Pictures at long last

I am swamped. We (Matthew, Andrew, Benjamin, my mom, and I) are leaving for the beach this Friday to stay in my friend Stephanie's cool condo down in Florida. And while a vacation is cool (and long overdue), all of us parents know that it is truly not really a vacation for us, and we often need an additional vacation from the vacation. This week has been super busy already, and we're only three days into it. The next three days are jam-packed as well.

But added to my stress is the fact that I have not yet blogged about Andrew's third birthday party, so I have diligently uploaded pictures tonight while I simultaneously tried to understand paperwork for Benjamin. (Seriously? Why does it have to be so complicated and redundant?)

Speaking of Baby B, he is doing *wonderfully*!!!! He is *this* close to crawling. In fact, for all intents and purposes, he is crawling. But he's not quite doing it right, so I'm prone to wait to "call it." He skipped "army crawling" altogether and gets on his hands and knees. But because his hips are so darn flexible, instead of bringing one knee forward and then his other knee, he'll bring one knee forward and then his whole other leg out in front of him. He'll scoot like that, and sometimes he'll move his other knee again. But other times he just decides to sit back up. It's difficult to work with him on this b/c he usually just bangs his head while we're trying to help. And Natalie (his PT) and I can't help but laugh as he's also making cute noises and trying to eat toys at the same time. I kid you not that everyone who crosses this boy's path is in love with him. If only we could all have that said about us.

Okay, onto the pictures.

Here is Andrew the night before his party, assembling his goody bags.

He loved the pink sunglasses and made me promise that his bag would have the pink ones. I suppose the birthday kid can get a goody bag at his own party. Is that normal?

The cake and cupcakes. LOL As I stated on Facebook when I posted these, I never claimed to be Martha Stewart. Some cupcakes were huge, while a few were tiny. Oh, well.

My ghetto Clifford decorations printed off the PBS website. He loved them, and we later taped them all in a book.

My mom used to hang balloons on our mailbox when it was one of our birthdays. Then she started doing it for the cat's birthday. It started as a joke but then never ended. The cat is now 17. It used to bug the stew out of my brother Justin, so we did it as long as we all lived there just to irritate him. Anyway, here is our mailbox.

No joke. If Benjamin is always smiling for the camera, Andrew is always frowning for the camera. He's not a depressed kid by any means; he's just serious in front of the camera. Here is his expression when I tell him to smile. I am not kidding. (I wanted him to show the personalized Clifford t-shirt that my Aunt Priscilla sent.)

So then I tell him to say something that is bound to be cheery, like, "It's my birthday!" But then that always causes him to move around and I miss important things. Like the "w." And suddenly I have a son named Andre. But he's not a giant or a seal, so everyone is confused. (Let me know if anyone got both of those references...)

Pointing out the various Clifford characters

At birthday party #1 of the day. Eating cupcakes with his friends.

Opening presents with his friends

Evangeline, who has a baby sister due in a couple of months, was especially intrigued by Benjamin. He just wanted her to move the heck out of the way so he could get his red ball.

Ahhhh...the chaos of three-year-olds. With a few babies thrown in there.

Then the friends left and it was naptime. After naptime, it was time for party #2--the family party. Here are Andrew and his cousins (L-R--Davis, Abbie, Ashlyn) on the couch, wearing party gear and holding up how old they are. Can't you see? Davis is six, Abbie is 11, Ashlyn is nine (well, she would be the very next day...), and Andrew is desperately still trying to figure out how to hold up three fingers.

While we got the food ready, the kids played in the master bedroom where we had stashed some of the louder toys...

Looks like these two chose the wrong room in which to nap...

Being silly with the kids (Michael included)

Cake time!

Little brother getting in on the party hat action

Opening his big present from Matthew and me: a Melissa and Doug Fire Chief play outfit.



The cutest thing about this is that Andrew thinks the word firefighter is pronounced fire-fire. So he is always saying, "I'm the fire-fire!" It's adorable.

Okay, the parties were a grand success. Fun was had by all. Here are just some random day-to-day pictures to round out this post. And then I am going to bed because it's late, I'm exhausted, and I have a million and two things to do tomorrow.

Here is Benjamin playing with his pants on the hardwood. He loves to play with burp cloths, small blankets, and articles of clothing, as you can plainly see.

His 11-month picture. I can't wait to post all of them!! Only one more month!

The day after Andrew's party our dishwasher decided to get sick. The repairman came today (a week later), and I was never so glad to see a strange man standing on my doorstep.

Seriously...this is not cool. We used as much plastic and paper as we could (except for silverware), but we still amassed tons of dishes. I think this is just a day or two.

