WW 7-30-12

I've been back at work for three weeks which is why there hasn't been a Weight Watchers update post in that long.  I have, however, been religiously attending my Monday night meeting and thus getting my "me-time" as well.
I am still loving this meeting and this leader!  JoAnn joined when her two boys were 1 and 3, although she was only 25 at the time.  My girls are 1 and 3, so here I am at 29; determined that this will be the last time I join WW.  I am determined to win the wager with my dad, make it to lifetime, and then continue attending weekly and never look back.
So here are the updates from the last 3 weeks:

July 16: down 2.8 pounds

July 23: down 3.0 pounds

July 30: down 1.8 pounds

This totals 7.6 pounds in 3 weeks and I am super stoked about that!  I am also really hoping I can keep it up!

Being back at work really keeps me on a schedule.  This is what I have been doing and, as you can see, it's working:

• 5:30AM Breakfast (Egg White omelet for 4 points)
• 9:40AM Snack (yogurt and apple for 2 points)
• 12:50PM Lunch (sandwich, pretzels, diet coke for 10 points)
• 3:00PM Snack (pudding and banana for 2 points)
• 5:30PM Sensible Dinner (varies, but since I've allowed myself 11 points, I don't feel the need to track it specifically)

The best parts are that I am eating real food, I don't feel hungry or malnourished, and I've lost my cravings for sugary foods.  I am fine eating the same thing each day because it takes all the thought out of it!  Then the flexibility I've allowed myself with dinner really helps and I can easily mix it up.  My coworkers are supportive and I don't mind talking about it and my hubby has been the most supportive of anyone!

Why I Love Rocking My Babies

Both of my girls love being rocked in their rocking chairs.  With Shyla, we rock while we read at night or we rock if she wakes up crying.  Harper likes to rock while she has her nighttime bottle, until she falls asleep.

 I truly love rocking both my girls.

Sometimes when it is 2AM and one or both of them is up and needing to be rocked, I dread it.  Because I work full-time and then some and I am tired.

But then I remember that there will come a time in the way-too-near-future when they will both be too old, or too cool, or too big to want to rock.  And that makes me sad, already.

So for now, no matter what time of day or night.  And no matter how many lesson plans haven't been written, papers haven't been graded, dishes haven't been done, and hours I haven't slept, I will rock them with pleasure and love.  For as long as they will let me.

Shyla starts PreSchool

Two weeks ago Shyla started preschool.  Truthfully, we always considered her daycare to be "school" and we called it such, but this is legit preschool.  For the past 2.5 years, we have been thrilled with the care she got at her daycare.  Those teachers are amazing, and you can feel their love for the children.  She thrived, learned, and enjoyed being there.  That being said, we made the switch to the preschool because it is a tremendous weekly savings financially and the close proximity to me means she is there for fewer hours and she and I get cool bonding time in the car.

On day one she marched along side me, wearing her backpack, chanting, "I'm going to preschool."  Until we got to the door.  Then she refused to go in.  That was a rough day.

But we got through it.

She has gone for 10 days now.  Of that, I think she has cried 8 of those days at dropoff, but her teachers assure me it doesn't last long and she does great the rest of the day.  {SIDE NOTE: One of her teachers is an old friend of mine; a really nice girl with whom I played softball for many years.  It is really nice to know that she is with Shy all day.}  She is now earning a sticker for each day she doesn't cry when I leave and when she accrues 5, I will take her to McDonalds.  It's not a bribe, it's an incentive.

Up through yesterday, really, I have been incredibly stressed about how she is doing.  Everyday I ask her what her favorite part of the day was.  Everyday she was saying, "playing with Zackary."  At first I was thrilled, until I discovered that she was either playing with him or playing alone.  And she wasn't enjoying playing outside, which is really weird for her.

I was freaking out.  Just ask Stevie.  Not the same type of freak out as when she smelled of maple syrup as a baby, but a true, deep aching in the pits of my stomach.  I couldn't sleep or think about anything except for her being all alone.  And being miserable.  And missing me.  And being alone.

How's that for an extra dose of mom-guilt?  As if I didn't have enough already.

I called and talked to her teachers, I sent love notes in her lunchbox, and I tried to introduce her to little friends when I got there for pick-up.  All of that probably did nothing.  But, as of yesterday she was playing with friends and she even said "bye" to some girls today.

