Happy Birthday Chase!

I am happy to report that Lauren is no longer the only two year old in our playgroup; her pal "Chasey" is! So on Saturday we all headed to Chase's house for a his Birthday par-tay, and lemme tell ya, the kiddos had a BLAST!

Some spent their time swinging, alone:


with their girlfriends:


or insisting their 'rents do the pushing:


Others played on the swing set:


while simultaneously giving the parents heart attacks, as our fearless leader Chase did:


Some of us played in the bounce house:


while our kids tagged along :)


Some played in the Birthday boy's new teepee:


and played "catch me if you can" with some chosen boy toys:


But all that playing leaves our toddlers tucked out, so we headed inside. We played for a bit indoors:


before passing out from sheer exhaustion :)


But all things have to come to an end...

So when your baby brother starts embarrassing you by pretending to be a plumber:


it's time to split! So we did :)

Happy Birthday Chase! We love ya pal!

It's Alive!

For the past 6 months, our garage has been home to the Hubsters friends Mustang. This Mustang was bought many years ago, with the intention of gutting the thing and restoring it to it's original condition. Unfortunately that never happened; instead, it was gutted and tore down and never touched again.

Luckily for Mikey and his Mustang, my Hubster saw this as an opportunity to work on his hobby and help a friend out. And because he was spending Mikey's money, I welcomed this new past time :) Justin gets to do something he enjoys, stay outta my hair spend some time with his "boys"and not spend a dime of our money... how could I refuse??

You see, when Justin and I first met, he also had a "project" Mustang that he loved:


Sure, it had no passenger seat, dripped fluid like a leaky faucet and got temperamental when you attempted to start it, but he adored that dumb car. Lucky for me, he decided it wasn't "family" friendly and sold the thing. "Woohooo", I thought, "I'm in the clear!" That is, until he came home with this fine lookin' classy ride:


But with racing season on hold, the Hubster was getting a little antsy and feeling the urge to "bang on a car". So a couple days a week for the past 6 months, the Hubster, Mikey and Luis have been restoring the rusty, non-engine-existing thang. Seriously, when it was towed to our home, it had zero, zip, nada under the hood. I mean nothing. This gutted car at least has "wirey" thingies in it; the car in our garage had none:


But today, after a whole lotta blood, sweat, tears and some other poor saps money, the 'Stang was ready for her first drive!


First they checked for any loose wires or spark plugs or whatever they look for:


kept their cool when I insisted they stand still for a minute to snap a picture:


started the beast up:


and took it for a spin!!


With no muffler (or whatever the thing's called that prevents your eardrums from bleeding out), the car set off every.single.car alarm as it traveled down the street. Dogs were barking, children were plugging their ears and neighbors came out to to see what all the commotion was about. Of course, the boys thought this was fabulous, and drove it around the block just to p!ss the neighbors off even more so. We're high class like that.

But the best part??? My garage looked like this:


Well, until they realized something was wrong with the "tranny". So it's back... for a couple months years I'm told. Lucky me.

What?!?

You mean, you don't put your rainboots on first thing in the morning?


Silly girl, she can't live without 'em. They even trump "yo-gut" these days, as she insists on putting them on prior to breakfast!

:)

How did you do it?

Since posting my weight loss entry, I've received several emails asking how I've accomplished losing 60+ lbs. While I'm flattered that 1) people are actually reading my blog! and 2) people think I know what I'm talking about, I'm really just like every other person out there struggling with their weight. I've just chosen to share it with 500 of my new best friends :)

My biggest fear in sharing my story was that people would take it as a “look at me” type of post. Honest, honest, honest...I *really* didn’t want it to come across that way. I think everybody (and their mamas!) struggle with weight. It’s hard NOT to, when fast food and sedentary lifestyles are pretty much crammed down our throats. How can we not be overweight?

Anyways, I’ll share what worked for me since there has been alot of interest....

