Before I Get Productive

The sun is out, FINALLY, and has prompted me to write as I bask in it's semi-warmish glow.

Jordan told me this morning that today is the 6th sunny day of 2011. I'm not sure how she knows this...but I imagine she is charting it in one of her journals or something, so I am not going to question it!  Nor will I question why we get the tease of this one day of sun and then it's forecasted to go back to more of the same tomorrow.  I won't question why, on the day that I need to stay inside and clean my house for our upcoming Mother's Day picnic, the sun decides to shine.  I'm just going to sit in the semi-warmish glow for a few minutes and recharge!

So last week I decided to get serious about watching what I eat and got back on the treadmill. I'm doing a C25K program for the treadmill to get me used to running again. I'm not sure how, but I managed to fit in 4 workouts last week and am starting to feel motivated again.  A 3.4 lb loss on the scale this week is helping with the old motivation but I still have about a 14 lb hole I'd like to dig out of.  It's a start anyway. 

Thinking about lots of things lately.  Wish I would have written some of it down, but I can't live with regrets! Hopefully I won't get into a habit of only posting on sunny days in Western, PA...who KNOWS when you would see me again!

Weekend Re-Cap

We did some Mommy/Daughter/Sister bonding today.  Jim had plans to help a friend this weekend and took a little road trip today which left me a whole day with the girls. I wanted to do something fun. We've been wanting to see Tangled so I decided to leave the baby with Pappy and take the older three to the movies. The girls have only been a couple of times before and it was actually Livi's first time. My mom and one of my sisters decided to come as well. 

The movie is really cute. I think it's at the top of my list of Disney pics. The girls were totally enthralled. We saw it in 3D which made it even more mesmorizing.  After the movie we picked up some dinner and went back to my parents, caught the end of the football game, smothered Chloe in kisses, and popped in another movie. 

As I type this Ava is sleeping beside me on the couch. Livi and Chloe are in dreamland upstairs and Jordan is STILL awake.  We are having a "sleepover" which I guess just means that we are staying up late and the girls will get to sleep in my room. They were super excited about that. Usually I'm begging them to stay in their own beds, so they recognize the golden opportunity for what it is! 

Thanksgiving break is almost over. One more day to sleep in and then it's back to the old routine. It's fine with me.  Actually it won't be back to the old routine completely, because Jim and I are "getting fit" together.  He does a "biggest loser" type thing with the guys at work with cash as a motivating factor. I'm just tired of feeling tired.  I feel old, flabby and I'm scared to go to the doctor for a physical. I really need to whip myself into shape.  Sigh. 

Well...back to the sleepover!  :)

Weigh in Wednesday: Smorgasbord!

Happy news for me this morning. I lost .6 lbs this week. Wish it would have been 2, but I can't be upset about a loss. I had 3 parties since last Wednesday and each had a smorgasbord of exceptional choices (taste wise, not diet conscious wise.) I am having a really difficult time fitting exercise into the equation. I can't expect the weightloss to continue without it so I must figure something out!

This post is going to be a smorgasbord of sorts as well..besides the weigh in day, there's lots to talk about!

The three parties in the last seven days: My Grandmother's 88th birthday. We had family come up from Florida to visit so it was great seeing family that we never get to see. My niece's (and Goddaughter)1st birthday party. She is getting to be such a big girl! She's still a baldy bean but should be walking soon.

I can't believe it's been a year since she was born. It got me thinking a little bit about one of the babies I lost last year. My first miscarriage was a baby girl. I named her Sadie and I lost her when I was 16 weeks pregnant. Her 1st birthday would have been coming up here in August. I think about what she would be like...

Ahem, The third party was a church gathering. A thank you party for those that volunteered to raise funds for our capital campaign. I didn't know what to expect because the party was held at house where our pastor lives and I have never been there. Also, our pastor is rumored to be an EXCELLENT chef (Although I have not eaten his food)and I was intrigued to see what would be served. Let me tell you the spread was not disappointing, BUT he didn't have time to cook anything and had it catered. There was wine flowing freely and hoers d'oeuvres like: Mushroom Pate, Mini Crab cakes, A cheese assortment, These pinwheel thingies, Spiced nuts, an Olive tray, Tomato tarte, and more. Then there was a dessert room with tons of cookies and treats. It was heavenly!!!

On Monday when I went grocery shopping the power went out. The generators came on, but it meant that I couldn't dump the kids into "The Eagle's Nest" which is the free daycare at the store. I wasn't about to go home so I started the trip with the 4 girls beside me. There were no Large Carts (you know, the ones that you can seat three children in) so I had the baby in the cart and everyone else just tagging along. I was hoping that the power would come on within minutes, but tried to make the best of it. I gave my list to Jordan and set her to the task of finding and checking off items from the list. Ava and Olivia helped pick out the produce: nectarines, mangoes, bananas, apples etc.

An older woman stopped to admire Chloe and asked if she was mine. I said yes, then she noticed my tag alongs and asked "Are these yours too?" She asked with a smile. "Yep!" She said that I did not look old enough to have 4 kids. I said "Well, I am 33." She looked at me like I was nuts and said that I looked so young...she thought I was 16! OK! I took it as a compliment. Recently, I've noticed some wrinkles that were never there before so the fact that this woman thought I looked young, made me feel good.

