Weekly Weigh-in

No, I am not going to tell you how much I weigh. Though I really don't mind that much. Heck, you see pictures. It's not a secret when someone is overweight. Speaking of pictures, I had Matthew take pictures of me from all angles (and closeups of my face and profile) the night I started Weight Watchers. He also took measurements of my arm, leg, hips, and waist. I am obviously weighing in every week at WW. Every four weeks, I am going to retake the same pictures in the same outfit, and have my measurements taken. That way I can chart some progress. And while I have a scale in my bathroom, I think that, at least for this week, I am not going to weigh myself at all throughout the week. I know that at least this week, I am going to stick to my points, so I would rather be encouraged by the prospect of losing weight than to obsess over it. And won't it be a pleasant and total surprise to step on the scale next Thursday evening after all my hard work and see what my weight is?

I plan on sharing my weekly weight loss each Friday (or Saturday) on my blog. I will also share how many inches I've lost every four weeks. The pictures will most likely have to wait until there is visible progress. I don't really want to be *that* public yet. Fat pictures are just fat pictures until you lose weight!

Yesterday was my first day, and it went very, very well. I exercised and ate well. I had all my servings of veggies, fruits, dairy, water, etc. I took a multivitamin as well. (I did not get my 2 tsp of healthy oil that I'm supposed to get, but I am not that worried about it. I don't mind using some healthy oil, but I did not cook anything that required oil yesterday.)

Daily points are determined based on gender, age, height, weight, and daily activity. Based on all of those things, I currently get 29 points a day. (Thank goodness for being tall and "young," which is under 37, b/c those each got me more points!) You also get 35 points a week to use all at once or a little at a time. You can choose to use these or not to, if you want to lose more weight. Exercise gets you "activity points," which you can choose to trade in for food or keep, to lose more weight. You are *supposed* to use all of your daily points (29 for me) to keep you from losing weight at an unhealthy rate. If your weight goes down (increments of 10) or your age changes categories, you are supposed to recalculate your points.

I've gotta tell you, I struggled to use my points yesterday! Dinner was over and I was full. I still had 6.5 points left! I ended up using them, but today I am trying to eat more earlier in the day so I don't do that again. For breakfast this morning, I had 7 points. Here is what I had:

1 egg--2 points
3 egg whites--1 point
2 pieces of bread--2 points (I bought some "light" bread that is only 0.5 point each, but I am using up my other bread first.)
1/4 cup low-fat sharp cheddar cheese--2 points
unsweetened orange spice tea w/Sweet N Low--0 points

It was very filling and delicious! The thing I love about WW so far is tracking my food and progress online. The tools are very extensive (most foods are in there, and if not, you can add them) and user-friendly. Here is a picture of my breakfast!



Enough about me. I know most of you read my blog for updates of the two cutest boys in North Georgia. Here are several pictures of Benjamin this week with his physical therapist, Natalie.



He's doing great with sitting! We're trying to get him to reach up for toys while sitting to strengthen his muscles. It took him several tries (on our part) to get him to do this on this particular morning. He just didn't want to!

It's hard to see in this profile picture, but he is laughing at his toy here. He loves this toy and always giggles when the gears start to turn.

Here, Natalie is putting on his therapy shorts. I call them straight-jacket shorts. Notice how they're sewn together in the legs and very tight-fitting. (They kind of remind me of biker shorts from the 80s....or was it 90s? Those decades sometimes run together as far as fashions and music.) Anyway, children with Down syndrome are not only very flexible, but they have very loose joints. So when Benjamin tries to get up on his knees, his knees often separate and go out into a "frog"position. These shorts help him to keep his legs more together and help to strengthen those joints so he can learn to crawl. He's not so sure about them...

Here's another view.

Working on standing. He still needs someone there at *all* times b/c he'll just fall down.

I love this boy!!!

The other night all four of us went out in the rain to use a "free sub" coupon for Quiznos that we got online. I found out that Quiznos is giving away one million subs. So I went to the website and printed off two coupons--one under my name and one under Matthew's. We also had a BOGO free coupon for a sandwich at Central Park. So we went off to get dinner the night before I joined WW. We got a couple of burgers and then tried to get our subs. Well, you know how all coupons say, "Valid only at participating locations"? Yep. Evidently not many of the Quiznos across the nation are participating in this million sub giveaway. There was a sign up how each store is independently owned, blah, blah. Whatever. We left without buying anything because I am not paying full price for those things! So while Quiznos might *print* one million coupons, they certainly will not actually give away one million. Sad.

