Thursday, May 25, 2006

Lots of Good News....

Well, I have officially met my first "big" mini-goal: lose 10 lbs. This morning's weigh-in revealed almost 3 lbs in one week. (And, of course, we won't discuss the fact that it's been incredibly hot and most of that is probably dehydration, ahem). I'm now at 171.6 lbs, only 1.6 lbs from my second mini-goal of being less than 170 lbs.

And, my test this morning went really well. I scored 95% in math (it always was one of my strongest subjects) and 82% in reading (I thought I would do better than that, but I'll take it).

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Sorry I went MIA

I've been cleaning house since my mother-in-law arrives today. My entrance exam is tomorrow. I've got my fingers crossed!

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Poor baby.....

Miss Priss just came to tell me that Baby Boo was awake and needed to "eat from your tummy." I guess that's what breastfeeding looks like to a 2 year old. I was a little surprised that I hadn't even heard her fussing in the other room. Baby Boo, you see, wakes up hungry. And, when she's hungry, she's mad. Very mad. Baby Boo usually doesn't wake up in a good mood, but she's very happy and cuddly after she's eaten.

Anyway, I went to check on her, and she was sleeping in her swing as usual. I looked at Miss Priss who told me that Baby Boo needed to wake up so that Miss Priss could read to her. When we last visited my in-laws, both Miss Priss and Baby Boo got new books. Baby Boo's book is a touch and feel book, and Miss Priss loves to read it to her (which consists of Miss Priss telling Baby Boo what the animal is before grabbing her arm and forcing her to feel the fur of the animal). Needless to say, Baby Boo is still happily swinging until she decides to wake up on her own. I assured Miss Priss that she can read to Baby Boo later.

Friday, May 19, 2006

I'm Still Reading....

everyone's blogs. However, I haven't been able to comment as much as I would like to since my computer is being a pain in the a$$. I'm never sure what I'm going to get when I hit, "Post a Comment." Sometimes, the next page comes right up, no problem. Sometimes it comes up pretty quickly, but with a cute little red x in the word verification box. And sometimes it never comes up. Ugh!

For some reason, the past few days, my internet connection has been exceptionally slow which forces me to spend an inordinate amount of time playing Spider Solitaire waiting for pages to load. I have discovered that I am dependent on the "hint" feature. I make all the moves that I see, but I can't deal another row of cards without hitting the letter M (the shortcut for "show available moves") to make sure that I haven't missed any possible moves. I decided yesterday that I was probably using it a little too much, so I tried to stop. It's almost impossible to deal a new row of cards with out checking. I have to "cheat" at solitaire. How wrong is that?!

Thursday, May 18, 2006

I forgot to add....

I lost another pound! I'm now 174.4 I'm so excited to cross the 175 threshold. I'm hoping next week to cross my next milestone (173.6) -- at that point, I'll have lost 10 pounds. I'd like to be able to see the difference a little more -- I still seem to carry all the extra weight right in front as if I'm pregnant. I want the belly gone! So, I continue on. First goal, lose 10 lbs, should (fingers crossed) be accomplished next week, and the next goal is to be under 170. I'm actually starting to believe that I can do this. Yay!

Wish Me Luck

Well, I've made an appointment to take the nursing entrance test again (we were out of town, so I missed my original appointment). I'm taking it next Thursday. My mother-in-law is coming to stay with us for a few days, so I don't have to worry about the girls while I'm gone (Hubby's working that day). I hope I do well. It's been a while since I've taken anything close to a standardized test (or any test that isn't on the back of a cereal box for that matter). However, I have always been a good test taker, so I've got high hopes that I'll do well. I'm off to find practice study questions (and hopefully not have to pay for them!). :)

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Wow.

In the past couple of weeks, Miss Priss has practically potty trained herself. It was like, all of a sudden, the lightbulb went on and she got it. I guess my half-assed potty training attempt worked in that I procrastinated so much that she just suddenly "got it." Good, I'll do the same thing with Baby Boo.