In the beginning, I followed Weight Watchers principles (I have all kinds of materials if you’d like to borrow ‘em). That kinda just got my eating habits under control. Portion size was a huge issue for me, and I realized I was eating what a 250 lb. man should be. It was eye-opening! I stayed with Weight Watchers for a couple months and lost about 15 lbs. Around that point, I really started bumping up my exercise because it wasn’t nearly as strenuous as it was when I was 15 lbs. heavier. I would make it a MUST to exercise daily. I would walk for a mile with the kids in the stroller, get up early in the morning to go running, whatever... And I joined a fitness boot camp course that we have locally. Within a mere 7 weeks, I lost 4 inches around my waist. Between the running, pushups, situps, and weight lifting, the inches and pounds started melting off. And while they melted, my self esteem rose. And I started challenging myself... my first challenge being the 5k I ran.

The other principles I follow are:

1) Tracking all of my calories (or POINTS on Weight Watchers). EVERY single bite I take HAS to be documented. This alone curbs what (and how much) I eat.

2) I drink LOTS of water. We all know this is key for weight loss, but it’s true. Water flushes the fat out of your body. I hate regular water, so I add ½ a packet of Crystal light strawberry mix to it and it’s good! Oh, and I have a big water bottle that I use every day. I know that I have to drink two containers of water to make 64 oz, so that’s how I keep track of my water intake. Once I’ve had two bottles, I know I’m done with what I MUST drink.

3) I NEVER, ever deprive myself. If I want something, I have it. I just don’t eat the entire thing.

4) When I’m exercising and I’m ready to quit/stop/give up, I force myself to do it another minute. By that point, I’m proud of myself that I actually DID it and it motivates me to do a bit more.

5) I reward myself. At the beginning, rewarding myself with pedicures/massages from Justin/a new candle/whatever, motivated me. But honestly, now just seeing that I’ve lost another pound or so is rewarding all in itself.

6) I cut out all Pepsi, which I was drinking 24/7. I allow myself a glass of Diet Coke when we do dinner out, but I cut out the full sugar kind completely and limit the diet.

7) I have snacks prepared. For example, on my way home from Bootcamp, I have Sugar Snap Peas, a Banana, or a yogurt handy so the temptation to go through a drive through isn’t so overwhelming.

8) Expect to be hungry... a little bit. I HATE this feeling, but at the end of the night, when my fat behind would normally be vegging on the sofa snarfing down chips, I tell myself that this is my body burning the calories I’ve consumed today. Your body, and stomach size, will slowly adjust and the hunger pangs will cease. (I know diet experts say otherwise, but for me, being a tad hungry was a given).

9) Make small changes. I LOVE ice cream, so I found alternatives. I eat 100 calorie dark chocolate puddings and add a dollop of fat free whipped cream. Or I indulge in Nuby frozen yogurt. Or Smart Ones makes a low fat chocolate chip cookie dessert. If I am craving ice cream, I have it... just in a lower fat version :)

Again, you have to find what works for you. Tweak it some, and you’ll be amazed you can ACTUALLY do this! Remember, it’s ONE step at a time. One day at a time. Make small changes, and resist temptations to either eat excessively or not exercise, and the weight WILL come off! If I can do it, a girl who was over 200+ lbs. and huffed her way to the refrigerator, you can do it!

Good luck on this journey everyone. Here's to a fitter, healthier you!

150's baby!

I have debated posting this entry for a while now, but after seeing what I saw this morning, I couldn't resist :)

My hope is that this post becomes an inspiration because believe me, if I can do it, anyone anyone anyone can do it!! I'm so serious.

Before I got pregnant with Lauren, I was overweight. When Justin and I started dating, I was overweight. Heck, when I was in high school, I was overweight. I have been overweight a the majority of my life. It all started around Junior High, when feelings of abandonment and resentment came into play. Those were rough years, and I turned to food for comfort... which made me heavy, so I turned to food for comfort... you see the pattern here.

Anyways, when I gave birth to Lauren I weighed 222 lbs. Yes, as in over two hundred pounds. I was mortified and ashamed. I wanted SO badly to post pictures of my new daughter and family at that time, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed because of the way I looked.

