hey

my teeth are out. im fat-faced and going to fall asleep to frasier. wait, im not sending a text? oh i forgot i could blaaahg on my phone.
cayce

WW Wednesday

Hey there! It's that time of the week again. This morning's weigh-in went pretty well. I had a loss at the scale. It was nothing dramatic, and it didn't even make up for my gain last week, but it was a loss nonetheless. Next week I plan to be back with another loss.
Slowly but surely I'm achieving my goals. You might have to see the words "WW Wednseday" pop up for MANY more weeks, but eventually I'll get there.

Lesson learned this week: Even if I'm sick and don't feel like eating much, I should still make good choices when I do eat. Also, eating one fresh chocolate chip cookie does not mean I should eat 3 more. Yes, that second cookie is going to taste good, but it's not going to satiate me any more than the first. And then I just keep going...

Goal for the week: HAVE MY WISDOM TEETH REMOVED! This appointment has been rescheduled so many times that I won't believe it until I am actually home and doped-up on painkillers, blissfully unaware of the number of nasty diapers the hubs has to change while I'm drooling on my pillow.

Focus of a Four-Year-Old

Earlier today I was dancing with BigBoy. He was standing on the ottoman and I was on my knees on the floor in front of him. I said playfully "Oh, you're so tall! How tall are you?"
He replied, "Big biggest 4!" It made me laugh. So often I think of him as an older child. After all, he is the oldest child in the house.



Still, he is only 4. He takes pride in his work, though.
When I picked him up from school today he was sitting at a table with a pencil and some papers while the rest of his class was in circle time with the teacher. I asked her if he had gotten in trouble. She said "No, he just hates to leave a project unfinished. He has extreme focus for the task at hand so we try to let him work all he wants when time allows."



It's true. He does have extreme focus, and not just at working. I could learn a thing or two from my Boy.

When he plays, he plays hard.



When he sleeps, he sleeps hard.



When he protests, he protests HARD.



But when he loves...
Oh his love: that's what comes the easiest.



Now if only he would stop whining so hard. :)

Boys Town

Last week I set up BigBoy's Toy Story tent in the living room for him to play with for a few days. Even BabyCakes had fun in the tent.



I knew it would be a big hit when the neighbor boys came over to play. Usually would just let them figure out what to play and go about my folding laundry/washing dishes/random household activity while they entertained themselves, but I had just read this post about using a little extra effort and "wowing" somebody that day.
I thought back to all the clubhouses and forts of my own childhood and knew I could do the boys so much better than a simple tent.



That's right. I broke out extra furniture, pillows, sheets, baby gates, and some cardboard.
The boys LOVED it.



We even had a race car room (because you could race cars on the roof), and a Spiderman room/ coloring room. They got out every "boy" toy we own to put in that fort, but they also cleaned them all up before they left. (I should mention that BabyCakes was napping during most of their visit, otherwise she would have destroyed their fort Godzilla-fashion.)



I love when BigBoy plays with these boys. They are fun, polite, well-behaved children -- precisely the influence I want for my own child.



I'm glad I was able to "wow" them. Luckily when your audience is under the age of 6, it isn't that difficult. :)

I'll have a Thursday with a cherry on top, please

Ahhhh. Sweet diet-cherry-limeade-perfection...
Oh, sorry about that. I was just enjoying my treat from Sonic.
Warmer weather always gets me craving slushes and cherry limeades and a diet one is only 1 WW point for a large. :D Me likey.

I thought I'd update you on my hugging thus far.
Yesterday I hugged two neighbors. They were both different but both went well.
Today I haven't hugged anyone but the munchkins.
That's okay. I'm not really in a hugging mood.
Let's not force it, m'kay?

So far: Hugs - 3. Weak "Hey" - 1.

(Btw, I'm giving "Hey" points when I could have hugged the person but didn't.)



This tulip was barely hanging on for dear life. It was in that don't-touch-me-or-all-my-petals-will-fall-off-and-I'll-officially-be-a-goner period. A good reminder that life can be beautiful even near its end.

WW Wednesday

Ok, I'm ripping the bandaid off: I gained this week.
It was a hard week. Let's leave it at that because we all have them and there's no need wallowing in the details.
I'm going to try my damndest not to make it a bad month, though.



I did go for several walks with the children (and the hubs) and that was my goal for the week. The walks may not have been very aerobic, but they were beneficial to the spirit anyway.



What I learned this week: I'm not sure, and that's okay. What's important is that I still strive to learn.



Goal for the upcoming week: Focus less on the food and more on the person eating it (me). ( I don't really care what you eat.)

Let's hug it out

As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to start hugging more.

I should clear up a few things first:

1. I'm not going to randomly hug people. Just women I already really like and care about and only when it has been a while since seeing them. I'm not going to say "Oh hi! I haven't seen you in 2 whole hours! Let's embrace!"

2. I'm not going to suddenly become touchy-feely. My hugs won't linger into the land of "okay... AWKWARD" and I'm not going to reach out for your hand to comfort you. Skin on skin? Shiver.
Furthermore, I will NEVER kiss someone who doesn't sleep in my house. The elusive kissing-greeters look just like the rest of us, though, so beware.

3. I'm not going to become a close-talker. You have your space and I have mine. Actually, I need more space because of my errr, top half. I shouldn't be able to smell your deoderant or lack thereof. Also, wazzup with the whisper talk?

4. I'm actually a pretty laid-back person. Though this blogpost series makes me sound like it, I do not in fact have a stick up my butt.
I don't have any intimacy issues, and I know there are people who love me.

I've just never been a hugger.

We'll see if I can change that.

My first gratuitous hug (I say gratuitous because they did not have a loved-one die and they are not a blood-relative of mine) was today with Preschool Mom #1.
She called me when I was on my way to the school and I was still laughing from my conversation about it with Rachel (she thinks I'm nuts) so I told her my plan.
Preschool Mom #1 is not a hugger either, so I told her I was going to practice on her.
(Why does that sound dirty?)
She reluctantly agreed.

I saw her. We hugged, laughed, I did a little double-pat on the back saying "Hey! How are you?!" and then it was over. No biggie.

So far: Hugs-1, Weak "Hey"- Zero.

Anyone care to experiment with me?
(Again, didn't mean to sound dirty.)