So as not to jinx myself, I will not talk about how long it has been since she had an accident. I'm even thinking of sending her to bed with panties on since she wakes up dry, but I can't do it yet. I don't want to waste the diapers I have left, and why clean up messy sheets if I don't have to. I'm all about the laziness factor.

We have to drive about 45 minutes or so to get groceries every week, and she gets mad if she needs to go in the car. She will start yelling, "I NEED TO POOP!!!! ON.MY.POTTY!!!!" Well, we're not going to stop the car on a two lane road so just go in your diaper. This does not look good for our 13 hour car ride this summer. She's going to want to stop and go to the bathroom a lot. And we're not stopping kind of people. We stop for gas and that's it. You go to the bathroom when you stop for gas. With two young children, we'll see how many stops need to be made.

Monday, May 15, 2006

I'm So Tired!

Why will Miss Priss not sleep? WHY!?!?!?!? I need to go find something to make for dinner. Any ideas? What do you like to do for dinner? I'm open to all suggestions.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Happy Mother's Day (Or Something Like That)

A rundown of my mother's day thus far:

12:04 -- Hubby arrived home from his poker game (didn't lose any money -- always good).
12:05 -- Hubby told me that he has to work this morning from 6am to noon. So much for sleeping in.
1:00 -- After talking with Hubby for a while and fighting insomnia, I fell asleep.
2:00 -- Miss Priss woke up crying (she wakes up every night, but there's usually not crying involved).
2:30 -- Trying not to lose patience with Miss Priss (since she did have a bad dream and is scared to go back to sleep), I got her some milk and returned to my bed since my being in her room seemed to be keeping her awake.
3:00 -- After lying awake listening for Miss Priss to fall asleep (she tends to thrash around a lot as she's falling asleep -- our room shares a wall with hers, so I hear her constantly hitting the wall), I went and checked on her. She was almost asleep.
3:15 -- I checked on Miss Priss again, and she was sleeping soundly.
3:30 -- Fell back asleep.
5:00 -- Hubby's alarm went off.
5:01 -- Fell back asleep.
5:55 -- Hubby left for work. I got up to lock the door and heard the dogs claws on the kitchen floor. That can only mean one thing.
5:56 -- I discovered that the damn dog had gotten into the trash and spread it all over the kitchen floor. "Buddy, get your ass outside!"
5:57 -- Put the dog out and decided I would pick the trash up when I got up.
5:58 -- Returned to my bedroom to see Baby Boo smiling sweetly at me. Now, I love a good baby smile as much as the next person, but early in the morning when I just want to go back to sleep.....
6:00 -- Decided that I should feed Baby Boo and then, surely, she'd go back to sleep.
6:01 -- After picking Baby Boo up, I realized that she had left me a mother's day present in her diaper.
6:02 -- I tiptoed as quietly as possible through Miss Priss's bedroom to get a diaper (I really must remember to put some diapers in my room since Miss Priss is such a light sleeper).
6:03 -- I changed Baby Boo's nasty, smelly diaper. She smiled the entire time.
6:05 -- I started feeding Baby Boo. Instead of her eyes getting heavier as she ate, she paused several times to smile at me really big with milk dribbling out of her little mouth. Very adorble, but I soon realized that she had no intention of going back to sleep.
6:15 -- Baby Boo was done eating and was trying to sit up (basically doing a crunch -- damn I wish I had her abs!). I rolled her over, popped her dummy in, and cuddled her really close desperately hoping for those extra few minutes of sleep.
6:45 -- Woke up with a nice cuddly, awake, sneezing baby. She was being very still so as not to disturb me -- what a sweetie!
6:50 -- Miss Priss came in declaring, "I want some milk."

7:00 -- I finally got up to get Miss Priss some milk (I'm quick like that). She quickly stated, "Awww, Mommy, what happened?!" I told her that the dog had gotten into the trash and that I would pick it up.
7:05 -- After picking up the trash, I got her some milk. And some breakfast.
7: 15 -- I went back in to check on Baby Boo. Guess who had gone back to sleep. I watched her sleep for a few minutes. So cute.
7:20 -- I went in and watched an episode of Dora while Miss Priss and I ate breakfast.
7:45 -- I got online to go through my morning ritual of blog reading and message boards.