I feel much better and I think she's going to do well there.  Onto the next thing to worry about I guess....

Silly Girls

We had an incredibly busy week because I returned to work on Monday.  The girls have both had difficulty adjusting to the daycare drop-off and I am having trouble adjusting to the 5AM alarm clock.

Thus the short post.  But I wanted to share these two pictures.  One of Shyla sleeping in a funny position and one of Harper "enjoying" some prunes.

I'll be back with a more quality post at a later date.

WW 7-9-12

I have to say, one of the reasons I am liking my Monday night meeting is that the leader is a comedian.  Seriously, she's probably in her 60's but she is hilarious and I always find myself laughing out loud.

So tonight was my weigh-in and I maintained.  That means I get an M next to my weight.  It's not a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either.  I was not pleased to see the M, because I thought I had done well and now I feel kind of stuck.

We were in La Jolla for 5 days last week and, although it wasn't easy, I felt like I stuck to my plan.  Here are just a few of the good choices I made:

• Instead of eating breakfast at Carls Jr when we stopped to play in Yuma, I grabbed a Tiger's Milk bar for 4 points when we got gas.  Keep in mind, Stevie and Shyla ate at Carls.
• Instead of having a burger and/or hotdog on the 4th, I had Jim grill me a {really delicious} portobello mushroom.  Keep in mind everyone else was having burgers.
• Stevie and I ran twice (each about 40 minutes) in HILLY La Jolla.
• The hotel provided an incredible continental breakfast but each morning I made a fruit and yogurt parfait instead of nibbling on the breads, muffins, and danishes.  Keep in mind everyone else got to eat the yummy carbs!  I also stuck to my points by making my spinach/mushroom/cheese eggwhite omelets.
• When we had fried chicken for dinner, I baked a filet of fish for 7 points instead.  Keep in mind....
• This didn't happen on vacation but I also want to say that my team (at work) all got Nico's for lunch today, but I stuck to my 7 point sandwich and 3 point pretzels.  Keep in mind....

A few poor choices:

• I ate a lot of chips.  I tend to either eat zero chips or an entire bag of chips, so I need to not even start.
• I had more than my fair share of the pistachio pudding.  But it was seriously delicious!

I guess that's it for now.  Because of this no-loss week I am still 17.6 pounds from goal and just 12 weeks from the end of my bet.  That equates to almost 1.5 pounds per week to achieve it.

This is a quote from this week's handout that speaks to me:

"Reject the attitude that if you can't do it perfectly you're not doing it right."

This is something I struggle with, but need to get over.  ASAP.

***********************************************************************

In other news, as of today I am back at work.  I am sad and the girls are sad.  However, I know it is good for them and it may actually be good for my weight-loss journey.  Being a teacher means sticking to a very specific daily schedule.  See, there is always a silver lining.

4th of July Vacation - lots of pictures!!

Whew!  We just got back from a vacation in La Jolla, CA to celebrate the 4th of July and to spend time with family.  It was a lot of fun and so nice for the 4 cousins to spend time with each other and with Grandpa Steve.

We actually did a professional photo shoot there (of 5 adults and 4 kids!!) so there will be more pictures coming within the next few weeks, but for now, here are the ones this amateur took.

 It's been tough recently to get Shyla to give a real smile to the camera.  I am hoping this is just a phase.

One of the twins playing in the sand.

There's my pretty girl!  As we walked along the park some woman actually pulled her car over to tell me how cute Shyla is.  (I think she even exclaimed "OMG!")

 Another twin.  Or maybe the same one.  

Sophis with Grandpa Steve.  These two are best-buds.  It is so cute how she follows him around!

  

My two girls for the 4th!

And more goofiness as I continually attempt a good sister picture!

 Pretty Harper showing off her dress!

Shyla's first experience with an ice cream truck.  Hopefully she doesn't think every truck contains sugary goodness.   

 She chose the spiderman popsicle.  It was $4.50.  OMG!

Harper loved playing on the patio!

All dressed up for the fireworks!  All 4 kids enjoyed the fireworks and no one cried.  The display was, as always, beautiful and the kids looked mesmerized.

I think being a parent now means watching your kids faces light up as they watch the fireworks, instead of actually watching them yourself.  It was amazing!

