March?!

Wow, I suck at blogging! I missed all of February. Though, I have been pretty busy. I have been exercising every night, doing either 20 or 30 minutes of Walk Away the Pounds. I am getting frustrated though, because I have not been losing the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I hit 40 total lost, but then I maintained last week. This week I don't expect to lose either. Weigh in is tomorrow, but I was up two on Sunday, and back to last week's weight this morning. I have been sick for over two weeks now. I'm not sure if it is a cold or allergies, though I think it is a little of both. My face is really puffy, so that may be where some of the weight is. Hopefully I will start losing again soon!

Today I signed Sophie up for preschool, starting in the fall. It is so exciting yet sad at the same time. Time has gone by so fast! I know she will enjoy it, because she is very busy, and she needs the interaction. She already recognizes a lot of her letters and numbers. Also, she is very verbal, but in social situations she tends not to talk a lot, especially to other adults. So I think this will help. And, she will be one of the youngest, if no the youngest in the class. I think that will be to her advantage, because she picks up things from other kids and if she was the oldest, she might be bored. I can't wait to get her a back pack for school! Not to mention a wardrobe :-) I guess I better hurry up and get a job!

Unbloggyish

Sorry, I have been very unbloggyish lately. Not that I have nothing to blog about. There is just to much running around in my head and by the time I can sit down and blog it is all jumbled up in there :-). I had a little stall in my weight loss, so I have been trying to work out every night. I did do 6 out of 7 nights last week. I have been doing the one mile walk away the pounds, and trying to use my three pound weights while I do it. At weigh in on Tuesday I had lost 5 pounds for the week, which was more then I lost in the previous month. I hope I don't gain this week. I am at 35 total lost right now, and my goal was the hit 50 by my bday in March. I may come close.

Last Sunday was my sister Cathy's birthday. She would have been 42. Since we were only 10 months apart we were always the same age for almost two months. Oddly, Chet's birthday is 6 days later, on January 30th, so he and I are the same age for almost two months. We went and hung out at my parents house on what would have been Cathy's birthday. I posted in my FB status that it was her birthday and received some very nice responses. One was from her boyfriend at the time she died. He was driving, and though the accident was ruled no fault, my father has never gotten over the fact her boyfriend was driving. My dad can hold a grudge forever, and he is very bitter. So, he was very surprised to learn that I had been in touch with this person via Facebook. My mom on the other hand was very glad to read his message. Cathy was 18 when she died, and her boyfriend had just turned 17. He had minor injuries in the accident. At first he came around a lot. A few months after she died he started dating a girl that was within their circle of friends. She is a cousin of one of Cathy's good friends. After that he stopped coming around. I am not sure exactly what happened. I don't know if he could detect my dad's bitterness, or he was just uncomfortable. He was so young. I can't imagine going through that even at my age. Now he and that girlfriend have been happily married for many years and have three kids. Their first child has Catherine as her middle name, just like Sophie. I wish we would all have stayed in touch over the years. I know myself, my sisters and my mom would like to have but my dad is another story. He just doesn't like to deal with things sometimes. I do know they have gone back and read the messages again, so I am sure my dad was touched by it too. He would never admit it though.

THIRTY,THIRTY, THIRTY, THIRTY!

Today I FINALLY hit 30 pounds lost. I thought I would do it two weeks ago, but I only lost one pound. Then last week I thought it was a sure thing, but no, I lost ZERO. So today I weighed in and I lost two pounds, to hit 30 exactly, woo hoo! My next goal is to hit 50 by my birthday. Well, the day after, since my birthday is on a Monday. That means 20 pounds in 11 weeks. Maybe I can do it in ten? I know I need to up my exercise and my veggie/fruit intake and I can do it. Once I hit 50, I will want to lose another 25 in three months, so by the first day of summer. That would put me at the weight I was as a senior in highschool, and I grew an inch or more after highschool. I want to wear sleeveless shirts this summer! If I averaged two pounds a week, I will do it! Plus, I think we are having a 25 year highschool reunion this summer. I didn't go to the two previous ones, but now that I am in touch via Facebook with some classmates, maybe I will. Why couldn't it be next year?! By then I will look good :-) Unless I am pregnant. Yes, I am turning 43 in two months and still hoping for another baby. Have I mentioned how happy I am that I decided to join Weight Watchers?!

