Sacred Influence

I just finished reading "Sacred Influence: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands" by Gary Thomas. I am not much of a reader-haven't been since junior high, but I am trying to change that. I have read three books in the last 3 months and have four more waiting on me.

So back to Sacred Influence. I think all couples should read this book. It has great spiritual insight on the role a woman plays in marriage. It describes the woman's role as a helper to her husband to encourage him and support him. In doing so actually helps her marriage and herself in the process. I learned a lot from this book and although I would love to pass it on to a friend I think I'm going to hang onto it to read again someday.

Looking Great in 2008

I did manage to brave the scale this morning and am logging a 1 pound gain. One pound is not bad considering the last four days! YIKES! I don't even want to think about the calories that have gone into my mouth the last four days! I am starting fresh tomorrow and hope to get as close as I can to my goal before Tuesday-the first of January. I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal weight-but I am on my way. Of course with the new year comes the custom new years resolution to exercise more-which will surely help in my weight loss. I have got to get into a good exercise routine.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas-we sure enjoyed ours. Hope to see less of each of you in the new year-myself included!

Tales from the Scales-Looking great in 2008

Well it isn't Wednesday-but I am down a pound so I wanted to document it. I am 14 pounds away from my initial goal and ten pounds away from my "revised" goal. Hopefully if I don't overdue it the next few days, and I really step it up the days between Christmas and New Year's-maybe, maybe, maybe I can still lose 10 pounds before the end of the year.

Hope everyone enjoys spending time with friends and family this Christmas!

Christmas Festivities

The Christmas festivities have started at our home. My Aunt and Uncle came into town Thursday and we had a good visit. We opened presents from them Thursday night-and I guess that got J interested in the presents under the tree-he has opened three since then. There have been presents under our tree for two weeks and he hasn't touched them. So I guess opening presents the other night sparked his interest.

I left J upstairs playing yesterday while I was cleaning the kitchen. I walked upstairs to find him asleep on the floor with one of my uncle's gifts open. My uncles gifts were in the rocker where he had left them the night before, J had pulled it out of the chair and opened the box. It was a fish for the hitch on his truck. So cute and so sneaky!

So we will be busy the next few days!! Merry Christmas to all!

Looking Great in 2008 weigh in #13

Seems I always end up going to dinner with my husband on the night before weigh-in. We ate at Logan's last night with his parents and it was wonderful. But I paid for it today. The scale showed no gain but not loss either. I really should not have been surprised, I haven't been eating well lately. Not getting my fruits and veggies in, haven't been exercising and certainly not getting my water in. I have done better today with the water.

So with all that said this next week I am not going to worry about weight loss, however, I am not going to over do it. I have a family gathering Saturday, another get together on Sunday to make Christmas sweets and treats, Christmas at my in laws on Christmas Eve and then Christmas with my family Christmas day. So 4 days of Christmas activities filled with plenty of sweets, treats and lots of other fattening foods.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas. Remember the true meaning of Christmas and be thankful.

Weigh In #12

Well I have been on the scale this morning and was up a little-but I haven't nursed yet. So I will wait until late morning to do my "official" weigh in. I won't be surprised to see no loss this week-after the chocolate chip cookies and dinner out last night! Gotta get to it though-only three more weeks left in the year and I really want to lose 10 more pounds before January 1st. I know I can do it I just have to get back to eating fruits and veggies and drinking water.

So for this week my goal is to drink nothing but water. Even though I drink diet sodas I am sure cutting those out will help tremendously. I also need to exercise. My three year old son and I did Taebo one day last week. It was very tiring but also fun. I use to love doing Taebo many years ago. So I plan on getting that out and doing it again this week. I'd really like to start running-I actually enjoyed that during high school. I was never fast but I did enjoy it. So I plan on running at least twice this week and Taebo at least twice. Hopefully that will be enough to get me where I need to be to finish off the year 10 pounds lighter!

Good luck to everyone through the holidays-I know this is a tough time to stick to a healthy diet.

Weigh In #11 12/4

WOOHOO! Two more pounds down! I weighed Tuesday and was down two more pounds!! (I also weighed Wednesday morning but after eating close to a dozen chocolate chip cookies on Tuesday I was no longer down 2 pounds-so I opted to go with Tuesday's weigh in!). Up until Tuesday, I was making much better food choices and had exercised once. Not nearly exercising enough but still working on that. At this rate I still won't meet my original goal but I hope to lose at least 10 more pounds before the end of the year.

My husband says it's cheating to go by Tuesday's weigh in-but I don't care. I'm countin it!!

Good luck to everyone in the coming week.

Menu Plan Monday 12/3

Well we have eaten out more this week than we have in a while. So I really need to stick to the menu this week if I want to have a nice loss on weigh in day. These one pound losses each week are driving me crazy. I'd like to lose ten more pounds before the end of the year-won't meet my original goal (seventeen pounds to go for that)but I'll just have to set a new goal. I did much better sticking with the menu last week so hopefully I'll do the same this week as well.

We tried a few new recipes from the Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook last week. The 'grilled honey balsamic salmon' wasn't my favorite. Maybe I cooked it too long but it wasn't nearly as good as the Orange glazed salmon recipe I tried a few weeks ago. The Philly steak and cheese sandwhiches were really good. We will have to do that again. The terriyaki pork loin and terriyaki chicken I have cooked before and again they were good.