This was taken today during lunch. LOL

To conclude, I have two short videos. **Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the page!!**

Here is Andrew reciting his very first memory Bible verse. He has one a week to memorize for Puggles, which is the 2-and-3-year-old AWANA division that he and Matthew go to every Sunday night. (Matthew is one of the adult helpers.)



And here is Andrew today at lunch. After I took a picture of his messy face, he wanted me to "take a picture where he talked." Otherwise known as a video. I love this boy!




That's all for now!!!!

Weekly Weigh-in

Oh, March Madness, why do you plague me so? I am always up late at night watching games and then I'm so tired. Ugh. Plus, for some dumb reason I picked Xavier to beat Pitt, so now I'm screwed.

Anyway, this week at Weight Watchers marks four weeks. I have worn the same pair of pants each week, and this was the first week they felt considerably looser. (Plus earlier this week I was able to wear a pair of pants I couldn't wear before *and* a friend of mine told me my face looked thinner.)

I lost another 1.2 this week, for a grand total so far of 9 pounds! YAY!!!!!

And even better than that was that Matthew redid my measurements tonight, as he will every month.

I lost one inch from my arm, one inch from my thigh, one inch from my waist, and two inches from my hips. That's five inches!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, onto finish the basketball game so I can drag my weary butt to bed. It's laundry day tomorrow.

Questions from my brain today

Three things I have wondered today:

1. How do uneducated, poor people who have children with medical issues or special needs survive the endless paperwork, insurance denials, and collection agencies? It's hard enough for a middle-class family where both parents have master's degrees. Sheesh.

2. How exactly does an omelet work? How does the egg on the inside cook? Time? Low heat? I always just give up after I fold it and chop it into scrambled eggs.

3. Why can't I eat scrambled eggs, peanut butter sandwiches, or Oreos without milk?

4. Anyone got any Oreos?

I'm partied out

Just a quick note to let you know that today was a wonderful day. Andrew had so much fun with his friends, family, and all the cake. His presents were wonderful, and my feet and legs are so sore from hardly sitting down all day. But we feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

Today was so jam-packed and tomorrow is pretty full, too, so it will probably be a few days before I can post pics or stories about the parties. But just know that if you were there, we were so glad. And if we weren't, you were most likely missed. ;)

Benjamin and I are going to a Down syndrome seminar tomorrow from 12 to 1. I hope to meet some other parents and show off my little man who is STARTING TO CRAWL ALREADY. His PT is going to be so excited on Thursday!

For those of you on Facebook, I already posted some pictures last night of the finished cake and of Andrew putting together the goody bags. More pictures to come later on the blog and on FB.

Love you all!

Sorry to disappoint...

I don't have a Not Me! Monday post this week. NOT ME! LOL

It has been a busy weekend. I have been battling a cold and an annoying-so-I-have-trouble-sleeping cough for about four or five days. Thankfully, it seems to be going away and no one else got sick.

Andrew's third birthday is Tuesday. *sniff* *sniff* I have been cleaning and planning for his DOUBLE birthday parties that are both on Tuesday. (A small "friend" one during the day at 11 and a family one at 5 in the afternoon.) He is so excited about his Clifford party ("Cwiffode pahty") that he can hardly stand it.

I just can't believe my baby is three.

The other thing that has kept me occupied this weekend is MARCH MADNESS!!! Sigh. I know that college basketball means nothing to most of you, and for some others of you, it is just a time when your soaps and other CBS shows are pre-empted and you get angry.

But for me, it is a wondrous time of year, filled with brackets and close games. Most of them happening late at night, which isn't helping my throat.

I am in two ESPN pools. One is small--only ten of us. I am currently #1. The other one is quite large--187 of us. I am currently tied with one other person for #1. There aren't any games until Thursday. Of this I am glad, because glancing at my brackets, I have some unlikely teams winning the next few games.

I am nervous to say the least.

But for now I am just tired, and so I bid you all goodnight. I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the Clifford party. That will probably be good material for Wordless Wednesday. :)

Anyone hungry?

Here are a couple recipes that were requested! My Crock Pot is *very* efficient (almost too much), so you may have to cook yours longer.

Ham & Potatoes Au Gratin

2 cups of diced extra-lean ham
4 cups of diced raw potatoes
1 cup of chopped onions
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 -10 3/4oz can of Healthy Request Cream of Celery Soup (Or you could use cream of chicken) 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Spray your crock-pot with butter flavored cooking spray.
Combine ham, potatoes and onions.
Sprinkle cheese evenly over top.
In a small bowl, combine soup, pepper, parsley and mustard.
Add soup mixture to potato mixture.
Mix well to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. (Yikes! Mine only took a little over 2 hours on low.)
Mix well before serving.
Makes five 1-cup servings at 3.5 WW pts per serving.