So here is Andrew eating 1/2 hamburger from Central Park and playing peek-a-boo with Benjamin. Just in the past week or two, Andrew has started to interact with B a little bit. He's never been antagonistic toward him, but let's face it--B hasn't really been able to do very much up until now. But now that he's sitting and schooching around and making noise, Andrew has started to realize, "Hey, this is a real person!"

Here is Benjamin's ten-month picture. Only two more before we'll have a whole year to look at! I'll post each month's picture, and I'll even post Andrew's again, too, in the same outfit (a 0-3 month outfit, by the way), in the same chair. (But A's was at our old house.)

What my view looks like from the kitchen sink.

That's all for now! It is very rainy here today. Benjamin is napping, and Matthew took Andrew out on an errand-running marathon. I think there were several returns to make, a trip to the post office, and a few things to buy. Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

My visit with MJ

As I mentioned a few days ago, a friend of mine, Mary Jo, came to visit me last weekend. She arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Sunday noonish. Mary Jo is not just any ordinary friend. She's an internet friend. Oooooooh...... And to answer your questions, no, I was not scared nor was I skeptical. MJ and I have corresponded via message boards, email, text messages, and telephone for the past three years or so. She is about to have her second son in June and wanted a mini-vacation from the responsibilities of being the mom-of-a-toddler, a job that is quite taxing I might add.

She arrived from Minnesota in Chattanooga Thursday afternoon. Matthew picked her up at the airport on his way home from work. I was at home with napping boys, but I got them up and met everyone at CiCi's Pizza, where my mom's school was having their fundraiser night. Poor Mary Jo. It was crowded and loud, but she is so laidback and likes pizza and brownies, so we were just fine. She is just as nice and funny in person as she is online.

We then went home and the Top Chef New York marathon began. I had recorded almost the entire season on my DVR for us to watch b/c MJ doesn't have Bravo.

The next day was Friday. She was kind enough to stay home while Benjamin napped in the morning so I could take Andrew to my mom's school for Spring pictures. In khakis and a short-sleeved shirt. In 33 degree weather. Yikes. (Yes, he wore a coat.)

The rest of the day was pretty much as you see below. I cooked Mexican food for dinner and Andrew spent the evening, night, and all of Saturday at my parents' house. Top Chef was really good. :)



I thought this was funny. The lid of the sour cream container had a quote that was quite apropros. Here it is in the trash surrounded by other remnants of our dinner. :)



Saturday was sunny and a little warmer. Good thing b/c we had a lot of running around to do. (Which is SO much easier when you are sans kids.) Here we were before heading out. Matthew likes to take pictures before you're ready....

After going to Ace Hardware, Kohl's, JCPenney, and Barnes & Noble, we went to eat lunch at one of my very favorite restaurants, The American Cafe. Yuuummmmmmmm.

We then picked up some chips & salsa for later at Salsarita's before heading to Bi-Lo (the only grocery store that carries my mom's favorite brownies) and then to McKay Used Books. We spent quite a bit of time here, and Mary Jo stocked up on books of her son Jack's favorite movie, "The Jungle Book." It's pretty telling when two moms go to a *huge* used bookstore and stay in the children's section the entire time. Who has time to read? :)

We then went back to my house, picked up Matthew and Benjamin, dropped them off at my parents' house, then went to Wal*Mart to pick up some groceries, a new hairbrush, and some birthday presents for kids' friends. (Diana, I already found both your girls each a really neat present!!)

Then the madness began. My family came over. And it wasn't just my regular old family. It was like the Crosby family on crack b/c my crazy and fun cousin Marianne and her fiance Peter were in town for the weekend. And my other cousin Philip actually proposed to his girlfriend Crystal that same night and came over later with her to celebrate. And Crystal's friend Emily came and showed us all up by bringing a present. Both my parents were there, as well as both my brothers and my SIL Edie. There was laughter, there were inappropriate jokes, and I think my brother Michael rapped some. Oh, and I was stabbed. Thanks, Mom.