This weekend I sat down and planned my menus for the month-don't gasp yet it may seem organized and it'd be great if I'd follow my monthly menu for a full month but I never do. But I still sit down at the first of every month, plan my menus for five days a week, and even make out a grocery list for each week. Then every weekend I'll check the menu for that week and see what we already have and add the items we need to the main grocery list which is on the fridge. But there are days we might eat out or eat elsewhere, or there may be days I forget to defrost the meat and the menu gets a little jumbled. But I enjoy planning and even if I don't follow it perfectly it is much better than not having a plan at all.

Monday: Baked potatoes and salads (back to my easy Monday menus)
Tuesday: Tex Mex Pepper Steak
Wednesday: Skillet Ziti & veggies
Thursday: BBQ meatloaf-never made meatloaf before so we'll see how we like it
Friday: Taco Chicken tortilla wraps

All the menus are from the Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook. I cannot rave enough about this cookbook. I just love it! I've been using a lot of recipes from it the last few months. I borrowed it from my mom, and she had borrowed it from someone else. So I will have to return it someday. I am hoping to get one for Christmas!! *hint* *hint*

Hope everyone has a great week and happy planning!

Teresa McFayden

I ran across the blog of Teresa McFayden on Today's Creative Blog. And I fell in love with her calendar. She suggests getting a group together to make them and swap numbers with friends to mix it up a bit. Now I am not a crafty person by any stretch of the imagination but I am just dying to try this. So that is my goal for this weekend to make one for myself. Then I'll see if any of my crafty friends want to get together and make them.

You should check out both these blogs: Today's Creative Blog and Teresa McFayden's blog My Minutia for many great crafty ideas.

Christmas Crafts

Well I felt a little crafty yesterday and while at Walmart I bought a little kit to make these adorable ginger bread men/women, candy canes and candy. Everything is cut all you have to do is glue the pieces together and you can attach a pin or magnet to the back. For $5 I think it was great entertainment for little J who is now 3 years old! He loved working with the glue (he has had a little practice when helping his dad put together rockets). So we made a few and we'll save the rest for Sunday lunch at my in laws-my six nieces and nephews will be there too so that will give them all something to create and make a big mess with.

Since J is not in daycare I feel like he is missing out on a lot of crafty things and probably on a lot of educational things. So I am really trying to figure out a routine to include some "school work" and craft time. I've got a schedule all figured out, now only if my 4 month old and J would allow me to follow the schedule and if I was disciplined enough to follow one myself-we'd could get a lot of stuff done!

Weigh In #10

Well I lost another pound. I should be excited about losing a pound especially during the holidays but I won't reach my goal by the end of the year at this rate. I know I can do better if I'd keep up with my water intake and add some exercise to my routine. I need to get my fruits and veggies back into my diet also.

My goals for the next week: drink 8 glasses of water a day, exercise 3 days and have at least 3 servings of fruits and veggies a day.

Potty Training 101 ?!?!

Yikes. I have always heard potty training boys was difficult, but nobody ever said it was down right impossible!! My dear son just turned three. He has never really showed any interest in potty training-no matter what technique I use..bribery, cool potty seats, big boy underwear with this favorite characters-the boy has 12 pairs of underwear sporting Spider man, Thomas the train, Nemo and after Christmas will have Diego underwear. But still no interest in "going" in the potty. After changing him the eight time today I decided to put a diaper on him-not sure who more excited about it, me or him. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow, maybe not. We will see.

I have heard many myths that you can't potty train during the winter. Not exactly sure why. Someone suggested it was because you couldn't let them run around in just underwear during the winter months-but DS was just fine running around in underwear and a t-shirt today. So that can't be it.

I did see a little potty today at the store. I might go back and pick it up I just hate the thought of having to clean that thing out after every use-DISGUSTING! But if it'll help him get the idea it'll be money well spent.

Menu Plan Monday 11/26

We had lots of leftovers from Thanksgiving, so much that I opted to put them in the freezer for Christmas instead of eating leftovers by myself this week. Dh doesn't care for a lot of the holiday casseroles and I really don't need to be eating them since I am trying to lose weight. So into the freezer they went. So we have a small pan of dressing, sweet potatoes, lima beans, and dressing. Plus I had prepared two large pans of mac & cheese, one for Wednesday dinner with my in-laws and one for Thanksgiving day with my family. We only ate half a pan on Wednesday so we just used the leftovers for Thursday and put the full pan in the freezer. And a friend made us a HUGE pan of dressing and we halved it and only cooked half of it Thanksgiving day and put the other pan in the freezer (and ended up only eating about half of the dressing anyway). So that is a lot of cooking already taken care of for Christmas-hopefully they will all freeze well and recook well. Will see.

