Sleep!

Eight hours of sweet uninterrupted, rejuvenating sleep!
I can hear the voices in my head again! (Name that show!)

Thank-you thank-you thank-you, BabyCakes!



The video I posted of you jumping in your crib is looking much cuter now. :)

A special request

My father is in the coronary care unit. Without going into detail, just know that he has a history of heart problems.

Last night I received this email from him:
(I'm sorry, Daddy, to put this out there, but I wanted to share it.)

"Hey Hon!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We had a great time visiting. Just getting to spend time with you and the kids does my heart good. You have 2 precious little kids! I just love being around them. I know it gets hard sometimes, but it is all worth the effort. You are doing such a great job with them. You can tell they are well loved.
(...)
Maybe this visit will hold me a little while, but seeing them makes me miss them all that much more. You do know that I'm just as excited to see you too?! You'll always be my baby, but it's also fun to play with your babies.
Love you more than you know,
Daddy"


Please pray for him.

Thank you,

Cayce

WW Wednesday

Two posts in one day -- I'm on fire lately! :)

This last week involved one indulgent date night, one cookout with friends, and also some delivery pizza for lunch and dinner and breakfast the next morning. I was good to compensate with healthier choices in my other meals, though.

Today walking in to WW I was uncertain as to my fate. Last week I thought I had done so well and I got a little slapped around. It's always exciting to step on that scale and this week I had a smile-worthy loss.

I think the key to all of this for me is to not be a perfectionist about it.
I absolutely do not want my weight loss efforts to include strategies that I cannot maintain. I do not want to wake up one morning and think "I haven't had chocolate in 9 months. I think I'll eat a whole bag of Hershey Kisses now."

FINALLY I've accepted that in order to have the large amount of success I want (in my weight-loss of course), it is going to take a lot of failing.

It's simple as that: Get back up every. time. you. fall. down. (Also known as a life of moderation, I suppose.)



To me "falling down" could be having 2 3 Krispy Kremes for breakfast, going all week without exercising, or even having a gain on the scale that day.

Lesson learned this week: If I want to continue to lose and become a healthier person, I have to reshape what I consider is a normal amount of food for me. After losing 40 pounds, I need fewer calories to maintain my weight. So duh, I have to adjust my diet to reflect that. ("Tracking" in WW --something I still didn't do last week. I WAS very aware of what I was eating, though, and kept a loose mental tally).

Goal for this week: Track every single day. Try to reevaluate some of my old stand-by's to see if they are really still working for me. Also, eat more fruit.

P.S. When my WW buddy Melissa and I walked in today, this angel on earth standing to the side said "Here's the skinny girls!"
HA! Only in a WW meeting... :)

Calling all Moms!

I need your help. BabyCakes has not allowed me to get a decent night's sleep in over 2 weeks. Actually, I don't know how long it's been.
At first I attributed it to her teeth, then a cold, but now I don't know what to think. She keeps waking up in the middle of the night and resisting going back to sleep. This is very strange for her.
Sometimes she just wants to get up and play. I'm taking away her morning nap in the hopes that it will help, but last night it didn't.

Sorry this isn't a well-written post but it reflects me right now. I'm headachey and my muscles hurt.

I took some video last night of her waking up around 8, an hour after she went to bed. When she wakes up in the middle of the night I don't really talk to her, so this video isn't a good representation of most of our nighttime scenarios, but I did want to get some footage of her jumping for posterity. She is pretty cute, after all. :)



So anyway, imagine the jumping plus crying (usually just from her) and you'll get the picture for the nighttime.

Are we thinking separation anxiety? Sometimes she's just happy as can be to jump and sing "Mamamama, dadadadada!" Just a phase?
I'm having trouble seeing through the fog of my delirium.

Help me fix this now or I'm taking away the baby pics.
That's right, I'm pulling out the big guns!
;)

The Pursuit of Happyness

Some would say I live in a small house.
The average U.S. home is over 2,400 square feet.



Not quite 1,400 square feet, my 3 bedroom/ 2 bath Craftsman does the job. We have a 1-car garage and no guest room but a mighty fine air mattress. There are definitely areas that could use some breathing space, but I almost never feel cramped in my living quarters.



I think the biggest reason for this is the fact that I don't like to keep things that have no use or special meaning to our family.



Related to that, I think it is a shame when items that we say mean a great deal to us, end up sitting in a box marked "Keepsakes" for years.



I try to make those things a continuing part of my life.

Here's a little example of how I put that principle into action in my own home:

J's grandfather (PaPa or Happy to his peers) was a big part of his life as a child. Sadly, he died of cancer when J was 10. Everyone I've met who knew him has stories of this larger-than-life personality -- a force to be reckoned with. J worshiped him.



I think all of us, if we are lucky, have someone in our lives that we connect to like that.
After J's mother passed away, his father gave us the flag she was given upon his burial. He was in WWII and a proud American.

We also have his domino set (something he often played with the family) and a bar he built.



I may have never known Happy, but I do know his legacy.
Now he's a part of my living room... and my life.

Date Night

Last night I went out on a date. Yes, it was with my husband of almost 10 years (wow) but it was a real DATE. I even wore non-flat shoes!
My parents are in town and they fed the children and put them to bed so that J and I could go out for the first time since October.

We drove to a local mall that has a nice outdoor section of shops, restaurants, fountains, and a movie theater. Unfortunately because it was Sunday the stores closed at 6:00, but we still had a great time.
We went to Firebirds and I had the best meal I've had in ages.
The loaded baked potato I ate was nothing short of sinful.


We even got dessert. Two, in fact!
We don't go out often so we decided to make the most of it (and my WW weekly points allowance).


(Images courtesy of http://www.firebirdsrestaurants.com/)

After dinner we went to the first movie we've seen together in a theater since before the children were born. Nothing really looked super-interesting but we wanted to see a movie so we watched Hall Pass.


The movie was, well, what you might expect, but it was still just soooo cool to be out on a date with the hubs.

There were a couple times when the movie got loud and we both said that our first thought was "Don't wake the kids!"

Even enjoying ourselves alone on our date, we were still parents. :)

Dear My-side-of-the-bed,



I'm sorry. I know I've been distant lately.

What can I say? Having children ain't all spontaneous hugs and squeals of glee.
Sometimes they get sick with colds that last seemingly forever and morph into pink eye and ear infections.
Sometimes they get new teeth in.
Sometimes they jump up and down and cry in their crib because they pooped and don't want to sleep in it and then even after changing them, soothing them, feeding them, and promising them you will name the next child you will never have after them if they will just let you get a couple hours of continuous sleep-- they still won't give it up.



I know you are lonely. I know you don't think I'm committed to this relationship.
Believe me when I tell you that this is hurting me as much as it is hurting you.
This morning I took a shower to try to feel human again. I started the water, stepped in the shower... and realized I still had my underwear on.

Next I began the day-long process of giving myself a caffeine transfusion.
My blood is no longer suitable for pregnant vampires.

I hope we can have a rendezvous this evening, but we might have to keep it short and sweet.

Sometimes life happens.