But I think the funniest thing of the evening is when my brother Justin came in the house and got tripped up on some shoes. To which he barked jokingly, "Whose shoes are these?" Mary Jo didn't skip a beat--"Those are mine." LOL! Justin said, "Oh. Well, I don't know you!" (Oops!)

We ate food, including brownies and ice cream, laughed, and talked. We got home really late but it was worth it. Here are pictures of the evening.

The next day, we ate at the house and then I took her to the airport. It was sad to hug her and say goodbye. Will I ever see her again? I really don't know. I hope so. But I know that we are truly friends and not just "online" friends. I just hate it that the season finale of Top Chef is on this week and she's not here to watch it with me.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

First of all, Mary Jo and I had a wonderful time together!! Pictures and stories to come. But first, it's time to review the things I did not do this week. Buckle your seatbelts. This is going to take awhile.

I do not smile and sometimes chuckle at the fact that Andrew likes "Dumbo" so much. I do not think my son will be ridiculed later in life for his resemblance with the large-eared elephant. And I certainly do not think he is the cutest big-eared boy ever.



I certainly did not take Mary Jo to CiCi's Pizza when she was fresh off the plane from Minnesota, meeting her for the first time in the parking lot, and then I certainly did not introduce her to the best garlic cheese bread EVER. Not me!



I did not allow Andrew to pose in his spring pictures with Clifford the Big Red Dog (his current favorite) so he would smile. (The pictures will not come in a few weeks and I most certainly will not post them and gush over how cute they are.) And I am not the type of mom who gets frustrated when her kid won't smile for the camera, so I would never take a million pictures of him in the living room before the actual pictures so I could teach him how to smile. I would not do that; it is not effective.

I am not obsessed with the fact that Benjamin can sit, so I do not keep capturing pictures of him falling over.

I do not live on the set of Hitchcox's "The Birds."

I am not married to my OCD-counterpart (because, of course, I am not OCD) who did not fold and organize all our clothes to give away to charity, and who most certainly did not create an Excel spreadsheet so he could most effectively write it off our taxes at the end of the year.

I did not spend $9 on a hairbrush, and then I did NOT drop it and break it in two just a few weeks later. (Consequently, I would never make MJ go to Wal*Mart with me to buy a new one.)

It did not bother me that this did not have an apostrophe even though it does not need one. That would be crazy because I am not obsessed with grammar and punctuation.

I am not eating like it's going out of style b/c I'm starting Weight Watchers this Thursday.

I most certainly would not overreact and be dramatic when my mom bumped into me with a small paring knife, telling everyone I was stabbed repeatedly by my mother. And it would be silly to take a picture of said knife, telling others that the chocolate sauce on it is blood. That would be senile.

I am a great mother. I would never forget to turn the baby monitor on at my mother's house full of noisy guests only to remember when Benjamin had been asleep in the faraway basement four hours later. I always remember that second children are just as important! (Incidentally, in case I ever did anything like that, which of course I never would, he would have been just fine, as he fell asleep as soon as Matthew put him down to bed...) This monitor only looks like it isn't plugged in. :)

I am not crazy enough to take a stupid picture of myself and put it on my cousin's phone. Not me! And I would not put it as her screensaver, caller ID, nor her incoming phone picture.

I am not worried that my older brother Michael is going to have quite the life lessons to learn as he's about to become a first-time father in April. Not me!! I am convinced that he will love to lose sleep, change diapers, and most especially, watch the delivery. ;)

Oh, and Benjamin is not worried about Uncle Michael either.

I do not have wonderful brothers. They are dull and proper and never make me laugh.

I am not concerned that my mother let Andrew get dressed in a beach hat, fireman hat, and pink gloves. Not me! I am certain that he will turn out juuuuust fine.

As mentioned earlier, I have found that I parent both of my sons the same way. I am just as attentive to details with the second child as I was with my first. So I would never leave Benjamin in a poopy diaper for quite some time so that I could capture pictures of him learning how to clap on demand when I said "pattycake."

And because I would not do that, I would not step away to finally get a diaper and miss catching him falling into the coffee table and getting a big bump on his head.

And, no, that is not "Polar Express" behind me on the TV. I do not let Andrew watch Christmas movies in late February. Not me!