As for this week of meal planning, I am doing my best not to have to make a grocery run. I might have to make a run for milk and sprites but that will hopefully be it. Tonight we tried Philly steak and cheese sandwiches. They turned out very tasty. Wal-mart sells a small box of thinly slice meat in the freezer department, saw it the other day and thought I'd try it out. I pulled a few pieces of green and red bell pepper from the freezer (that I had previously cut up and placed in freezer bags) and stir fried them with the meat. Placed them on tasted buns with shredded mozzarella cheese-delish! This was a recipe from Weight Watchers 5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook Everything on the menu this week comes from this cookbook- I JUST LOVE THIS COOKBOOK!! I will let you know how everything turns out. I am not a fan of salmon-but I did cook it several weeks ago using a recipe from this book and it was WONDERFUL! So I cannot wait to try it again!

Monday: Philly steak & cheese sandwiches, w/apple slices and chips
Tuesday: Terriyaki Pork Loin
Wednesday: Grilled Honey Balsamic Salmon w/veggies and baked fries
Thursday: Terriyaki Grilled Chicken
Friday: Roast w/mashed potatoes and corn

Worn Out

Little boy was playing away while baby sister napped in her pack n play and I napped on the couch. I woke up to find him asleep in his sisters bouncy car. So adorable!

Weigh In #9

Well after two birthday parties, two nights of eating out and one night of pizza...I was not surprised not to see the scale go down this week. Actually it was up about .2 pounds-but I'm not counting that since I had only nursed once this morning and had about 40 ounces to drink already. I usually weigh in after I nurse the baby for the second time-but lately she has been sleeping until about 8:30-9am so I only get one feeding in before breakfast. Which is just fine by me!

I am hoping for better results next week. Which means I really need to watch what I eat at our two Thanksgiving dinners this week. Dinner tonight and tomorrow night will have plenty of non figure friendly foods-including macaroni and cheese-my most favorite holiday dish! Although I am making it this year so it probably won't be as good. Need to make sure my mom makes at least one pan of it in case mine is a bust! It just isn't Thanksgiving without that mac and cheese.

So here is to drinking more water and getting some exercise this week to offset all the good food we'll be eating.

I did get out yesterday and take the kids to the park. J and I played a little soccer. Of course I was carrying the baby in the sling so I couldn't do a lot of "running around" but I did work up a sweat. I sure miss playing soccer. I am looking forward to getting back into shape so maybe this summer I can plan on an adult league and/or coach J's team if he is old enough to play next year.

Good luck to everyone! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Something you don't see everyday

Our neighbor knocked on our door the other day to inform us that the HUGE oak tree in their backyard was split down the middle. She said she was having someone come out to give an estimate on what it would cost to remove the tree. She wanted us to be aware although she didn't think it would fall.

Two days later a ladder truck showed up and began cutting the branches off the big oak tree. It took them 2.5 days to get the tree down. Near the end of the second day they had completed removing all the limbs and began cutting the trunk piece by piece. When the first piece hit the ground I had just run upstairs to retrieve J's shoes and when it hit the ground it shook the entire house. J responded "mommy you scared me!". I had to explain it wasn't mommy that made the house shake, it was the tree trunk. And then another piece fell as we left the house.

It was interesting to watch them cut it down. I wish I would have thought about it and gotten out the video camera or even set up the digital camera to take still shots. Think it would have made for a cute video on u-tube in fast forward. Kinda like the lady that took pictures of herself everyday of her pregnancy or the person that lost weight. Cool videos.

anyway-here are a few photos I snapped of the tree removal.

Menu Plan Monday 11/19

We have two Thanksgiving dinners this week, plus I meet with my Bunco group tonight so the menu is very easy to plan this week! We have Thanksgiving dinner at the in laws Wednesday evening and then again with my family Thursday evening. Since my family is coming in Wednesday I will prepare taco soup in the crockpot-so that will be very easy. I am planning on leftovers for the rest of the week. So I really only need to plan for two menus outside of Thanksgiving dinner.

As far as the weight loss-I haven't been doing as well as I would like. I am not getting my water in nor am I getting my fruits and veggies. Gotta work on that!! Especially if I don't want to come to a screeching hault during the holidays. I also need to get back on the stair stepper and get started running.

I did come across a blog last night that really got me inspired to get on my bike again. While Dh and I were dating we would ride a lot. We had cheapo bikes but we knew we probably wouldn't stick with it so we didn't want to purchase expensive bikes. Good choice since they have been steadily rusting away in the storage shed. But I would like to get them out and see if they are ridable. Especially since J is getting his first "big boy" bike this Christmas. I have very fond memories of riding bikes through the neighborhood with my family when we were in kindergarten. It would be great exercise and great quality time together as a family. So we will see how that goes!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Monday: Mommy has bunco-nothing planned
Tuesday: Philly steak sandwiches-a new recipes I'll be trying from the WW cookbook
Wednesday: Crock pot Taco soup
Thursday: Thanksgiving dinner!!
Friday: Leftovers!

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh In #8

Well I have lost another pound-unbelievable! We went to dinner last night at Outback-YUM! I couldn't resist those cheese fries. Thought I'd pay for it today-but looks like the scale loves me today. I would normally be disgusted with just a 1 pound loss-but I really haven't been getting in my water nor exercising so I am really happy with any kind of loss today. That puts me at a grand total of 22 pounds lost-still want to lose 18 pounds before the end of the year-doubt it will happen-but will see how close I can get.