Monday night was book club. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin was this month's pick. I was super excited to read this book. Who couldn't use more happiness in their life? I've decided to start my happiness project but I have to think about it more. I'm sure you'll be hearing me go on about it in this blog sooner or later! I've already included a button on my sidebar if you want to check out what it's all about.

Also, we are under construction at "What Little Girls Are Made Of"...lost my layout so I was forced to revamp a little. There are more changes to come, but for now, I just wanted to make it presentable. I am working on a new banner and I may change other things too. I just need to find the time!!

Lastly, I'm super exhausted. Between making phone calls (which I despise), taking care of kiddos who have some sort of mystery fever, cooking, keeping up with daily chores, detail cleaning for our first open house this weekend, and being alone in the evenings (Hubby has been working late--yay, for extra money for vacation. Boo, for parenting alone, no adult conversation, and one tired man) I am completely pooped.

This really was a smorgasbord...hope you found something to indulge in...

Weigh in Wednesday: Slow and Steady.

Here we go...settling into a normal weight loss. I would have liked to have seen two pounds this week but I'm down one instead. Fine with me! Any loss is a good loss and after a spectacular first week I will take anything except a gain! I'm down 7.6 pounds since starting, down 37.6 from the height of pregnancy, and down 22.8 from 2 days after giving birth. Not too shabby for 8 weeks.  Just 4.4 lbs to go until prepregnancy weight.

So what worked this week. I counted points this week and stayed within my range.  I'm not happy that I did not account for a couple of bites that I took here and there and I want to pay closer attention to the grazing that I tend to do during the day.  On the exercise front...only got in one (half)
 yoga session this week. I have a nice healthy ache in my shoulders, biceps and abs from it--little bit that I did.  I'd like to work on that as well, since it's great to be loosing weight, but just as important is the need to tone up.

I'm supposed to take measurements today, promised myself I'd do it every two weeks, but I haven't done it yet.

In other news, It's my Grandma's birthday today and my aunt and uncle are hosting a swim party at their house. Also some out of town relatives will be in. So it promises to be a fun family day.  When the family gets together you can expect the food temptations to be high.  I just have to practice some moderation today!  Wish me luck!



P.S. I've been informed that my background is going to be disappearing this Friday...forcing me to change things up..which is fine, because I need to update and add little "Chlo-worm" to tree. To that end, we will be going under construction in the next week or so. Please bear with!

Weigh-In Wednesday (a day late!): Accountability Counts

Well...4 weeks post baby today. I'm beginning to look forward to that 6 week appointment; the one that clears me for all activity and signifies the start of my serious consideration of my weight loss journey.  Dare I say I'm kind of excited.  My goal is to create a buzz that produces comments like this one "She looks great! I can't believe she has 4 kids!?!" All vanity aside though, I do want be healthy and fit for my kids, and my husband and myself.

My first serious weight loss journey began after I had Ava.  At one point I remember weighing less than I had in a long time but my body had changed so much and everything was just sagging.  It was gross and depressing to me to look in the mirror. At that point, I buckled down and began my love-hate affair with the tread mill, started lifting weights and threw in a little Yoga because it made me feel good. I joined weight watchers on-line and with the support of my mom and sister I was able to drop about 20 pounds. I felt great.

So I'm excited to get back to that place.  I thought I could use my blog as a motivator for myself.  I'm a little leery about sharing it with the world but I've been thinking that it could help because accountability counts. Am I going to want to post that I had a gain one week? Probably not...so to avoid that maybe I will try a little harder.

Right now I'm not doing anything but getting Chloe on a routine of some sort, and pumping.  I am happy to say that the first few pounds have melted away fairly easily. I don't expect this phenomenal weight loss to continue much longer, but I am going to wait until the 6 week mark to really concentrate on diet and exercise.

So part of this whole accountability thing will be to mark my progress and talk about what I am doing that works and what isn't working and measure my success...but we've got to have a jumping off point...so today, my first edition of Weigh-in Wednesday will come complete with stats...and (eek!) before pictures!

So at the height of pregnancy I weighed 172 lbs.  My pre-pregnancy weight was 130 lbs. My feel good weight goal is 120 lbs.  My ultimate goal is between 115-117.  I'm only 5'1" so this is a healthy weight for me.  I currently weigh 141.4 pounds, which means that I am already down 30.6 lbs!  YAY!  I still have 21.4 to 26.4 lbs to go.

Here are the lovely pictures!

Front View: Not too bad for 4 weeks post delivery--note love handles.

Side View: I look like I'm about 4-5 months pregnant here--but that's to be expected, I suppose.

Back View: Looking a little frumpy dumpy from behind--I'll be trying to change that!

So, I've got my work cut out for me.  The only thing I have left to do is take all my measurements. I will probably do that on the official start of the big fitness endeavor in two weeks!

By the way, if anyone would care to join me, let me know. It would be fun to have a diet/exercise buddy...We could all use a little push from a friend sometimes, so let me know!