. She says she'll send someone out. I leave it in Patrick's capable hands and come inside to nurse PJ. Well, about 4 minutes later, I hear them - the trucks, plural, that pull up outside - and I know that there are probably 10 service people outside our home all working to get my son out of the car. Did I mention the non-emergency, no immediate danger thing? Well, if I weren't nursing PJ, I'd have been out there with my camera, but it turns out there was a fire truck, an ambulance, a police car, and three other volunteers who came in their own cars, blue lights a-flashing. Shocked and slightly embarrassed (at the sight of Larry in a towel...Veggie Tales?....anyone?) at the number of people who showed up, Patrick was out there assuring all the neighbors, who were now coming outside to see what was going on, that everything was just fine. After they got Jack - who thought all this hubbub on his behalf was quite amusing and who was thrilled beyond belief to see a firetruck - out of the van safely, one of the firemen went to the truck to retrieve that cute little stuffed dog and give it to Jack.

The end.

I'm hurting for a segue here, but can't come up with one. Firetruck, hose. Hose, water. Water, bath. There it is! PJ had his first big boy bath this week. He doesn't get bathed quite as often as he maybe should, and I've been doing the sponge bath thing with him until now, trying to put off the screaming as long as possible (Jack hated the bath at this age). I was pleasantly surprised, though, to see his reaction...

Not sure what to make of it here.

I had him in there with Jack, who was sharing his bath toys, so that may have helped.


And then....enough. Jack's like "Uh, Mom - could you do something about this?"

I'm sure that was the first of many shared baths to come. It's always more fun to play bathketball when someone's blocking the net, right?

And this just in...dare I make this post longer? While I was typing this, Jack walked up to me, holding his crotch, and said, in Jackspeak, "Help, Mom," which really sounds like "Ha, Mum." I asked, "You need help? Do you want to go tinkles on the potty?" (Just yesterday I brought the potty, which I had put away a few months ago, out again and thought we might try sitting on it a few times this week.) "Uh-huh," he said, running over to his little potty. Patrick went over, took his diaper off (Jack's, not Patrick's), and he sat down and tinkled! Holy cow!! Granted, none of the tinkle actually ended up in the potty, since that guard in the front is just a little too small, but still! We just cleaned up the carpet and went crazy clapping and dancing around. Yay, Jack!

Just Desserts

I would be perfectly happy if my diet were just desserts. I think I have a sugar problem.

That being the case, I made a new rule for myself: only one dessert per day. You'd think being 34 years old, I might already know this rule, but I don't. I had to make it "official." I did this by declaring it aloud to Patrick after a day in which I ate the following in addition to my regular three squares: a brownie, a piece of pie, two Tastykake butterscotch krimpets, some Sunkist fruit gems candies, and a handful of jellybeans. Is that wrong? Um, my wardrobe suggests YES! So it's down to just one dessert per day, and yesterday was my first day of implementing that new rule. I should be able to get through a day with no desserts, I guess, but...well...that would be absurd.

So let's talk about the wardrobe issues of a woman of childbearing age, shall we? Namely, what clothes should be in my drawers and closet right now? It's just a simple question that I don't know how to answer.

My sons are 18 months and 6 weeks old, which means I've been pregnant for 20 of the last 30 months. Pre-pregnancy with Jack, I was far from svelte, but I weighed about 30 pounds less than I do right now. So my clothes from before he was born do not fit right now. I gained about 40 pounds with his pregnancy, and after he was born, I bought a few new things that were in a bigger size. I got pregnant with PJ at a high weight - truth be told, I was almost back up to my delivery weight with Jack. (Sleep deprivation makes your metabolism run in reverse.) As a result, I tried to be careful about my weight gain with PJ's pregnancy, and ended up only gaining NINE pounds (yay me!). Don't worry, I still weighed more than my 6'6" husband, so I was hardly wasting away or putting the baby in danger. The baby and I could have lived off my thighs for another year. So the clothes I bought after Jack was born are actually a little too big for me right now.

This is my predicament.

I wore maternity jeans to take the boys to the park today and once they stretched a little from their just-out-of-the-dryer fit, I literally had to hold on to them to keep them from ending up around my ankles. (As an aside, if they made elastic waist jeans in normal, non-maternity sizes, I'd seriously have a closetful of them. They're just that comfortable, and no Dunlaps disease - you know, where your stomach dunlaps over the top of your pants? So if anyone decides to start this particular line of clothing, I'll be your number one customer!)

In my drawers right now, I still have my maternity clothes, and I'm supplementing with some non-maternity capri-length sweatpants that are on the top of my dresser. If I do the rubberband trick, I can get away with a pair of non-maternity jeans with a slight case of Dunlaps, but I'm not really comfortable doing this. My closet is full of maternity clothes and pre-Jack clothes, none of which really fit right. Oh, add that while I'm breastfeeding, there simply are NO button down shirts that will fit correctly over the "ladies" without bulging at the middle.

The wardrobe organization rule of thumb is that if you haven't worn something in the last year, you should get rid of it. But this just doesn't hold true for people who have been pregnant in that year! There is just no organizational system that will work, and I'm living out of my drawers, Rubbermaid bins, plastic bags, and piles of clothes that are just taking over my room!

Somebody help me!

Oh, I guess the dessert rule might help too, huh?

Seriously, though - how do I make this work?