Up on my soapbox

I love sleeping baby pictures. He still looks so little and innocent when he sleeps.
Then there is that grouchy boy look we see quite often.
I love this picture for some reason even though he's doing something weird with his mouth.
Birds of a feather.....
A summer rite of passage--catching lightening bugs. Or fireflies. Whatever.

I have now lost 27 pounds and have either 9 lbs. or 14 lbs. to go depending on where I ultimately set my goal. We shall see. A lot of people have been asking me what I'm doing and if it's hard. Well, here are some thoughts (keeping in mind that I am definitely not an expert!!!)
- Weight Watchers works if you go to the meetings every week and STAY. I don't know why it works, but it does.
- Excercise--and not just going for a walk. Serious, sweaty, heavy-breathing excercise. I'm sure walking works great, but I've got a timeline and I don't think walking is going to get me there in that amount of time.
- Indulge yourself by eating something you love once a week. I let myself eat one meal without worrying about points once each week. This week it was a cheeseburger and fries from Culver's. Last week it was Mexican food. The week before it was a doughnut. If I indulge more than once a week, I work out twice as hard for 2 days.
- Buy high fiber, low fat, low sugar foods. There are so many yummy choices out there that I don't feel deprived at all. Example: This morning I had a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit WW style: WW english muffin, 1 pc. turkey bacon, egg beater, WW cheese. Delicious and only 3 points. At McDonalds, it would be 9 or 11 points and doesn't taste that much different.
-I switched to Diet soda which darn near killed me but now, 3 months later, doesn't bother me a bit. I swore I would never do this. It just doesn't taste the same BUT I refuse to drink my points. I think one of the tricks to switching successfully is to never, never go back to the real stuff. Then you don't know what you are missing.
-I have lots of support from my parents, my sister and my friends.
-Hearing people tell you how good you look is very addictive and inspiring. It means soooooo much to me when people notice that I am trying.
-If I can do it, anyone can. Honestly. I do not have much will power but I haven't needed will power--the system just works!
-It wasn't easy at first but now it is. Sometimes it's easier than others.
-This is a WW theme--healthy eating starts at the grocery store. If you don't buy it and bring it into your home--you can't eat it. Soooo, sooooo true.
-Your kids will eat healthy options if that's all they have.
- So will you.
- A healthy option doesn't just mean carrot sticks. It can be a lower cal, lower sugar version of something like ice cream.
- I do have a timeline and I think that is helping me. I don't have time to mess up.
- I read somewhere that if you do mess up (which we all do at some point) don't wait until "tomorrow" to get back on track, do it with your next bite. Which means, don't take the next bite of "bad" food.
- Be prepared. It's much easier to stay on track if you have the right things to eat. I carry Fiber One bars (OMG they are soooo good) with me so that if I get a hankering for something, I eat that. Otherwise I will end up in the Culver's drive through ordering a double scoop turtle sundae. Seriously.
- Fast food and restaurants are the enemy. Of course they have good options, but it is hard to always make the good choices when you have so many wonderful bad choices in front of you. Unfortunately, eating at home most of the time is more figure friendly for MOST of us.
O.K., it's time to get off my soap box and work out.
By the way, I owe 99% of my weight loss success to my friend Dawn because she is the one who asked me if I wanted to go to Weight Watchers. Without her, I wouldn't have joined and I wouldn't be preaching here today. I can't thank you enough, Dawn!!!

Quicky

Shouldn't summer be relaxing? It sure doesn't seem that way. I feel like all we do is run from one activity to the next.
I did NOT make my WW goal of 25 lbs. lost last week so I'm hoping I will get it this week. I was .3 pounds away last week. Talk about frustrating. I see the light at the end of the tunnel now though. I have been using our eliptical machine 6 days a week since I started WW 3 months ago and I decided I need to try something different. So, I found a workout on "On Demand". Holy cow--it just about killed me. I felt like I was going to throw up when I was done and my legs still ache. I know that's a good thing but I can't make myself do it again. I like my little eliptical!
I know this is a lame post, but I've got a million things to do today, so I'm off!

Meet the Player of the Year

He isn't actually the player of the year--the fake magazine cover is part of the photo package. Love it though!

