ok I have lost 74 pounds (and yes I am counting 22 twice) but I still have 20 more to go (ok really 15.5) Wow it is taking a long time. I did not realized when I decided to only loose 1 pound a month it would take years to loose the weight. My eyes pop out of my head as I write this, 74 pound? Wow that is a lot of weight.

Do you wonder what secret weight loss plan I am using, yea the big secret was giving birth  (delivering Nick helped drop 20 pounds, they were the most terrible to loose, but delivering Maddie I gained 5), the next big secret is I stopped breastfeeding (after a year), I don’t know why because most people find that breastfeeding melts off the pounds but I was so hungry I did not loose any weight while breast feeding. Then I started eating healthier (like perhaps only 2 desserts after dinner instead of the 4 I was eating when I was breastfeeding (you figuring out why I lost no weight?), once I was eating healthy (like replacing 3pm dessert with veggies and dip or meatballs) then I started eating less (really just not over eating), I was really overeating at my moms and grandmas houses, they are just such good cooks. So I am down to 135.5 and I either have to eat less or exercise more….and I just don’t want to do either (although I was doing ok on eating for the day until I ate 5 marshmallows, and I don’t even like them).

I am shocked that I have lost 74pounds…that means I used to be FAT.  I am so surprised looking back at pictures, yep I was fat, I mean I knew I was… but in my head I was still the skinny young adult I was before I had kids.

You might think Laura you are 5’6″ 135 is a just fine weight (BMI says it is) but I have a 36″ waist*, oh yea that is a nice look. (only doing 5 abdominal workouts since Maddie was born (almost 2 years ago) may have a bit to do with that))  I look like a stuffed sausage in my size 6 jeans. Oh pre-pregnancy body I miss you, I wish I had appreciated you when I had you…if only I had known how bad it could get. Here is to my giant version of my former self!

* waist meaning where my pants go, below my belly button. If I measure up where pants went in the ’90′s it is only 33. Anyway 37-33-40 is a long way from 34-25-35.

I am a zombie this week, I can barely keep my eyes open, I want to cry every morning when Maddie wakes up (we don’t need an alarm…we have Maddie). The house has turned into more of a disaster than normal (and for those of you who have seen it recently I bet you did not know it could get worse) the laundry is backed up (when is it not…well 2 years ago I was caught up) the dishes are covering the stove (you might wonder how I cook food for the kids like this…I do too)

On Friday Nick got the stomach flu (8 kids in his class were out with it (out of 16)) I was up for him 4 hours in the middle of the night (although Scott was the one that got to deal with the vomit). When he woke up the next morning it turned out he had had diarrhea in the middle of the night in his jammies, so it was all over him, his jammies and bedding and bedroom carpet..and it got on the bathroom run cleaning him up (so 5 loads of laundry and some carpet scrubbing). He puked in the bathtub when we gave him his first drink of the day so I had to sanitize the tub and tub toys (although they are still in the bathroom sink dirty).

Saturday Maddie was teething again, she is getting 3 molars and a front bottom tooth all at the same time, so she is very miserable, she has a pacifier in her mouth constantly because if she closes her mouth she sobs, because she stabs her lower gums with her new molar points, she has been waking up every 4 hours all night for her next dose of Tylenol like clockwork. I don’t remember most of Saturday, I was not feeling well, but I was awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night even though the kids were sleeping because I did not feel well…I never got sick…I just did not feel good.

Sunday Maddie ‘fell’ (was tripped by her brother) and bashed her head on the corner of the door and had a giant goose egg with a cut right before bed. I finally got her to sleep (with Tylenol and an icepack) but we waited until she woke up crying to give her her next dose…but it was not enough pain relief (she is 1 pound away from the next dosage amount on the bottle, we have since looked it up and are dosing her more appropriately) and she was awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night and so was I.

Monday, I was tired so I had some caffeine to keep me awake so Scott could get a nap (he let me sleep in) Nick was feeling great and Maddie was doing better (still teething but the right dose of Tylenol was working) so Nick and I shoveled the driveway and made a giant caterpillar during Maddies nap. Well I had too much caffeine and could not sleep from 2-6am even though the kids were sleeping (Scott let me sleep in to 9, and went to work late)

Somewhere in there Nick and I organized and cleaned up all of the toys, we have a lot of nice toys! However we never sorted the cars out from the junk/garbage pile and we never put away the ‘needs new batteries’ pile so the family room is a total dump! I am also so behind on laundry, I had big plans to catch up on the 8 loads of dirty clothes (yea there are summer shorts in the pile)

So adding it up in a 4 day period I am short 14 hours of sleep…yea no wonder I am a zombie.

Does having kids ever get easier?

This is crazy, I would love being a mommy…if I could stay awake and remember it, I think.

I had a piece of furniture in my family room that was supposed to go to my Mom’s house (for 6 years) well my Dad had his trailer out from racing (he likes to take his corvette racing…that way he can have his fancy racing tires on). So Nick, Grandpa, and Daddy moved the very heavy furniture out of my house!!!!

The ‘Truck’

The Ramp

Just so drawer placement

Closing the ramp

So Heavy

My Boys

I found this beautiful fabric on sale at Calico Corners and I am going to (or get my Mom to do it once I have a baby) make some small curtains for the family room. I spend so so so much time in that room and it really bothers me that it is not decorated nicely. Scott and I also rearranged the room so I could have a nice little nest and see the whole room. I washed my grayish linen curtains…and guess what they turned a lovely off white shade…I love them now…they look (and smell) so fresh and clean!