So that is my day so far. The rest better be someting like:
12:00 -- Hubby gets home.
12:05 -- I start my nap.
3:00 -- I wake up. No crying children would be a plus.
5:00 -- Hubby makes me whatever I want for dinner. Without my help.
6:30 -- Hubby does the dishes. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha -- that's a good one. I don't think he's done the dishes since we moved in.
7:00 -- I watch whatever movie I want to watch (which probably means that he doesn't want to watch it LOL)
9:00 -- I go to bed early. Hubby gets the girls ready for bed and in bed. All. by. himself.

So that's probably pretty unrealistic, but Hubby did say before he left this morning that he owed me a day as a mother's day. Oh, he owes me alright........

Saturday, May 13, 2006

I hate teething....

and Baby Boo's been doing it for about a month and a half now. Miss Priss got her first tooth at 4 months. She wasn't fussy or anything; it just suddenly appeared. Same with the rest of her teeth (and she had a mouthful by age 1). Baby Boo, on the other hand, is having a really hard time with the little teeth coming in. She just cries and whines and sucks so hard on her hands that it leaves marks (think: hickey). Poor little thing. It keeps her from sleeping good, and a lot of times when I know she's tired and needs a nap, I rub a little oragel on her gums and....ta-da....she falls right to sleep. I hope these little teeth poke through soon!

Friday, May 12, 2006

Very Surprised.....

My husband told me the other day as we're eating dinner, "Miss Priss and I had an idea for a Mother's Day present, but you'll have to pick it out." I am automatically surprised because, well, I didn't think my husband even realized that Sunday is Mother's Day. I'm also surprised that he thought about giving me a gift (we usually don't do anything at all -- not even a card -- for Hallmark Holidays).

So, I ask what the idea was.

"We thought since you like to work with pictures so much [my photo albums are always as up to date as I have pictures printed], that you would like a locket."

I was floored. I'd never even thought of getting a locket (I'm not a big jewelry wearer), but once he said it, I thought how cool it would be to have. How very thoughtful and considerate. So, now I get to go online and look for one that I would like. I'm so excited. I'll have a hard time matching that for Father's Day.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Woohoo!

This morning's weigh in went well. I'm now down to 175.6. That is very exciting for me since I can't remeber the last time that I weighed so "little." I've also begun to identify some of the things that contribute to my weight gain, so hopefully I can learn to control them and work around them.

1. I can't leave food on my plate. I, unfortunately, can't blame my parents (it would be so convenient if I could). They never gave lectures about starving kids in Africa or anything like that. I can only blame myself. I can't leave food on my plate because it seems so wasteful. Not necessarily foodwise, but moneywise. What a waste of money not to finish the meal completely.

2. I need to learn to control my portions. I know they are way, way, way too big, but I don't want to have to go and get seconds. That just seems like I'm eating too much. Therefore, I put enough for first and second helpings on my plate the first time. Realistically, if I just put one true portion on my plate, I would probably eat that and be full and never get anymore food after that. But, then I would have all the wasted food still in the pots.....which brings me to.....

3. I don't need to cook like I'm feeding a family of 6. There are 2 adults and one child (who eats like a bird) in my family.

4. My other problem is that I have to have something to do with my hands. I can't watch TV or play on the computer without something else going on. I've learned that coloring with my daughter or doing my nails or toenails helps give me something to do other than eat (and it keeps my nails looking great!). On the computer, since I have dial-up, while waiting for pages to load, I open Spider Solitaire and play it. It's working pretty well so far.

So, the goals for this week are:
1. Smaller portions. I don't think I can cut them in half or anything, but maybe only 2/3 of what I would normally eat.

2. No snacking unless I'm truly hungry, not just bored.

3. Work out some sort of exercise plan. I got a couple of new exercise videos -- a core pilates and an abs, buns, and thighs video. It would be helpful if I would actually do the workout. And I've got to start some sort of aerobic workout. Maybe I can get Hubby to watch the girls for a while during the evening so I can go run (well, as close to running as I can do right now).