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

Slow cooked shredded chicken with corn, tomatoes and black beans. Prepare the night before and turn your crock pot on in the morning for an easy weeknight meal. Low fat and low in points. Serve over rice with chopped scallions, fresh cilantro, fat free sour cream and reduced fat cheddar.

Servings: 7 servings (1 cup each) Points: 3 ww points per cup

24 oz (1 1/2) lbs chicken breast (In my 2.5 lb bag of frozen chicken breasts, this was three breasts.)
14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies (Rotel)
15 oz can black beans
8 oz frozen corn (I used a 12 oz bag b/c I love corn!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
salt to taste

Combine chicken broth, beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in the crock pot.
Season chicken breast with salt and lay on top.
Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. (I cooked mine on low for 6 hours and then did the next step.)
Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred.
Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.
Adjust salt and seasoning.
Serve over rice (extra pts). (One cup of cooked rice is 4 points.)

(I also added 1/4 cup 2% shredded cheese for 2 points and 2 Tbsp of lowfat sour cream for 1 point, so with one cup of rice, one cup of chicken, cheese, and sour cream, mine was 10 points.)

There you go! Here are some sites I have found to be very helpful. You can also just do a Google search for Weight Watchers recipes.

This site has WW recipes and *lots* of helpful links!!
http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/

Here is the food list with points:
http://quiddity.cc/rachel/diet/wwfoods.htm

Here is a calculator to find the points in a food. All you need is calories, fat, and fiber per serving. (There is a formula to figure out how many points a day you get.)
http://www.webmilhouse.com/pointcalc.php

I would highly encourage anyone who has a little or a lot of weight to lose to give WW a try. I am the least motivated person, but I am very organized and need accountability. I enjoy going to the meetings, not necessarily for the actual meetings (I work on my grocery list, LOL), but for the weekly break from my kids and just for the extra accountability.

Someone mentioned weighing in front of others. No one sees your weight. Not even you! Only the WW team member sees your weight, and she writes it in your notebook. You don't have to share with anyone. But believe me--there will *most* likely be people there who are thinner than you and heavier than you. We're all there for the same purpose. I kind of like going to my meetings because at 32 I feel really young. LOL There are even several men who go to my meeting. They sell the WW stuff there, and it is just a nice weekly time. My mom and I always go out to eat (sensibly) afterwards, and then we do our weekly grocery shopping. I am usually gone from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Thursdays. It's a nice break from two demanding young boys.

One more thing, and then I'll be done. I really like that my meetings are on Thursdays. I would not choose a Monday weekly start for a diet, like most of the population. Weekends are big temptation times, so I'd rather have my weekends at the start of my week, not the very end. If I want a treat like a real Dr. Pepper (only 3 points!), I don't feel bad having one on Friday night as I'm watching nail-biting March Madness basketball games like I did last night, because it's a loooong time until I weigh in again. Just my opinion. :)

Have a great weekend!!!! Feel free to email me with any questions! theamicks77@comcast.net

Weekly Weigh-in

After arriving at our meeting place, we went to the bathroom, where we tried to shed ourselves of every extra weight imaginable. Then it was go-time.

As you might recall, the first week, I lost an impressive 4.8 pounds. Dang those wool socks. I didn't realize they would make such a difference. And I also didn't realize that with every five pounds lost, you get a sticker added to your bookmark and are called to the front for recognition. Dang socks. Surely they were 1/10th of a pound each.

The next week I did just as well in my mind. But it was a bad time of the month. So it sucked more than normal when I got on the scale and had only lost 0.8 pound. I got my bookmark, but still.

Last week included not only my birthday, but a meal with friends where there weren't a whole lot of diet options. I did the best I could that night, but on my b-day, I ate plenty of crab cakes and a little ice cream. Oh, and some tortilla chips from Salsaritas. Yum.

But the rest of the week I did really well. Though I only exercised once b/c of my epic battle with the stairs. (Toes are doing well, by the way, and I should be back on the treadmill by mid-week I'd say.)

So I stepped on the scale in only my pants (same ones each week) and my t-shirt.....

....and I lost 2.2 pounds!!!!!!!!! That's a total so far of 7.8 pounds in three weeks. YAY!!

But now I am nervous. Because if I lose 2.2 pounds again this week, I will get my 10-pound sticker. Oh, the pressure!! And, really, at this stage, it's not an unreasonable goal. Buuuuut Andrew's third (yikes!) birthday is next Tuesday, and no one makes a better cake than yours truly. Oh, Duncan Hines, how I love you.

Oh, by the way, next week will be one month on WW, so Matthew will take more pictures (same outfit, same room, same poses) and measurements. I most likely will not be sharing the pictures (yet), but I will post what the measurement losses are. Not the measurements. Because I might be open, but not that open. The cyberworld isn't ready for my hips in inches. It's just too frightening. :)

I fought the stairs, and the stairs won

So...you were cursing Wordless Wednesday yesterday b/c you wanted to know what in the world happened to my foot, eh? Yeah, see? I told you it's hard to do without words! But some of you found out through Facebook, or email, or that other communication device...what's it called? Oh yeah, the telephone.