This weekend is my son's third birthday party and then next week is Thanksgiving-YIKES! I really need to get back on the wagon so I don't get into a gaining mode for the holidays.

Well baby is up and crying-so that is all the blogging for now. Good luck to everyone!

Creative Blogs

I love visiting this site: Creative Blogs. This site lists several blogs of crafty and interesting people. It is full of so many ideas for decorating, scrapbooking, any just about anything you can think of! I love visiting this site-it give me such great inspiration! I only wish I could be half as creative as some of the bloggers showcased.

Family Pics

We gathered with my husband's family on Sunday for a big family picture that will be used for a Christmas card. We didn't take nearly as many shots as we did last year but I think we got a few good ones. Here is one of our family.

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh In #7

Well I can't believe it! Got on the scale this morning and I have lost one pound!! After a four day camping trip-full of roasted dogs, burgers, marshmallows and too many fast food meals-I still managed to lose a pound! I was excited to say the least.

So back on track now. And hopefully will have a bigger loss next week.

3-2-1 LIFT OFF

Yesterday my husband and son bought a model rocket. Building rockets and launching them was something my husband enjoyed as a child. So off they went and soon they returned home with a model rocket. They finally got it together even after J poured glue all over the instructions. So they then headed out to find the perfect place to launch it. Once they scouted out the perfect location they called me and I loaded up baby girl and we headed out to witness the launch. When we pulled up my husband was busy working on the rocket and J was running all over the open field-he was having a blast just being outside.

So we are ready for launch and J pushes the button and the rocket blasts into the air. I don't know who enjoyed it more, daddy or J. They retrieved the rocket and got it ready for it's second launch. The second launch was much higher than the first and it landed several hundred feet away.

It was great fun. Still think daddy enjoyed it more than J.

menu plan monday 11/6

We just returned late last night from a 4 day/3 night camping trip. So our menu planning will start today. After a quick inventory I realized we still had at least a weeks worth of menus that were planned for but not used. So except for a few items we needed and things we need for the upcoming birthday party, we really didn't need much this week to complete our meals for the week.

So here is our menu:

Tuesday: tacos, beans
Wednesday: italian pot roast sandwiches-frozen i
Thursday: chicken alfredo w/italian green beans
Friday: Easy quesadillas w/veggies

Halloween Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. JM was a little ham for the camera-she was all smiles. She is growing up so fast. She is starting to reach for objects and grab for toys. And J loves posing for the camera. He kept making funny faces and telling me to take his picture. He also likes to "crash" -which is basically means he just falls to the floor- and he loves doing it for the camera.

There is also a picture of my dad with the kids. He was here this weekend doing some work on our house so I had to take a few pictures.

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh-in #6

Well the scale loved me more yesterday so I am going with those results, which puts me at -2! I'll never understand how the scale can fluctuate in just one day-but oh well-what matters most is getting healthy.

I did the stair stepper a couple of times this week. And-hold on to your chairs-I got up yesterday and RAN! WOW! It has been so long since I have been running. I use to do it all the time in high school and college. I was never a fast runner but I did enjoy it. I won't be running any marathons soon but at least it was a start. Trying to get my husband to start running with me-will have to keep working on that.

So my goals this next week:

1. Run at least 3 times this week
2. Stair stepper at least 3 times
3. Need to work on getting my water in-haven't been doing well with that-guess that
is why the scale hasn't been my friend lately
4. Need to work on getting more fruits and veggies also-was doing well with that
but have somewhat slacked off in that area


Hope everyone has a great week/weekend and a Happy Halloween! Good luck!

UPDATE:
Well I just had to get back on the scale one more time today-yes I know-I am addicted. But I was just so aggravated with the thing. Anyway, it gave me same results I had yesterday. So that makes me feel better.

Menu Plan Monday 10/29

I have been loving these new Weight Watchers recipes. I have tried several of them this month and every one of them have been great. I cannot wait to try more of them this week. These recipes are really helping with the weight loss also. Trying new recipes that are low in calories is a great way to keep the menu fresh and delicious.

Monday: Dinner Out-Dad's in town and we are treating him tonight
Tuesday: Lemon-Lime Chicken
Wednesday: Italian Pot Roast-frozen
Thursday: Ham & Veggies
Friday: Left overs

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh-in #5

Well I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but considering I attended a baby shower this weekend and ate what I wanted to while there-I should be happy with a 2 pound loss.

I do have a little stair stepper that I plan to start working on this week-hopefully that'll give me the exercise I need to keep the pounds coming off. I am still enjoying the weight watchers recipes I got from a WW cookbook I borrowed. Can't wait to try the rest of them, they have been great so far.

Good luck to everyone-hope you all keep loosing.

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh-In #4

Our computer was out of commission yesterday, so I am a day late. But better late than never! I lost 3 pounds last week! Which I am overall excited about-but I only lost 1 pound since I weighed Friday-which was a little disappointing. But it is a loss so I am excited about that. Now only 24 to lose to reach my next goal-my weight before my first pregnancy-which I hope to lose by the end of the year. I still haven't added exercise-shame on me!-but I did clear out the closet that has bee storing my easy glide machine-so now I can get to it and pull it out into the floor and actually use it.

