The War is On

with fat, that is.
And I'm going to win!



My weight has been like a yo-yo since I got pregnant with Merritt.
After each birth I would eventually lose some weight again - never quite to where I was before it all began though.
I think it was hard for me to get there, knowing I was going to have more babies and gain it back and have to go through all of that hard work again.
Such a stumbling block.
Really, I am tired of being on a diet. I have been on one, on and off, my whole life.
It's sad to me when I look back at pictures of my youth. Why was I always on a diet? I was NOT overweight.
See?... (I am the one on the left. And for those of you who are wondering, this was on the job at the Queen Mary)


That is not the case now, but soon it will be. And I don't have any intentions of being pregnant again, so this time it can be for good.

Since Molly was born I have tried a few times to get on the weight loss train, only to fall off hard. I realized that I think I need some real accountability.
I thought about Weight Watchers, but it doesn't fit in our budget. And besides that I don't want to pay just to step on the scale in front of others. I already know how to eat right.
I prayed about it.
One morning while I was taking a shower I thought about asking a few people I know, who are trying to lose weight, to join me in making our own weight loss accountability meeting. I know that I need that kind of encouragement to be successful this time. I had one friend in mind, but I wasn't sure who else to ask.
Somehow, while I was with my regular accountability group this week, this came up. I shared what I was thinking. One of them said that they would do it with me. And before we all realized what we were doing, we were all weighing in together and recording our starting weights and goal weights.

So here we go!

and here are some images of my yo-yo...

pre-kids:

post-Merritt (and this is after I already lost some weight.):

2 months before I got pregnant with Mason:
post-Mason:

1 month before I got pregnant with Molly:

And well, most of you know what I look like now.

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Fabulous

I LOVE this video (and not just because I know the stars)

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What A Weekend

I know it's already Thursday. Tells you what my week has been like.
(warning: if you get faint at the site of owies, stop when you get to Monday)

Start with last Friday...
Bruce and I got to go on a date without ANY kids. (Thank you Brad & Lori) It has been since before Molly was born that that has happened.


On Saturday our good friends,
Chris and Melissa Seybert, came to visit us.
It's always great to get to spend quality time with good friends.
We got to have fun with their kids too. (We moved from San Bernardino when Melissa was pregnant with their oldest, Caleb.)

On Sunday, Molly was dedicated.
When she was born we talked about how that would happen for us and Bruce really wanted Chris to do the dedicating. So Chris it was. (Chris was the best man in our wedding, and he was the one who dedicated Merritt seven years ago.)

Thank you Gillums for photographing and videotaping the day for us!
We spent Sunday worshipping with our family at Epic, playing with our friends, having ice cream at Superior Dairy.
It doesn't get much better than that!


Then on Monday, as we were getting ready to spend some of our vacation day at the park, Mason fell and hit his head on the side of the bedpost in his room.
I'm still trying to get to the bottom of how it happened.
I know that it came as the result of playing in a way that he has been told not to do.
My first hint at that was when I asked Mason how it happened and he told me that he didn't want to tell me.
Merritt gave a very incrypted version of what happened as he carefully crafted the words he told me.
(Mason finally gave more details Monday night and it had something to do with jumping off of Merritt's back onto the bean bag, I think.)
He probably should have had stitches, but it was a holiday and the regular doctor's office was closed. An ER trip would have been a minimum of $150 and 6 hours.
So I iced it, cleaned it, dressed it (a few different times), and in the late afternoon got the steri-strips to stick and hold the wound closed. (I'm now pretty grateful for that first aid certification I got.)
The nurse on the advise line (who I spoke to because there weren't any urgent care appointments available) said that as long as I didn't mind a scar, it could wait until Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday morning it was already healing - too late for stitches. The doctor said to just keep an eye on it and bring him in if it started looking infected.

Here are pictures of the wound and how it looked after dr. mom's treatment.

Now, to get my house clean.

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Lunar Eclipse

If you didn't get outside to notice,
we had a lunar eclipse yesterday, and it occurred really early in the evening.


As we were getting ready to eat dinner, our neighbor from across the street knocked on our door to tell us to bring the boys outside to see the moon.

I don't ever remember there being an eclipse so early.
I always miss them because they occur really late at night or in the wee hours of the morning, before I'm venturing away from my warm and cozy covers.

I think this was a pretty special event for our kids.
They checked the moon about every 20 minutes until it was completely dark.

Here they are on our first sighting...

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Happy Valentine's Day

Things I love...

Bruce, Merritt, Mason & Molly
Time to be ALONE with God
Good friends
Walks on the beach
A good book, blanket and a fire in the fireplace on a rainy day
Making grilled cheese sandwiches with my boys
A coffee date with a good friend
Impromptu days of adventure with my family
Window shopping with Bruce
A lazy afternoon to enjoy my kids
Laughter

Enjoy celebrating the things you love today!

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Fog

"It's smoky outside today, mom."

Mason's words to wake me this morning.

It's funny becuase that is exactly what Merritt would say

When we visited Hanford

Before he knew fog.

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Buzz-zzzzzzzz

We don't get haircuts often enough, usually because it is hard to find a time when both our family and our fabulous hair dresser have time. Both of the boys were having trouble seeing through the hair that was hanging in their eyes though, so we put an evening aside just for that purpose. (Everyone in the family had their turn in the chair.) Our appointment was at 6:30 pm, so we got everything done that needed to be done before that (like homework and dinner), knowing that the boys would have to go to bed before we were all finished. The problem was, in my trying to get everything done, I lost track of what Mason was doing and he fell asleep. Now I wasn't about to let this haircut wait, especially because it would probably be at least another week before we could get the time again. So I picked him up, put him in my lap and held his head. When I picked him up and told him that he was going to get his hair cut, he only woke up enough to tell me that he didn't want to go first. I must say, his hair looks great! (see the picture in my previous post about Mason) I love it when I can see his eyes. Thanks again Brandi!

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Mason

Mason is one of the cutest kids ever! There is no specific reason to celebrate him today - no birthday, no special awards, etc. But why does a parent need a specific reason to celebrate their children? He makes me laugh ALL the time. AND he tells me he loves me at least 50 times a day.

I am part of an accountability group and one of our weekly questions that we hold each other accountable for is, "How have you spent time enjoying your children this week?" This is about being purposeful to ENJOY my kids, so tonight Mason and I had a date. (Merritt had a date with Bruce in the afternoon.) He wanted to go to Starbucks and get a "coffee". (He had a green tea frappuccino and a chocolate doughnut.) He was beaming from ear to ear the whole time we were there. There were a couple of men there who struck up conversation with him and when they were done talking about how old Mason was, how cool Batman was, and what his green drink tasted like, Mason whispered to me, with a huge smirky grin on his face, "I'm not going to tell them my name. I'm never going to tell them my name. Well, next time I see them I will tell them my name." I told him that was ok. They hadn't asked his name anyways. And then about 2 minutes later one of the men asked Mason what his name was. Mason, in a very sing-songy fashion with a little laugh at the end (and enjoying every minute of it) said, "I'm not telling you!" He looked at me and smirked, like we had an inside joke going on. (Really, he was dying to tell them his name.) The man told him his name, and his 2 sons names who were with him, and his grandaughter's name (who had just left the store with her boyfriend because her family showed up). So Mason said, "OK, my name is MASON!" He was sooooo proud of himself. I'm sure I was beaming too because the men couldn't stop complementing my son.

I took this one of us...
Mason took this one...

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