Fifteen months later, I gave birth to Jacob. I weighed in at 210 lbs. I weighed less than I did with Lauren's delivery, but I was still very heavy. The only good thing is that I wasn't disappointed at the fact that my child didn't come out weighing the 30 lbs. I had gained :)

When Jacob was 3 months old, I had a "light bulb" moment and decided right then and there, as I sat on the couch eating my 5th piece of pizza, that I needed to make a change. I needed to make a change for the daughter I was raising; I didn't want her to have a poor self image and struggle with her weight as I did. I needed to make a change for my son; I wanted to chase after him and climb up the swing sets at the park without huffing and puffing. I wanted to make a change for my husband, who so deserved having a wife he could be physically proud of; I wanted to feel good in my own skin, so that we could be intimate without me worrying what part of my body was jiggling at that moment. But most importantly, I needed to make a change for me. I needed to feel good about me. I wanted to feel proud of the accomplishments yet to come. I wanted to start over. No longer would I put myself last on my list.

So that very day, I made a commitment. I started journaling both on this blog and another weigh loss forum. I kept it up for a good few months and then found that doing so actually became detrimental in my progress. Among other things, I started withholding water, just to have more "weight" loss to share. It wasn't' working, so I went at it alone.

This morning, I hit a new milestone; I am in the 150's. I have never, ever seen this number on the scale. I was so happy I almost peed myself. And quite frankly, I should have because I would have lost a couple more ounces :)

Now that I have conquered this issue, I feel comfortable posting pictures of the old me...the old me that was tired, depressed and embarrassed.

This was me back when Lauren was born:


This was me when Jacob was born:


And today:


It's all about commitment. How bad do I really want this? How much do I want to feel good about myself? It's a choice. A daily choice. An hourly choice, actually. It's a struggle at times but nothing compares to the feeling of accomplishment and success.


And this 150 lb. body of mine will continue to eat healthy, exercise and compete in 5k's. I can and will do this! Wanna join me?

Lauren's beary special Birthday bash!

We celebrated Fancy Pants' 2 year Birthday on Saturday with a little par-tay at Lauren's "den". It was perfect; not too big, not too small, with our closest family and friends in attendance. Unfortunately, my camera died halfway into the gift opening, so I don't have alot of pics to share but my Aunt Cat took plenty and I will post 'em when I get 'em.

The party started here, when Lauren's invites hit the mailbox. From there, I planned everything with her beloved bears in mind. The Birthday girl donned a Gymber "Unbearably Cute" outfit,


while Moosey Man wore something that made his big sister smile from ear to ear:


Once both Brownies were fed and dressed, we starting preparing for everyone to arrive. We got the balloons ready:


put up some banners and table cloths:


and did a little playing with the balloons in between the preparation:


Lauren knew that she would be spoiled rotten later in the day, so she decided to share her existing toys with her brother:


She even planted one on him for good measure:


Soon people started piling in:


as did the presents:


Some of the kids played outside,


while other played in the toy store playroom:


And after eating pizza, salad and some Girl Scout Cookies (long story short: The Hubster went to pick up the balloons that morning and the Girl Scouts saw what a sucker my husband is and got him to buy 5 boxes!), Lauren opened her presents.


She got lots of great gifts; everyone was very sweet and beyond generous. We have lots of books, toys and clothing to play with:


But Jacob wasn't too pleased his sister was the center of attention:


and was even less pleased that she got all the gifts:


And after a bit of snuggling, consoling and plenty of kisses, he was his happy 'ole self again. Sooo, we prepared the cakes... one was a Chocolate with creme filled Costco cake and the other was yellow Bear cake (with Chocolate frosting) I made for the birthday girl:


We lit the candle, gathered around and sang the Birthday song to Lauren. She was all smiles, although she became shy as the center of attention and turned a few shades of red. She kept pointing to me, as every one was singing, and saying "Momma, momma!", just to make sure everyone was aware of the fact that I'm her mom :)

All in all, it was a great day! We had a fun time, and hope that those in attendance had a good time too. Lauren says, 'thanks for coming everybody!'