More Summer Fun

Yesterday Grampy took Snacks on the jet ski for the first ride of the summer. Snacks couldn't wait. He told everyone he saw that he was going on the jet ski later in the day, including total strangers.

While they were out on the lake, Sissy and I hung out on the swing in the shade enjoying the nice breeze off the lake.

Then Sissy got her first jet ski ride ever. She loved it and didn't want to get off.

After jumping on the trampoline and riding in the new jeep, we had Grampy's homemade strawberry shortcake for dinner with fresh homemade whipped cream.

Then it was time for Minna's concert at the park.

Sissy is all about her accessories...

even at bedtime.

My Favorite Baby Words

Snacks:

"Punkie Pie" (pumpkin pie)
"Pankies" (pancakes)

Sissy:

"oh-ee" (horsie)
"ig-l, ig-l" (tickle, tickle)

Every day I am amazed

at the differences between my two children.

Today (and many other days) I am thankful that Sissy LOVES taking naps. So much so that when she realized she wasn't going to get one yesterday, she took a pillow off the couch, got one of her bears and a blanket and made her own bed on the floor (thankfully, she was distracted by the tassels on the blanket and never fell asleep--it was too late in the day for napping!).

Naps were a HUGE issue for Snacks. I used to have to take him on "nap rides" every day. He rarely napped at home no matter how much begging, pleading, or screaming I did, and I NEEDED A BREAK! I would sit for as long as 90 minutes in the car with a book or a list of phone calls to make, just to get some time for myself while he slept in the car seat (an enormous contribution to global warming, I know...).

In contrast, I just lay Sissy down in her "pretty bed," say, "Baby go night-night," and I don't hear from her for hours. No kidding.

I earned this girl.

Making the Most of Summer

Today was a great day.

First we went to the new wading pool near the falls.


Then we played on the new playground.


After nap and lunch we walked to one of our neighborhood DQ's.


It started to rain just after we finished eating our ice cream. Mommy and Daddy stood under an overhang to stay dry, but Snacks and Sissy didn't think that looked very fun, so they stayed out in the rain.


And since they were already wet, they splashed in puddles all the way home.


And then decided to run through the sprinkler when they got there.

This is where you can find

Daddy and Sissy almost every morning right after we all get up.

The official start of summer

was opening day at Grandma Ruth's pool earlier this month.

Some of our best summer memories

are made at Grampy's house.

One of the very best things about summer

is the home-grown stuff we get to eat. This week we were invited to pick our neighbors' strawberries while they are gone.

We've been eating them plain, fresh and still warm from the sun, and dipped in homemade whipped cream 'til our bellies were full.

We've always kind of thought

that Snacks will probably grow up to be an architect or engineer of some kind. He LOVES to draw detailed maps and architectural plans for race tracks or the new garage with all kinds of underground rooms and tunnels. He prefers to draw with a pen so he can get the fine detail, and then he'll add color with crayons afterward.

He also likes to build things. In addition to furniture and wooden trains he designed himself, he loves to build houses and apartments and cities like this:

But recently I've been piecing together things I've noticed him doing things like this:


and this:

and this:

And now I'm thinking...

I hope he'll be able to get me front row seats for Fashion Week.

If you believe all the country songs,

then it will be just a blink of an eye

before they're doing this on her wedding day.

My Glass

I have been feeling very down on myself for the last few days.

Instead of concentrating on the many things that I have been doing really well, I have been focusing on the one thing that I have not been doing well (granted, it is one REALLY BIG THING as far as my weight loss goes...).

Tonight I've been trying to work myself out of my Glass Half Empty mode and think through all the HUGE things that I've changed that have stuck and made a huge difference in the quality of my life.

So tonight my glass is half FULL:

I have not had pop for MONTHS--I used to have 3-5 a day.

I RARELY have big sugar binges--I used to have them every day.

I rarely eat sugar at all--I used to eat MOSTLY sugar and little else.

I used to eat fast food every day (sometimes more than once)--I have cut down to anywhere from zero to 3-4 times a week (this is my One Big Thing).

I spend a lot of time at home--I used to hate being at home at all.

The kids and I walk to a park almost every day--I RARELY did that before, even when Snacks would beg.

I go to Target only once a month--we used to go almost every day.

I spend significantly less money since we are not going to Target and running around all the time (and I'm not buying all that pop and sugar).