Anyway, the story isn't nearly as impressive as the picture. Tuesday, right before Benjamin's morning nap, I figured I'd go ahead and carry the boys' laundry baskets (full of clean, folded clothes) upstairs to sit upstairs instead of downstairs and wait for the Laundry Fairy to put them away. On my way up the 16 wooden stairs, I noticed that Nancy (one of our cats) was playing with a napkin underneath the end table. I stopped and asked Andrew if he would pick it up and put it in the trash. I turned back around and started to go up the stairs. And it was just one of those deals where you can't see your feet and your feet move faster than your brain (or the other way around), and I tripped up a couple of stairs. Well, my toes (strangely my 2nd toe, which, yes, is almost as long as my pinky finger, thank you very much, and my pinky toe seemed to bear the brunt of the force for some reason) came down the wrong way on the edge of the stairs...........and the pain set in......... Oh my goodness. It. Hurt. Oh, also, my arm (the inside of my right arm) came down on the banister, and it hurts worse than my toes.

I was in shocking pain for the better part of five minutes. My whole foot and all my toes were just tingling. I really thought I might throw up on the stairs, and my head was spinning. I had to sit down for a minute or two.

Andrew came to the foot of the stairs and asked me what was wrong. When I told him that I hurt my foot, he immediately started toward me, saying, "Okay, well, let me come and kiss it." What a cutie. (I declined.)

The worst part was that I still had to carry the laundry baskets upstairs, and then I had to go get Benjamin and carry him upstairs to put him down for his nap. Oh. The. Pain.

After a little bit of time (and a lot of desperate "Please help this pain to stop" prayers), the tingling subsided. By bedtime, the bruising was quite impressive, so I was naturally taking pictures of it for my blog. Because that's how I roll.

Many of you have commented that you think the toes are broken. But honestly, they don't really hurt all that much. I am able to touch them and even bend them, and there really isn't that much pain. So either they're fine and just a little bruised or they're going to fall off in the next day or so. Either way there's not much I can do about it now. Except have a good excuse to stay off the treadmill.

Tonight is my third Weight Watchers weigh-in. And despite eating crab cakes and tortilla chips on my birthday last Saturday, I think I will still lose more than the 0.8 pound last week. If not, I can always go back and weigh after my toes fall off. That outta be at least half a pound.

Okay. Here are some pictures.

I'm not really sure about this one. I'm confused and appalled and yet can't stop saying GURL FRENZ. I took this picture of my TV last night on our local cable access station. The name of the show is Gurl Frenz. Say it three times fast. And then you can instantly feel yourself getting smarter because you did not sign off on this stupid show name. I mean, I get it...but it is stupid. There are no such things as Gurls or Frenz. Hence, stupidity.



Just a quick advertisement for my friend Diana, who did not ask me to do this. She recently bought an embroidery machine and is making the cutest things. Check out this monogrammed pacifier clip she made for Benjamin. (Please pardon my horrible cuticles.) If you are interested in purchasing any, go to her blog. This clip sells for $20 at a local boutique, and hers is only $10. (Pacifier not included.)

As predicted, I totally dominated on my birthday when we played Seinfeld Scene It. My brother Justin gave me a run for my money, but I prevailed with my knowledge of mangos (also correct is mangoes, in case you were wondering), the doorman, and the fact that Jeremy Piven and Marcia Cross guest-starred once. (My cousin Philip who is acting crazy in the background gets married in less than two months!)

My three boys right before church on Sunday. B's shoes stayed on all of ten minutes. Why do we put shoes on kids who can't even crawl?

All you moms out there can attest; it is darn near impossible to get a picture of you and two (or more ) kids where you're all looking at the camera, much less smiling.

Since starting WW, I have been cooking more, and it has been healthy. There are a lot of great WW recipes online, and I have finally started to use my slow cooker! Check out this site if you're so inclined: http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com/ (I didn't get all these from that site, so if you want a specific one, email me or leave a comment and I'll try to get it to you. I think I have them all saved in a Word document.)

Turkey Stuffed Peppers (Only I used lean ground beef b/c they were the same points and the same price. Have you seen lean turkey? It looks naaaaasty.)

Ham & Potatoes au Gratin--Yummy. I have made this twice.

Chicken and dumplings--It was a little salty, but that was probably my fault.

Chicken salad

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken--I made this last night and served it over rice (extra points). Matthew had some tortilla chips on the side. It was super good!

That's all for now. I will let you know how the weigh-in goes tonight!! :)