Congrats to everyone that lost the weight, and good luck to everyone this week!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. On this day 16 months ago we lost our baby girl-Hope. The months that followed her loss were some of the hardest of my life. Even when we were blessed with another pregnancy five months later, mixed emotions of happiness and fear made for a long emotional nine months. I am happy to say our third baby was born healthy-although those first few days were bittersweet-embracing our new baby and remembering the baby I never held. I miss her dearly. I long for the day I will see her again in heaven.

Please remember to think and pray for those that have lost babies during pregnancy and infancy. It is ok to talk with them about their babies months and years after their loss, it helps keep their babies memory alive and lets them know you care and recognize their baby.

VICTORY

Yeah! I accomplished my first goal-a month late-but still accomplished it. I am now at my pre pregnancy #3 weight. I just couldn't resist getting on that scale this morning-who'da thunk it. And I was ecstatic to see another 2 pound loss!! Which brings me to a total of 15 pounds and to my first goal weight. I won't be including this weight loss in my official weigh-in to the right-as I want to keep that updated weekly. But I just had to know if I had reached my first goal. YIPPEE!

Now on to the next goal. To get to my weight before my first pregnancy-which is 25 lbs to lose. I have twelve weeks to accomplish that goal. If I keep it up at my current pace I'll make it. Hopefully adding exercise and more sleep (not getting off to a good start there) will help me keep the pounds melting off!

Still need to get some pictures. I think the last picture I of myself full body was the day we left for the hospital to have our daughter. So I can't really use that one.

Thea Thursdays-Story Boarding

OK I am two days late, but better late than never. So this week is about setting small goals to achieve, in order to keep us motivated. So far I have lost 13 pounds by just changing my eating habits. Ideally I would love to start running again. I loved running in high school and college-although I was never a fast runner, although at on time I could run a mile in under six minutes-I enjoyed being outside and inhaling the fresh air as I ran. But it has been seven years since I ran-except for one embarrassing run around the short track about a year ago. Yes the short track-that means it wasn't even 1/4 of a mile long.

As far as the eating I've done really well this week-I haven't had much of an appetite so I have been struggling to get in at least 1200 calories a day. Last night I had two slices of pizza and my total calorie intake was only 1152 calories. I know I have to keep my calorie intake above 1200 in order to keep my body from going into starvation mode, and as I am still nursing my 10 week old I really need to stay above 1200. So I'll need to work on that-go figure-I actually NEED to eat more-who woulda thunk it?

Sleep-well that doesn't come easy these days. My 10 week old went to bed last night about 10pm and she slept until 4:30am. You would have thought I'd gotten a great nights sleep-WRONG. I laid in bed for at least 30 minutes trying to get to sleep-but my mind was racing. So I got up-my mom always told me if I couldn't sleep to clean. With all the sleepless nights I've been having you would think my house would be spotless. And if I'd stay away from the computer and the blogging world it could be. So anyway, I know I need to try to get more sleep each night-better said than done around here.

1. Eat at least 1200 healthy calories daily

2. Walk/jog at least 3 times weekly in order to build back up to running

3. Try to get more sleep

So here is my story board. I know with these small changes the weight will continue to disappear.

Looking Great in 2008 Weigh-in #3 (#1 for me)

OK I joined the "Look Great in 2008" challenge on October 3rd but had started my weight loss journey on September 3rd. My initial goal was to lose 86 pounds-WOW that's a whole person-well a kid anyway. As of October 3rd I had lost 8 pounds in about 5 weeks. Not bad but after losing 6 pounds the very first week I was really hoping for at least 2-3 pounds a week.

Anyway, this morning I got on the scale...and I've lost 5 pounds this past week!! I have really been watching what I eat, trying to add fruits and veggies-still not a big variety of either but at least I am eating them. Funny thing is I have eaten out 4 times this last week. Went to a pizza buffet twice-but only ate one slice of pizza at one visit and none at the second. Went to Applebee's twice-got what I thought was a good meal, but looked it up when I got home to find it was a 1000 calorie meal!! YIKES! Still only had 2k calories that day. But did much better the second visit to Applebee's and chose something off the WW menu.




So I feel much better this week. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in some of my old jeans soon.

Menu Plan Monday 10/8

We I didn't stick to the menu to well last week so we have a lot of leftover items on our menu. I did make the Pan-glazed chicken w/basil-and I have to highly recommend it. It was great! I'll be adding it to my list of favorites.

So here is the menu this week:

Monday: Italian Pot Roast
Tuesday: Grilled Teriyaki chops
Wednesday: Taco Chicken Tortilla Wraps
Thursday: Hamburgers
Friday: Leftovers-as I will be out of town

Look Great in 2008 Challenge

While skimming through blogs tonight I found this wonderful challenge blog http://www.talesfromthescales.net/. So I joined in on the challenge. I started my weight loss journey on September 3rd. So far to date I have lost 8 pounds. I didn't meet my first goal by September 19th-which was to get to my pre-pregnancy #3 weight, so now I am working on my second goal: to be at my pre-pregnancy #1 weight by January 1st-that is the weight I was before I got pregnant with our first. That is 30lbs (oops had to make a little correction) to go-I know I can do it. After that I will work on the other 46 pounds-the weight I gained after meeting my DH.