As it is, my stomach seems to be shrinking, so I feel full faster. I'm trying really hard to actually listen to it. :)

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

How Much of a Nerd.....

am I to get my reality TV from PBS? I avidly watched Texas Ranch House (after recording all of them this past week -- I don't want to have to wait for the next one to come on). Yes, I am a nerd.

The premise of the show is to take 15 people and send them back through time to 1867 to live on a ranch. There was the ranch family, The Cookes (dad, mom, 3 teenage daughters -- how did they get the daughters to agree to this?), the servant girl, and a bunch of cowboys.

Very interesting show. I wonder how their editing decisions made an impact on how it looked for the family. In the beginning, I felt a little sorry for the family because there were some scenes where the ranch hands were a little less than helpful when they could have been. But, in the end, I had very little respect for the ranch family. The kicker for me was the dishes. Before the ranch hands left for the cattle drive, the ranch hosted a big party. Eight days later (while sitting around in their underwear), they were complaining about the horrendous fly problem and blaming it on the horse manure that was "right outside the door." I would have no problem with this (and agree it was manure) if they had actually done the dishes! Eight days with nasty, dirty dishes and rotting food. Hello! Where do you think the fly problem came from?

Okay, rant over.

Baby Boo can now roll from back to front. She discovered this last night and quickly repeated it over and over quickly discovering that she can roll over and over and actually get somewhere. Uh-oh. I'm in trouble now.

Miss Priss had a total meltdown last night when she pooped in her panties. That was the first time that she had done that, and I heard her running with tears streaming down her face from her room where she had been quietly playing. She was very upset and wouldn't calm down until I assured her that it was no big deal and that we could wash her panties.

And today is our anniversary. I probably ought to do something really nice for dinner, right? Any suggestions for a cooking challenged woman with a picky (as in no vegetables) husband?

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Thunderstorm.....

We had a big thunderstorm last night. On the one hand, I hate thunderstorms because I live in the southern part of Tornado Alley, and I don't particularly like my car getting hailed on, but, on the other hand, I love a big thunderstorm (minus the hail and tornado). So, last night, around 7:00, it started raining. I tuned into the local news to see that the worst was yet to come. So, as we were going to sleep, we opened up the curtains so that we could watch the lightning. It is so beautiful. We have a security light outside our house, and at one point the lightning was so bright and so frequent that the light turned off because it's sensor assumed the sun had come up. There's nothing like falling asleep to a good thunderstorm.

Friday, May 05, 2006

TGIF

Not much going on here. Just hanging out. I've decided that my house is too dirty (although most would consider it pretty clean), so I'm obsessively cleaning every room one by one. I've done the kitchen since I figured I might as well start with the hardest room. All I need to do is mop the floor. Since I started with the hardest room, I decided that today I would do the living room since it will be easy. I guess I'm nesting a few months too late. LOL

Speaking of nesting, there are two birds who have built a nest on my front porch. Because they stay pretty close, I can only assume that there are eggs in it. Realistically, it's in a good location for them -- protected from wind and rain and high enough that no cat or dog can get at it. It's a pretty sturdy looking little nest.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! :)

Thursday, May 04, 2006

And I'm back....

and it's Thursday. So, let's see where we stand weightwise, shall we? Now, last week, I had gone up (oh, the horror!) to 179 (at least I didn't cross the 180 threshold). This week, I'm happy to report that I'm down to 177. Yay! I would much prefer to go down.

Miss Priss had a great time at Grandma's where she got to play on her new swingset.

Baby Boo had her 4 month appointment yesterday. She's growing like a little weed, and I need to check and see how long she can get before she's not supposed to be in her little carseat anymore.

Stats:
Weight: 15 lbs (the bathroom scale was right)
Length: 25 1/2 inches. She's grown 6 inches since birth.
Head: 14 1/2 (apparently she has a little head, but the doctor said that it wasn't anything to be concerned about at this point)

I just read that her carseat can accomodate her until 29 inches. Thank goodness. She's got to learn to sit up first so that I can still get the shopping done. :)