Goodbye 2009

Wow, what a year. A very strange, satisfying year. I started out at the end of 2008 thinking I would be working within the first six months of the year, and here I am still at home with Sophie.

Of course, the worst part of this year was having to put Simon down. Last New Years Eve Chet and I went to see "Marley and Me", and we both were crying at the end. Chet was crying so hard I had to drive home. Wee knew at that time Simon didn't have long, but I thought he would make it through the year. I still cry every time I look at his picture, or think about him, or talk about him. Losing him was very sad and hard. At first I thought we would get a new puppy as soon as possible, but right now I don't know that any of us are ready for that. We are working well as our little family of four.


One week before we put Simon down I started Weight Watchers. So far I have lost 28 pounds. I didn't have a great week last week, I didn't lose or gain. I wanted to hit 30 by the Ne Year, but hopefully next week. One of main goals during my time at home was to lose weight, and all I did was gain 10 pounds. While I wish I would have started when I quit my job, I am so happy I am doing it now.

Overall, this is has been a very different year for me. Being at home, in full mommy mode has been wonderful. While it has cost us a lot of money, it has well been worth it. So maybe I will have to work a little longer into my golden years, but I would not give up this time for anything. Besides having precious time with my girl, it has enabled me to spread my wings socially in a way I never have. I have made some wonderful friends and shed a little bit of my social awkwardness. Sophie and I have spent a lot of time doing fun things, like play dates and different outings we never would have done before. So even after I go back to work, I know I will have this great network of mom friends that I can count on.

2010 promises to bring a lot of changes. Hopefully an exciting new job in a somewhat different field. While I would love to stay home until Sophie starts school, I know that is probably not in the cards. But whatever happens, I know it will be a great year because I have Chet, Sophie and Toby.

Christmas 2009

Since I am not working yet, I decided to really enjoy this Christmas season and pack as many fun things in as possible. Chet Sophie and I went to Zoolights the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to downtown Seattle, Sophie and I made a few trips to my favorite mall, we met different friends at fun and festive places, and we had a toddler cookie decorating party. This week was going to be more low key. We had fun on Monday, meeting my cousin and her son at a favorite store and then having lunch. Tuesday was a stay at home day, to do some cleaning, wrapping, etc. Tuesday night Sophie had a runny nose and was a little fussy. Sure enough, Wednesday morning when I went to get her, her cheeks were bright red and she cried when I picked her up because she was achy. We were supposed to go to my parents that day, but instead my mom came over. I called the doctors office and the nurse called back and said it sounded like a cold, give her tylenol and watch her. Thursday we stayed home again, baking cookies for Santa and doing more cleaning and laundry. Chet picked up pizza for us and we had Sophie open a couple of gifts. Daddy read her The Night Before Christmas, and then we put her to bed. Chet started putting together a table and chairs my parents bought her, and I got ready to go to Mass by myself. Mass was very nice. The choir sung all my favorite Christmas songs, and the homily was very unique as usual with our Parish Priest. I notice on my way to Church that there were lots of lights, more than usual. I realized I hadn't really been out at night since the first weekend in December when Sophie and I went driving around to look at lights.