I started back this week keeping up with my food on Calorie Count Plus Website. It has been really helpful. It gives food suggestions to replace some of the not so healthy food choices. It also graphs the protein, carbs and fat daily-which helps me to see what I need to work on to get a more balanced diet.

ziplock zip n' steam bags

I saw the commercial for these bags and thought I'd give them a try. Since trying to eat healthy I have been adding broccoli and cauliflower to my diet and I know boiling tends to take away some of the "nutrients" in the vegetables-or so I am told. I bought a box of them this week and gave them a try. They are wonderful! The vegetables come out wonderful. I prefer my veggies to be a little on the soft side so I steam them a bit more than the recommended amount of time. But it is so easy and quick and no clean up!! I highly recommend these bags.

Menu Plan Monday 10/1

Alright a start of a new month!!! Last month I lost a total of 7 pounds!! YIPPEE! But six pounds were lost in the first week and one pound in the last-so what happened in between??? Who knows. I did stray a bit but I still stayed below 2000 calories a day. So I am going to give it another try with the low calorie diet and try to watch my fat and carb intake. The website I use to track my food intake shows my diet is about 50% carbs, 32% fat and 18% protein. So I think I need to work on my carb and fat intake and get them both below 20%. My mom just did Atkins for 6 months and lost 50 pounds. But in reviewing the foods that you can eat-I just don't think I could do Atkins. I am a very picky eater and I don't care for too many vegetables. It seems most of the veggies I do like are not allowed on the Atkins diet. Plus I love sandwiches-cold or hot-and I just don't know if I could go without bread. So I am going to give another good go at the low calorie diet for another two weeks. If I don't see the results I want then I might just have to try Atkins. I really want to meet my goal of losing all my baby weight before January 1st. That is 33 pounds, in three months!!!

So this week I am going to try some new recipes from the WW Cookbook I borrowed a couple of weeks ago. I love trying new recipes so we will see how it goes.

Monday: Taco Chicken Tortilla Wraps pg 158 w/refried beans
Tuesday: Grilled Teriyaki Chops pg 93 w/corn
Wednesday: Pan-glazed Chicken w/basil pg 105 w/brown sugar sweet potatoes pg 184
Thursday: Roasted Garlic Potato soup pg 162
Friday: Italian Pot Roast pg 91 w/broccoli couscous pg 186 (if i can find couscous)

The dessert for this week is Caramel Banana Sundaes from page 30 in the WW cookbook.

Menu Plan Monday 10/1

Alright a start of a new month!!! Last month I lost a total of 7 pounds!! YIPPEE! But six pounds were lost in the first week and one pound in the last-so what happened in between??? Who knows. I did stray a bit but I still stayed below 2000 calories a day. So I am going to give it another try with the low calorie diet and try to watch my fat and carb intake. The website I use to track my food intake shows my diet is about 50% carbs, 32% fat and 18% protein. So I think I need to work on my carb and fat intake and get them both below 20%. My mom just did Atkins for 6 months and lost 50 pounds. But in reviewing the foods that you can eat-I just don't think I could do Atkins. I am a very picky eater and I don't care for too many vegetables. It seems most of the veggies I do like are not allowed on the Atkins diet. Plus I love sandwiches-cold or hot-and I just don't know if I could go without bread. So I am going to give another good go at the low calorie diet for another two weeks. If I don't see the results I want then I might just have to try Atkins. I really want to meet my goal of losing all my baby weight before January 1st. That is 33 pounds, in three months!!!

So this week I am going to try some new recipes from the WW Cookbook,= I borrowed a couple of weeks ago. I love trying new recipes so we will see how it goes.

Monday: Taco Chicken Tortilla Wraps pg 158 w/refried beans
Tuesday: Grilled Teriyaki Chops pg 93 w/corn
Wednesday: Pan-glazed Chicken w/basil pg 105 w/brown sugar sweet potatoes pg 184
Thursday: Roasted Garlic Potato soup pg 162
Friday: Italian Pot Roast pg 91 w/broccoli couscous pg 186 (if i can find couscous)

Menu Plan Monday (on Wed)

OK again I am a little late posting but I did have my menu planned out for the week-although we haven't followed it yet. We decided to pop in a frozen pizza Monday night. Tuesday night I joined the ladies for Bunco-so DH ate some leftovers from the weekend. But we will get right back on track tonight-for two days only and then I'll be leaving with the kids Friday to go out of town. Oh well all that hard work planning just goes to waste this week, but we'll have a few menus to carry over next week.

I am planning on trying some recipes from a Weight Watchers cookbook this next month. I want to try a few a week starting next week! Can't wait-some new things to try.

On the weight loss journey: I have lost another pound. That is one pound this week and a total of seven pounds in 3.5 weeks. Six pounds the first week a big fat zero for weeks two and three-how is that? Oh well-just gotta keep at it. I think I can still make my goal of being at my "pre-pregnancies" weight before Christmas (that is the weight before I got pregnant with our first child). That is 33 pounds to go-YIKES. That will be pushing it but we will see how low we can go!!