Picture Time

Tracy got the crazy notion that we should all get our pictures taken for Father's Day. She was getting pics taken with her kids so we jumped in and did the whole gang. Really, considering what an absolute disaster it could have been, it turned out quite well. I'm pleased anyone and I LOVE the one of Parker and Jack. I haven't had their pictures taken together since Jack turned one. Because they were awful that time around. Maybe I can resume getting pictures taken now!

Water Park

Part boy, part monkey.

The boys and I went to Knight's Action Park yesterday (a waterpark) and had a blast. Each time it gets a little easier. They still don't want anything to do with the slides though. I think Parker was entertaining the idea, but couldn't quite get his nerve up. No problem. We spent a lot of time in the lazy river and the wave pool which I enjoy very much. I got cooked and they have some spots on their face that I missed with the sunscreen. Before we went, I had to get a new swimsuit and I actually tried on a bikini! It was a mom bikini (the kind with a little skirty bottom and a supportive top)! But, I didn't have the nerve to get it. Maybe by the end of the summer. Or maybe not. I need to incorporate some ab work into my routine before I'm bikini ready.

As always, Knight's Action Park is a blogger's dream come true. There is soooo much to comment on--good and bad. I will do that when I have more time.

We found out who Parker's teacher will be next year--Mrs. Reynolds. I had the pleasure of getting to know her a little bit this past year when her daughter as at our preschool. She spent the past year on maternity leave and is returning in the fall. When I last talked to her, she was super excited about getting back in the classroom and had tons of wonderful ideas. Her enthusiasm was contagious which made me excited about 1st grade. With that being said, Parker is not in the same classroom as most of his best friends. He knows this and doesn't seem the least bit concerned, so I guess I'm not either. We didn't request a teacher this year, but I tried to nudge the principal in this direction. She's quite perceptive I would have to say. I also trust her to do what she thinks is best for Parker while he is at McGaughey. I think she tries to do that for every child there. The bottom line is that Mrs. Reynolds has a loft in her room and in Parker's eyes, that trumps just about anything else any other teacher could possibly offer. My classroom had a loft in kindergarten and I have to say that it was the bomb. Sooooo much fun!

Weight Watchers last night--lost 1.8 lbs. for a total of 23.8. Sounds good to me. I'm hoping to hit that 25 pound mark next week which would leave those infamous final 10 pounds for me to lose. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..........

It's awfully quiet upstairs--better go check.

a little of this and that

Me and Jack at his program. (And the double chin that shows that I do, indeed, have more weight to lose.)
Jack and the absolutely adorable Bella at the program.
- I admit to being a terrible blogger lately.
- Parker started golf on Monday but was rained out Tuesday and Wedenesday. Thank goodness they got to go today or he might have started walking to the course. He really loves it.
- This weather is NUTS! I'm sick of thunderstorms, rain and tornado warnings.
- We filled our pool today. The boys are still satisfied with a blow-up pool. Maybe next year we will join the surf club.
- I've lost 22 pounds. I have between 13 and 18 to lose. I'm not really sure what my realistic maintainable weight will be. I have a "dream" number, but I'm not really sure it's possible. I haven't weighed that amount for 10 years.
- I really need to make a summer schedule and stick to it. The boys drive me nuts when they aren't structured.
- We got a Wii for Parker for having such an amazing year in school. I really want to brag about what Mrs. Fitzgerald said about him, but I will keep it close to my heart. (And in a scrapbook, of course!)
- The Wii is AWESOME! We all love it. And my arms are sore from boxing. That's a really good video game.
- We signed up for summer reading at the library, but I'm not sure it's possible for us to read 30 minutes a day in the summer. We kind of run and run and run until we drop. When their heads hit the pillow, they are out. LOVE IT! Maybe on rainy days we will catch up on the reading.
- I found "the" dress for my reunion. Actually, Tracy found it and I fell in love with it. So she drug her kids out and found one in my size and then stood their and signed up for a credit card to knock down the obnoxious, out-of-my-budget price for me. She's great, huh. I have said it before--she is a shopping superhero. Always able to find the cutest thing for the best price. I'm not going to tell you about the dress because God forbid someone else show up with something like it! Now for some shoes................
- I found a 3 ft. long snake skin in our backyard. I hope I don't meet it's owner. Yipes...it's growing!