My curtains…someday

My Nest

Flowers

Nick loves school! We meet in the classroom, then we go to the gym, then we go to the science room (I am a bit disappointed it is all biology…there is great other science stuff you can do for little kids) , then we go to the library for story time, and then we go back to the classroom and play and have snack time all in our 1.5 hour class…at least we never get board. Nick takes his read back pack and his ‘suitcase’ (lunchbox) to school with him, he thought he needed some money to put in his back pack…so we gave him some…really it has a blankly and a diaper and wipes and I think I will put a bib in too…and perhaps a sippy cup…we have learned our lesson about drinking fountains, I will NEVER drink out of one again.

Here we are ready for the first day of school!

He did not really want his picture taken, he was busy playing

We were twins…it is a ‘Mommy and Me’ class

Nick and I were both excited to go

The games:

Here are all of his party guests (this is the best one)

Here is another where you can see all of party guests

A fun game of musical chairs

The guests:

Adam (and Grandpa Rick)

Daniel

Bradley

Aaron

Dorothy (and Pop Pop)

24 things about Nick, the Birthday Boy

1. Nick is in the 85th percentile for both height and weight
2. wears size 4T clothes
3. does not take a nap anymore
4. has a winning smile (you do not see it in any of the pictures because he did not want them taken, we were lucky he looked at the camera)
5. loves gymnastics class
6. loves school (we take a mommy and me class once a week) and does not want to leave
7. has absolutely gigantic feet size 9.5xW
8. loves to put on shoes (it means we are going outside)
9. loves to play trains, he talks to them too
10. gives kisses and a hug if you are lucky
11. is good at timeout, and sometimes is even excited to go to timeout
12. loves other kids…”hi pretty girl”
13. talks like crazy
14. might sleep 13 hours in a row
15. is afraid of Monsters
16. likes it when you drive crazy
17. is very good at grocery shopping…just let him out of the cart
18. if he wants something he tells you to “buy it!”
19. loves to play on the computer
20. oh shoot 24 things is a lot and I am tired…I will get Scott to finish it
21. something
22. something
23. something
24. the end

Here are some pictures of his Birthday:

Here is one of us blowing out his candles

The Family Photo

Grandmas and a boy

When you were a kid did you ever read the Mr. Messy book? It was one of my favorites…i wondered how could anyone be…well that messy. I was not a neat freak but my stuff was always kept neat enough; I kept my room mostly clean when I lived with my parents and I kept my dorm room clean (when you only have 15 square feet you don’t have much option) when I got a job only part of my apartment was clean, it is surprising how dirty one person with long hair can make a bathroom, I had always blamed the bathroom grossness on my sister and roommates (they had long blond hair too), but it turns out it was ME! And I collected a few piles of clothes in my bedroom…but you could get everywhere you wanted to without having to step over or around things but now that I am married and we have a big house things have changed. I am a slob! It does not help that I married another messy person and we have a very messy two year old. The stuff is everywhere, the the stuff is dirty. It was a revelation to find out that you are supposed to clean the bathroom more then once every 6 months. I vacuum the master bedroom once a year we are 10 months away from needing it done again…we will just have to pick the cheerios and crushed goldfish off the bottoms of our feet before we get in bed. I wash the sheets once a month (ok that is really gross because my husband is excessively sweaty and there is a brown spot where he sleeps), my spot is still mostly smelling good and clean…just wrinkly. I have decided to spend the rest of the year cleaning and fixing up the house and blog my progress. I plan to pick one room and clean it up until it is clean, I will share before and after pictures and wisdom and gross and funny things I find along the way. I plan to start on the main floor (since it is what everybody sees) and end on the messiest (either the basement or the master bedroom….I am really not sure which is worse). Here is the first room we worked on…the family room

Here is one clean corner of the Family Room

Here is another clean corner

“Bye bye Daddy, I love you too much.”

Update 9/14/2008
Nicks feet have grown, when we bought them the 9XW were nice and roomy, I checked where his feet were because they were getting harder to put on and I realized his toes are at the ends of the shoes…his feet already grew out of half of his shoes, the shoes I bought him for the first day of school are already too small…and we have not had the first day yet (Tuesday will be our first day and I am so excited!) We also had to buy him new socks (ok Granny bought him new socks) because his feet are just so big, he is in size 4-5 year old socks. He also recently grew an inch…two weeks ago he was shorter then his cousin Bradley…and now Nick is taller, last week he was 36 inches and 32 pounds, in the 85%ile for both height and weight. He is a big growing boy.

Original Post 7/1/2008
I found a new way to check the fit of your kids shoes. I realized that Nick’s shoes were too small when they got all wet (a rain puddle incident) and I pulled out the insoles to help them dry off faster, I looked at the foot dents he left…and I wondered why he did not complain, his toes were squished! so I bought him a half size bigger, only to realize 2 weeks later (after another rain puddle incident) that they were too small too even though they were easy to put on. So after a trip to the outlet mall and trying on every kids shoe there we realized our kid really does need wide shoes, extra wide is even better. Thanks Stride Rite for having on sale 9XW shoes! Hopefully these shoes last for the next year!