Monday, April 13, 2009

I lost a small child!!

here's the proof!!



Don't mind the sweaty girl in the pic. I just finished working out and was showing my sister how much difference there was from before



and after.




These are the jeans I wore to my first Weight Watchers meeting on August 13, 2008. I weighed 218 pounds!! (did I really just type that???) So far I am down 61 1/2 pounds (as of the Wednesday before Easter). I add that disclaimer because my FIL made some awesome cinnamon rolls for Brunch yesterday. And I ate my share. and probably John's too. :) they were that good! I also brought 3 home. 2 are left. I am in a size 12 comfortably. I haven't worn a 12 since high school. I also weighed less then than I do now. Is that Vanity Sizing? I have no idea but I do like being in a smaller size! I am still losing wieght. Ideally I'd like to lose another 21 1/2 pounds (don't ask!) for 83 pounds total. I workout an average of 3 days a week. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Much less. Like zero. But it's okay. I want this to be something I can do forever. I've lost weight more weeks than I've gained. I follow the plan more than I cheat. When I do "cheat" or "fall off the bandwagon" it's NOTHING like it was 8 months ago. Now I cheat on baby carrots or pretzels, not chips and wine. I miss wine. I still drink it occassionally, just not weekly. I have different habits, different comfort foods.

My favorite Easter candy is the mini cadbury milk chocolate eggs with the hard candy coating. LOVE them. Sam's Club had a huge ginormus size bag for less than $8. I picked it up. I held it for a minute before I put it back on the shelf. I told myself I would eat the whole bag and that it wasn't what I wanted. If I wanted the candy I could get a small bag at Meijer. Which I did. I ate it for 4 days. Last year I could (maybe would) have eaten the whole bag at one time. There are still some left in the bag. But I've moved on to something else now. Remember those cinnamon rolls? In all seriousness... I am also picky about jelly beans. I only like the Starburst ones. I bought them for the kids' baskets. I ate 3 as I was stuffing their eggs. I spit them out. They were waaaay tooooo sweet. Didn't think it was possible.

Anyway here is an after shot without any props, but I'm still the sweaty red faced girl in workout clothes. NOT the most flattering pic by far. But at least it's proof that I do exercise. Hopefully I'll post a nice after pic soon.





Easter pics are still on the camera. That's a different post all together though, isn't it?!

Until next time,
Carm

ps... Thanks for all the nice comments on my last post!! So afraid of being judged and criticized. You're the best!

Friday, April 10, 2009

I can't sleep...

Thanks Shannon. I hope you are! :)

So let's purge some of the thoughts in my brain and maybe I'll get a few zzz's before John gets up. Sam came in at about 2:30 and after laying (or is it lying?) in bed for almost 2 hours I decided to blog instead of thinking about what to blog about. It's your lucky day. I've got tons to say!

Where shall we start?


Sam lost his first tooth on March 20th. Already has a new tooth coming in! Came out while snacking on some goldfish crackers! Here is where we put it for the tooth fairy to find.



We just had his IEP meeting at school in March and he has tested out of Special Ed support for First Grade! Yeah! We are so proud of him. They will keep an eye on him and he'll get intervention if he struggles and needs it. He was so excited to read to the class during March is Reading Month. He chose to read Eight Silly Monkeys.




He still loves all things SpongeBob and yellow!

Next we can talk about Zack. Who just so happened to wake up and need my help getting back to bed. It's a good thing I was already up! ;)


He has been in Speech therapy since December and has made great progress. He works so hard on his lip exercises and announciating his "s", "l", and "f" sounds. He is also realizing that he misses sounds at the end of his words and is trying to self correct. It's not perfect but it's huge! My sister talked to him on the phone and commented to me that it was the first conversation where she understood everything he was saying! :)

He and Sam were talking tonight about whether we could go for a walk. Zack said "no, because it was night." (Normally Zack doesn't pronounce the "s" sound or pronounces it like a "t".) Sam thought he was saying "nice". So he didn't understand why Zack was saying no, they couldn't go for a walk! I had to explain that Zack was saying night and not nice. And boy was that nice to explain!! Anyway, I am so proud of how hard he has worked!! The submucus cleft seems to not be a factor according to the Speech Therapist. For that we are THANKFUL and blessed!

We also had his IEP meeting at school and he will continue with speech, occupational, and physical therapy in First Grade.

Perhaps the biggest newsflash here is that we will be separating the twins in First Grade. It will be the first time in three years they will not be in the same class. We're hoping that it will help their relationship and alleviate some of the competetion.

Not as many pics of Zack this time. He still doesn't have any loose teeth...

Let's talk about Jonathan shall we? There won't be many pics of him because he doesn't let me take them! But that's just the tip of the iceberg...



9 months old! Hard to believe that he's 18 already! I can't believe the young man that he's turning out to be. Yikes! MAN! I mean that in both a good and bad way. We have had our fair share of struggles in the pst few weeks and months. He has moved in and out of the house a few times. He needs to grom up and I need to let him make his own mistakes. It doesn't matter how much I want things for him. He has to want those things for himself AND be willing to work hard for them. Right now I'm just praying that he'll pull it together and graduate with his class in May. I'm happy that he's still working at Meijer and has been for over a year now. I think a strong work ethic is important. Certainly more important than a college degree. I'm trying to be supportive of him and his choices. It's hard! I had him when I was young. I have worked so hard and sacrificed (willingly and happily!) so much to give him what every mother wants for her child. I am thankful that John is here to help support me and we are a team. When I am sad and out of control angry, he is calm and reasonable. Jonathan will have to make some difficult decisions, but so did I. We both turned out okay then. We will be okay now too.

Blogger is being funny! I'll post more later. Brain purge almost complete and John's up! Maybe now I'll get some sleep!

until next time,
Carm