Christmas morning, Sophie still didn't feel good. She wanted milk, so Daddy got her milk and we went out to see if Santa had come. If she was not sick I know she would have been more excited. Chet and I really didn't get her a ton of stuff, but combined with everyone else, it was a lot. After a while she really got into unwrapping things. She loved her stocking. I am glad I decided to wrap everything, even the Dora bandaids. I think that was her favorite part. She later pulled everything out to show my parents, and did that again today to show me. I put all the stocking stuff away now, so I hope she isn't upset tomorrow. Her stocking was full of basic stuff, like a Hello Kitty toothbrush, Dora big girl panties, socks, ponytail holders, etc. I think she would have been happy with just that stuff. Santa brought her a kids digital camera, because he must know how much she likes taking pictures. Daddy drew her name in the name drawing we do with my family, and got her a new baby doll. We got her some dress up clothes, a little chair for her doll, a new nightgown, a step stool I got at Target really cheap, and an Elmo Goes Potty video. All told, we only spent about $100. We actually spend less now than we did before we had Sophie, because we used to spend a lot more on each other. Of course my parents got her a ton of stuff, and she also got a lot of things from Chet's mom, and all of her aunties and uncles, including her honorary auntie, my bff. We really don't buy her things throughout the year, other than clothes, so I am fine with her being a little spoiled on Christmas and her birthday. My parents came in the afternoon, bringing her more things of course. So she played with Grandma and Grandpa and I made a roast with carrots, garlic mashed potatoes and rolls. Then my parents left and we bundled up Sophie and went driving around looking at lights. That was very nice. When we got home we all pretty much crashed. All in all it was a very wonderful and special Christmas, even though Sophie was sick. Since she stared holding and pulling her ears last night I called the doctor first thing this morning and we got in today. Luckily we got to see her pedi, and she has a bad double ear infection. So now we have antibiotics and hopefully it can clear up soon. I have spent many a Christmas sick, so I hope Sophie doesn't ever get sick again on Christmas. It's no fun.

Nine weeks/eight weeks

So, today is nine weeks since I started weight watchers. My weigh in was this morning, and I lost a pound since last week. My previous four weeks were better numbers, so that didn't surprise me. I have lost a total of 28 pounds in 9 weeks. I was hoping to hit 30 by Christmas, but New Years would be good too. We'll see.

Today is 8 weeks since we had to put our pug Simon down. I can't believe it has been that long. I miss him so much. Our other Pug Toby is still out of sorts. Sophie still mentions Simon, but I think she gets that he is gone. I can't see his picture or think about him or talk about him with out crying. But of course I do look at his picture, talk about him, think about him, and cry. I have to. That's just how I am.

Christmas is coming!!

I love Christmas. I love the lights, the decorations, the tree, the carols, the whole Christmas atmosphere. My favorite thing is the Christmas spirit. These days, it is sometimes hard to find. Everyone gets so caught up in shopping, parties, getting things done, that instead of having a Christmas spirit, they are crabbier than normal. So not the idea of Christmas, I think. The first time I realized that not everyone was happy and jolly at Christmas time was in 1987. I started working in 1986, but my sister died in a car accident that Thanksgiving, and I didn't go back to work until a couple of weeks before Christmas. I was in such a haze, I don't remember that Christmas. The following year, I was excited to be at work during Christmas. I was so excited that our sometimes crabby customers would all be happy and full of glee. I was bitterly disappointed to discover that people were actually worse during Christmas. Each year, it only got worse. Growing up, we had lots of family traditions at Christmas. I remember being 7 years old and running home to see that my mom had put lights in the windows. We decorated Christmas cookies, we went downtown to see Santa, we went to Mass and dinner on Christmas Eve. Our extended family has always had a Christmas party the Sunday before Christmas. Growing up we all drew names, so that was the first gift of the season. A precursor to Christmas, so to speak. It was always fun to see who had your name. As we got older, our Christmases got bigger and bigger. As much as I loved the presents, it was not all about the day, but the season, and it still is. I love to drive around and look at Christmas decorations. I like going to the malls and seeing all the festive decor. It is a special time of year, and should feel special. I love the gatherings, the baking, the festivals, everything. All the years that I longed for a baby, Christmas time was the worse. I wanted a child to share the season with. It was apropos that I found out I was pregnant 12 days before Christmas. Then 3 days before Christmas I found out I was in danger of having my third miscarriage. I was put on bed rest. Then taken off, then put back on. Of course, the next Christmas Sophie was here, and I was working six days a week. Sophie was only four months old that Christmas, so she didn't realize what was going on, but I did. And it was the best Christmas ever. Last year I wasn't working, and we did some of our usual traditions, but then we got snowed in for the week before and many functions were canceled, much to my chagrin. This year, since I still am not working, I have made sure we do as many fun things as possible. I have packed our schedule a bit, but I am savoring every memory. I decided to spend more money on making memories than actual gifts. I really think everyone should do that. Then maybe they wouldn't be so hurried, stressed, crabby and so not in the Holiday spirit. I don't want anyone getting stressed over buying me a gift. I much rather they sit back and enjoy the season.