Hope everyone has a great week. Here are our menu's for the next two days:

Wednesday: Terriyaki pork loin
Thursday: Poppy Seed Chicken-frozen

What will he do next?

I have mentioned several things that J has done to his baby sister: crawled into the pack and play with her, covered her face with burp clothes... Well today I was on the computer and he was in the living room eating lunch. He came and laid on the floor under my chair and was saying something about his "baby sister". So I ran into the living room to check on her...and this is how I found her...
....J had smeared ketchup all over her face.

Menu Plan Monday 9/17

OK I am a day late but I did have the menu planned just didn't get it online yesterday. Also while visiting my parents this weekend I borrowed a WW cookbook "5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook" and I have found some great recipes!! Every recipe has five ingredients or less and takes about fifteen minutes to prepare. So I went through the book and tagged my favorites-ended up with a months worth of new recipes!!! I cannot wait to try them. But since I was out of town this weekend and had already done my grocery shopping for this weeks menu I'll have to wait until next week.

I weighed in this morning-not pretty. I did so great the first week losing six pounds-now I am up one. Maybe it's just too early in the morning to weigh-I'm sure if I waited until after I nursed a few times I may be down one pound-but that still means I didn't lose any weight last week. How frustrating is that!?!?! I am still staying under 2000 calories and still didn't lose any weight last week...argh! I am definately not going to meet my first goal of losing that baby weight before September 19th. I am still ten pounds away. Oh well. Here is to stepping it up and trying to add exercise into my daily routine.

I made some low-fat brownies this weekend and brought them home. I could see a potential problem: I was cleaning yesterday after we got home (you know leaving DH home alone for 4 days can get really messy)each time I went into the kitchen I had to grab a piece of brownie. So I took some advice from the WW book. I bagged each brownie into individual snack sized ziplock bags and placed them in the freezer. That way I have to set them out to defrost before I eat them.

Monday: Usually salads but we opted to eat out-Corky's BBQ!
Tuesday: Shredded beef tacos (freezer meal), salad, chili beans
Wednesday: Broccoli Soup (frozen)
Thursday: Lemon-Lime Chicken, cauliflower, corn
Friday: Roast, carrots, salad

Menu Plan Monday 9/10

Well last weeks menus were great. I tried broccoli soup for the first time and it turned out pretty good. Although I added much more cheese than the recipe called for it was great. I think I'll try a new soup each week-although my husband doesn't like soup. I pulled out my "Fix it and Forget It-Lightly" cookbook and I hope to try some new recipes each week.

I also did great sticking to my diet last week- I lost 6 pounds!! I ate about 1700 calories each day which is well within the recommended range for nursing mothers. I need to work on my water intake and make sure I drink enough each day.

So here is our menu for the week and here is to hoping for another weight loss this week!

Monday Tacos
Tuesday Salad
Wednesday Chicken and Rice
Thursday Spaghetti-from the freezer
Friday Baked Ziti-from the freezer

Weight Loss

Well I made it through the first week! I've been averaging about 1700 calories a day-although I didn't keep up with it Sunday because I had so much junk food I was afraid to. But I lost 6 pounds in the first week!!! I am know that won't continue but it is such great motivation to lose that much to start off with. I know I would have done better if I had kept up with my water intake and done some exercising. But that will come-still need to get use to my new routine.

Biggest Loser starts tomorrow so I am sure that will keep me motivated. I am also looking forward to some cooler weather so I can get these kiddos out a bit. I think J and I are both getting a little cabin fever. Although we have been getting out of the house here and there we are both use to being on the go a good bit of the week.

So here is to another week of making healthy eating choices and developing healthy eating patterns in my kids and of course losing weight!!

Slow Start

I've been keeping up with my food intake on Calorie Count Plus and it is apparent that I need to work on my food choices. Overall I have received an A for nutritional value, but when you break down my food choices they are overall high in fat and carbs. I've taken in 1641 calories today and only 32 ounces of water-YIKES. At this rate I am predicted to reach my goal weight in April 2009-not acceptable. Of course I have not added exercise into my daily routine yet so surely that will help get me to my goal on time.

So here is hoping tomorrow will be much better. Hopefully I'll get my water in early and will make better food choices. Doesn't look like I'll meet my first goal: getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight (that is before my third pregnancy) since I still have 15 lbs to go.

On another note, Biggest Loser starts tomorrow night. Love that show. It is such an inspiration-apparently not enough to have gotten my motor running-to see people transformed in a matter of months. However, since I do not have the luxury of training with professionals 24/7, I will have to settle for a much slower transformation.

Menu Plan Monday 9/3

Well I didn't do well with the healthy eating/cooking this past week. Hopefully I'll get to it this week. I am doing better with my water intake but still need to do better about staying away from the diet coke.

So this week we are trying a few new items: broccoli soup-which I have never cooked before. I know my husband won't care for it or even try it. But since my mom will be here a few days this week I figured it'd be a great time to try it out. Especially since she is doing the low carb thing. also quesadillas, an easy meal but I've never made them before.


