Swingers

It was such a pretty afternoon yesterday that we HAD to go outside. I loaded BabyCakes up in the stroller and BigBoy and I walked her up to the neighborhood playground.

BabyCakes loooved the swings, but what baby doesn't?


No wonder, it's the closest you get to feeling like you are flying!



Pure excitement and joy.



Biz loved some swings, too.



Can you tell BigBoy's opinion at that age?
He's always disguised his feelings so well. ;)



I wish it would always be so easy to incite joy in my children. I doubt at age 14 the swings will do the trick.

Baby Got Back problems

Good morning! Is anyone else as mixed up with the time right now as I am? I guess it would help if I changed ANY of the clocks in the house other than the bedside alarm clock, and J did that.

We had a strange weekend. Thursday I strained my back and by Friday afternoon I was in full-on pain and couldn't make it stop. Now, this was no migraine, but it hurt. It got hard to move.
I think carrying a 22 pound baby might have helped it along, too. Between BabyCakes and my um... other physical attributes, it's amazing my back doesn't hurt more often.
Anyway, it did.
So I rested. I sat. With a heating pad... all weekend.

It was weird.

Other than taking the kids to get flu shots on Saturday, I did almost nothing constructive. I helped keep the children alive and fed, made sure the house didn't implode... and sat.

As for this morning, I've never been so happy to be up and doing laundry!
Yes, my back is feeling much better and it's a good thing -- I have lots to do.
I'm trying to get ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas little by little this year. No last-minute grocery shopping or gift-wrapping here. (At least that's the plan.)
Just like my health goals, I'm going to get my household and holiday tasks done little by little.

Okay, I'm off to tackle that pile of clothes that don't really fit anymore and even when I can wear them again I still won't really like stuff on top of the dryer that needs a home. Maybe I'll just donate them. If I liked them that much I wouldn't even have to debate it.

Later!

P.S. The following was added because Gramps complained about the lack of a grandchild pic. Thought I'd throw him a bone...

Real quick before we're out the door...

BabyCakes modeling her new sweater. :)

"I knew she would be scared."

That was the response I received from BigBoy when I asked him why he climbed in the crib with BabyCakes.
Let me back up a bit...

Neither of my children likes the vacuum.
It's big. It's loud. It freaks them out.

I heard BabyCakes talking to her seahorse so I knew she was up from her nap. I thought it would be a good time to vacuum since she was still calmly contained.

BigBoy was huddled in the corner of the couch covering his ears when I began.
Because of his speech delay he's had his hearing tested twice in the past. Both times he scored as high as they could measure and I was told he had "super-human" hearing (their words, not mine). When he says his ears hurt because something's too loud, he means it.

After vacuuming the living room I moved on to the kitchen and that must have been when he made a run for it.
I saved BabyCakes' room for last and when I came in, there I found him.
He was covering her ears with his hands and she was chewing on Rex' tail -- two things that don't usually happen. Usually she would fight to keep his hands off her and he would fight to keep her hands off Rex. I guess they both knew what was best in that situation and accepted it.
BigBoy "knew she would be scared" and didn't think twice about putting his sister first.


My son may be a lot of things, but a bad big brother, he is not.

I have the best babysitter in the world.

As I mentioned yesterday, Neighbor Stacy watches BabyCakes while I go to my WW meetings on Wednesdays.



She knitted this sweater for her when she was born and I was surprised to find that it fits.
I thought Stacy would enjoy seeing her wear it.



(I got these big smiles by jumping around on my front porch waving my arms and saying "Boogers! Boogers!" Classy, I know. At least I got the picture, though. Try it sometime when your kids aren't cooperating and see if it doesn't work for a smile!)



When I got home an hour-ish later this is what I found:



Adorable, aren't they?!

And all it cost me was 3 cans of Chunky Soup and 2 sleeves of saltines.

If only Gymboree worked like that.

WW Wednesday

This week the "WW" stands for "Whoop Whoop!"

(FYI - I'm going to try to avoid using the actual terms "Weight Watchers" and "Points" on here as much as possible because I'm not sure how they feel about that.)