 Four cousins in the tub!  Next time we see the twins it will be tough to fit them all in the tub at once so we had to do this one.  

Auntie Kirsten brought these adorable mermaid/whale jammies for all the girls.  We tried to get a picture of them together with Ted, without much success!  Shyla is now obsessed with mermaids!

 The weather was overcast for most of the trip, but that was just fine!  We got plenty of beach-time, plenty of sand-castle building, and plenty of sand in our mouths.

 I love this picture of my Shyla!  She's not smiling but it shows her perfect features!

Beach babies!

Playing ball with Daddy!

Watching the waves with Daddy!

And, of course, where there is Shyla there is running (and/or jumping, skipping, dancing!)

Another high-light of the trip, for which there are no pictures (boo!) was a visit with Uncle Dan and Auntie Erin (Shyla and Harper's god-parents who live in San Diego).  We had a lovely evening with them and although it is never enough, we love getting to see them!

A huge, huge thank you to Grandpa Steve for the wonderful vacation!  We weren't certain that we were going to be able to make it and we are so glad that it worked out in the end.  Stevie grew up spending the 4th in La Jolla and it is a beautiful thing to share those traditions with our girls.  We loved watching the twins play together and getting to know them better (although still not much luck telling them apart) and it's fun to watch Shyla as the big-cousin since she's used to being the little-one.

Shyla-isms

Just a few current Shyla-isms that I hope to never forget, since I think they are pretty darn cute!

• Instead of asking, "What was that noise?" she says, "What's that noise sound like?"
• Instead of asking me to read a story to her she says, "Talk to this book please."
• She only refers to her litter sister as Harper when she is upset with her; other times it is Harpey.

Weight Watchers 7-2-2012

Monday night WW is also much-needed "me time."  Stevie comes home, we kiss, I update him on the statuses of the offspring, and I am out the door.  6:15 sharp.  Realistically I could probably leave 15 minutes later and still arrive in plenty of time (and I can confess that here since Stevie rarely never reads the blog) but I enjoy MY time.  I weigh-in and then I sit.  And just sit.  I watch people, I read a book, I think, I plan, I sit.  What I don't do is: wipe noses and butts, make dinners that don't get eaten, protect one daughter's choo-choo from the other, see the mess that constantly surrounds me.  Please don't misunderstand me.  As you know, I love being a Mommy more than anything else in the world.  It is exactly what I want to do and feel like God put me here to do.  But I need MY time, including those extra 15 minutes (PS - when did 15 minutes become so sacred?).

But, no matter how much I need and enjoy my Monday nights, I still feel the mom-guilt.  With Shyla wanting to me stay 2 more minutes and Harper reaching out to me with both arms extended, my heart aches with guilt.

Tonight was tough.  I left even a few minutes earlier than usual to make a stop at the library.  I didn't hear from Stevie until after my meeting (bless him) that things at home were ... tough.  Shyla was apparently hysterical all night and Harper was experiencing her night-time fussies.  I rushed home when I got that text, only to find Shyla finally asleep and Harper finishing her night-time bottle.  Cue additional guilt.

But anyway.  That lengthy dissertation is both a tangent and relevant.

As you know I was frustrated with the last few weeks of no-loss.  I received a good handful of really supportive comments, texts, and emails and I appreciate those immensely.  Really truly.  In tonight's meeting Joann talked about surrounding yourself with supportive people, those who believe in you and your goals, and those who won't let you quit.

Above all else, I do feel supported.  Thank you.

To add to this, my dad made me a little big wager this weekend.  Those who know my dad know that he doesn't lose bets.  Even when the odds are against him, someone he finds a way to come out on top. The good thing about this wager is that it is possible we can both win.  I'm not going to go into the details of the bet, but I don't think know my dad would not have proposed it if he didn't think I could accomplish it.  My end of the wager entails me reaching goal by October 1st.  That is 13 weeks away!

Thankfully at tonight's weigh-in I am down 2.4 pounds!  Finally, the scale moved; and in the correct direction!

I am 17.6 pounds away from goal with 13 weeks left in the bet.

{I have started my last few mornings with an egg-white/spinach/mushroom/cheese omelet for just 4 pounds and have felt very full all morning!}