Monday: Salad-as always
Tuesday: Quesadillas and baked fries and maybe some black beans if we have them
Wednesday: Broccoli Soup and salad
Thursday: Hamburgers and beans
Friday: Homemade Pizzas

Momma I not wanna go night night

A couple of days ago my sister came over for a visit. J didn't get a nap that day but he did great and never got grumpy during her visit. That night about 7:30 J told me he didn't wanna go night night yet. He repeated it several times. About fifteen minutes later I looked over at him and found him asleep in this position! His daddy was able to carry him downstairs, change his diaper and put him to bed without him waking up.

Menu Plan Monday August 27th

Ok I am back at it, trying to plan and stick to the menu. I throughly enjoyed having menus brought to my house during the first two weeks following the birth of our daughter. And now it is time for me to get back in the kitchen. I also plan to start eating healthier. I want to lose all my pregnancy weight from the last pregnancy by September 19th, and be at my pre-pregnancy weight by January 1st (that is the weight I was before I got pregnant with our first). And then I'll get started on losing the rest of the extra weight I've been carrying around since my husband and I started dating.

So this week will be easy-mostly trying to use up some frozen meals as we continue to try to get back into a reasonable routine.

Monday Salad-I always try to keep Monday easy and light
Tuesday Roast with vegetables
Wednesday BBQ Sandwhiches-with leftover roast w/beans and baked fries
Thursday Poppy Seed Chicken-a frozen meal w/broccoli and cheese
Friday Shredded Beef Tacos-a frozen meal w/beans and maybe rice


Not sure the nutritional value of these meals-but since they are currently in my freezer and will save me a trip to the grocery store I'll use them this week.

Computer Crash

Lately I've been having trouble printing photos. So I have asked DH to try to fix the problem. Well last night he finally got a chance to sit down and work on the printer. He hadn't been working on it five minutes when the hard drive started making a "clicking" sound. To sum it up-our hard drive crashed and we lost everything.

Luckily I had saved all my photos on a disk several weeks ago and haven't cleared my cameras yet-so I don't think I've lost any important photos. Although I did loose all my bookmarks. Sad since I had over 30 blogs bookmarked. I'm addicted to blogs and have been checking in on several blogs on a weekly basis. I don't think it'll take me long to find most of them.

So anyway. Hopefully I can get all my photos back on the computer soon and get some printed so I can get to scrapping!

2 week checkup

I took JM for her two week checkup today. She is up to 8lbs 4 ounces!! Which is 2 ounces more than her birth weight and 14 ounces more than her check up last Saturday at the hospital. So she gained 14 ounces in 9 days!!! Which is awesome for a breastfed baby!! Nursing is going great-although she seemed to be a natural from the start. She has had two great nights of sleeping in her bassinet in between feedings. We slept in the recliner most of last night-but at least we slept.

Everyone asks how J is doing with his baby sister. Well he is doing WONDERFUL! Of course it probably has helped that we had company for two weeks to keep him entertained. Our company left Friday night so we have really only had one day at home-yesterday was spent with my in-laws and six nieces and nephews. He will spend the night at his Nana's tonight so it'll be a few days before we are back into a routine. That will be the true test. But I have confidence in him, I think he'll still be just as proud as ever of his "baby sister".

New Baby Girl

Well we have a new addition-a little baby girl. It as been very different from our first child. She sleeps a little better-although she still prefers to be held. And she is only eating about every 2-3 hours which gives mommy a little rest in between feedings.

Big Brother is so proud of his little sister. He loves touching her head and tickling her toes. We had a visitor the other day that was holding baby sister, and J told them "Don't take my baby sister". He said it 3-4 times and when the visitor was leaving he had to make sure they did not have his baby sister with them. So cute-think he was worried because someone had asked earlier this week if they could take baby sister home with them-and he quickly told them "No!".

Anyway thanks for the calls, cards, dinners, visits, thoughts and prayers during this time. We've had a lot of help the last week and it has really helped mommy out.

We strayed from the menu a bit last week. Mommy just wasn't feeling up to cooking much. But we did have the ham casserole. I cooked the noodles in the microwave, then added cubed ham, green peas, cheese and a can of cream of chicken soup and cooked it in the microwave for about 7 minutes. It was delicious. Even my husband enjoyed it and he is not a casserole eater.

The Teriyaki Chicken-from the freezer was also great. Will be putting more of that in the freezer when I find another good deal on chicken.

This weeks menu again will be easy and simple since we have yet to get our oven fixed.

Monday: Tosquitos with rice & beans
Tuesday: Lemon-lime chicken (frozen)
Wednesday: Beef Enchiladas (frozen)
Thursday: Grilled chicken sandwiches
Friday: Hamburgers with fries and baked beans

Diaper-wipe pouch

I finally made one! A diaper-wipe pouch! I had cut the material this week and then at my shower I got one as a gift. So then I had a template to help me finish it up-somewhat. I am not a sewer-I have sewed a few pillows but that is it. I can barely sew in a straight line. But I have been wanting to get my sewing machine out and start trying to make stuff. This was a fairly easy project-although I won't tell you how long it took me to actually sew it-especially after I had to rip the seam and do half of it over again after I sewed it in the wrong place. Oh well. It was fun and turned out well for my first try. Also it is big enough to fit my sons size 6 diapers so it works great. I'm sure it'll take me a while to get it perfect, then maybe I can start selling them and giving them as gifts!!!