First of all, I have to thank my friends again for your support in my quest for a healthier lifestyle. My success this week is directly related to the feedback I received in response to my plea for help. :)
So the weigh-in: 4.2 lbs, baby! Aw yeah, I'm enjoying it while I can. Neighbor Melissa knows first-hand how the last few weeks have been for me, and I thought I'd share a little of that.

A few weeks ago I got off track. I was stressed and in moments of high-stress I am weaker in my resolve. The last few weeks have been me bouncing around between making healthy choices and making notsohealthy choices -- some of them big, like a LARGE mocha frappe from McDonald's. (I'm new to coffee and those things are sinfully delicious!) How bout 4 pieces of pizza? Yep, all me.

I kept going to my WW meetings, though, and let me tell you, it was HARD.
Neighbor Stacy had taken away my scale, so here I was walking in blind to a weigh-in when I KNEW I had not done well that week. The success for me those weeks was that I went. That was big. The old me would have said "well I know I have gained so I will just work hard this next week and then go next time when there won't be a gain."
But I couldn't. And I am glad I didn't. Those weights reflected my attitudes, emotions, and actions for the week.



When I started this I put lots of checks in place for myself.
Neighbor Stacy watches BabyCakes while I am gone and she holds me accountable. (BigBoy is at preschool.)
Neighbor Melissa attends meetings with me and her success and positive attitude is inspiring. Our reasons for attending and goals are similar.
I also have 2 other friends, one here in NC and one in TN, that are working on things of their own, that I check in with on the phone.
And on top of it all, I have a loving, supportive husband who has told me I am am beautiful possibly every day for the last 10 years.




Now I have you too, though. And you better believe I'm going to make you a part of this. Consider your support as a way of thanking me for pics of slobbery smiles and chubby cheeks. :)

I know I am very lucky to have so much support. Very lucky to be able to stay home with my children and have the time to attend meetings. Very lucky to be able to afford the food I want to buy and the weight-loss program I am on.




I could go on and on but this is a blaaahg, not a book, so I'm going to move on.

Lessons learned in the last week: Just because one egg is broken, you don't throw out the whole dozen. One day at at time, one meal at a time, one bite at a time. One bad choice does not begat another.



Goal for this WW week: Track my points every day. Plan my meals so there are no last-minute I'm-starving-but-nothing-sounds-good-so-I-will-just-eat-this moments.

Total lost: 21.2 lbs

Chicken San Antonio

So I'm by no means a foodie blogger but I did make a new dish tonight that I should share because it is easy and healthy. It's loosely based on another recipe I found online but because I wanted to only use what I had on hand, it got a bit tweaked.
I'm calling it Chicken San Antonio because it's a mexican-style dish and I love San Antonio. :)

What you'll need:
Crock pot/ slow cooker
Chicken
Salsa of any kind
Peppers/onions
Taco seasoning packet
Flour

Cut chicken (I used boneless, skinless breasts - 2) into strips.
Coat in mixture of 2 tbsp flour and 1/2 packet taco seasoning.
Place in bottom of crock pot.
Slice (red, green, yellow, etc) peppers and or onions -- I used a bag of frozen pre-sliced peppers and onions I bought at Trader Joes and this part was made even easier
Mix the peppers/onions with 1 - 1.5 cups of salsa and then pour over the chicken.

Cook on high 3 hours or low I'm guessing 5-6ish.
Stir it all together before serving. Easy peasy!
I tried mine after almost 3 hrs on high and it was perfectly done, if not a little salsa-heavy (I used 1.5 c).

You could eat this with hard or soft shells, over rice, etc. The original recipe called for topping it with cheese but I didn't feel the need.

For my WW friends, it was only 5 points for 3 over-stuffed hard taco's full and I myself am now stuffed, too.

Tomorrow is my WW Wednesday so I will be sure to share my results with you in the afternoon. The end of last week was UGLY but by the weekend I was back on track, partly because of all the support I found from my blaaaahglanders. :) So, thanks!