I have been baking and even EXPERIMENTING (previously unheard of for me) with recipes.

I have turned my evenings into a relaxing time for ME to do whatever I feel like doing, instead of racing around trying to get my To Do List done (and things are still getting done!).

The house is clean and organized, the beds are made daily, the toilet is scrubbed, the refrigerator is stocked, and the lawn is mowed every week.

The laundry is always folded and put away.

The bills are paid and the checking account is "in the black."

I have read several books in the last couple of weeks--it used to take me MONTHS to read one.

I have spent an ENORMOUS amount of time writing.

I am doing things to "stretch" myself outside of my comfort zone to help further my writing career, even though those things make me feel scared and uncomfortable.

I am yelling at my kids about 75% less than I used to.

I can much more easily let Stupid Shit my husband says and does roll off my back.

I relax A LOT more.

I love my life.

For Father's Day

we took a bike ride over by the river and ended up (not surprisingly) at a nearby bakery.

Since I'm not handy in the workshop so I couldn't help Snacks make Daddy something out of wood for Father's Day, like the drink table that Snacks made for me for Mother's Day (which I use every night when I'm reading or working after he goes to bed)...


I offered to help Snacks make a tie out of pom poms and googly eyeballs.

But Daddy passed up that idea, opting for the family bike ride and donuts instead.

Snacks is Terrified of Thunder

On this particular night he woke up and joined us in the living room until the storm was over.

What you can't see is that his hands are firmly clamped over his ears. Nothing--and I mean NOTHING--will get him to remove his hands from his ears until he is 100% certain that there won't be any more thunder.

He won't budge them even when his arms ache because he's been holding them up to his ears for so long.

He won't even budge them when he has to pee really bad and has to resort to crying and begging his mom to put the toilet seat up for him and pull his pajama pants off and then back on again.

Snacks is supposed to be

taking care of the neighbors' caterpillars while they are gone for a week-and-a-half. He is supposed to give them a fresh oak leaf or two each day and sprinkle a few drops of water in the container if it hasn't rained for awhile.

The first day, Snacks went over and checked on the caterpillars at least five times. The second day, he went over several times--took his dad over and his Aunty Em over to show them his charges.

The third day he went over once, decided that the caterpillars needed A WHOLE BUNCH of oak leaves instead of just one or two, and stuffed the cage full, leaving the lid off after he left (which I later discovered and replaced).

Since then, I have been going over and taking care of the caterpillars. This is not at all surprising to me (the part where he is NOT taking care of them more than that I AM taking care of caterpillars).

Tonight when I went out to put our umbrella down, I remembered the caterpillars and went over to give them a fresh leaf. There is still the one in the cocoon, and I finally saw an actual caterpillar (I've been feeling pretty confident that they had all either escaped or died).

He was so beautiful--turquoise and black with a gray whiskery skirt. So sad to be trapped in a hot, plastic cage (even if he was a "bad" caterpillar).

I dumped him out.

And then covered my tracks.

Wednesday Check-In

I am down 1/2 pound this week.

I had much higher hopes, but I fell back into some bad habits this week.

For instance, we didn't eat any vegetables. Not any of us. Our vegetables sat and shriveled all week. In one week we went from eating tons of vegetables to no vegetables at all. We ate some fruit, but mostly we just drank smoothies and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs without the yokes. And since Sunday we've been eating the neighbor's strawberries--tons of them.

I kept not doing anything I didn't feel like to the best of my ability this week. Unfortunately, that included not eating vegetables and not journaling my food as well as I have been for weeks. So it wasn't surprising that I ate a bunch of sugar this afternoon, which I haven't done for 3-4 weeks, I think. I felt disoriented and "fuzzy" and my arms and hands and knees were shaky for hours afterward. It was a good reminder that I need to get back to journaling faithfully if I want to stay on track. And I really want to stay on track. When I'm not on track I eat McDonald's a lot and spend a lot of money that we don't have.

I'm back on track as of dinner tonight.

We were back to our regular schedule of swimming and gymnastics and nature center programs and playdates this last week. That was hard for me. I had become so at peace with staying home and walking to parks and hanging out in the yard all afternoon and not driving the car for days.

I need to figure out how to get a balance between doing nothing and doing lots of things so I can stop using the imbalance as a "reason" to go to the drive-thru, even when I've packed my lunch and brought it along. I'm not sure how to do that yet... I'll start with going back to committing to journal my food every day for every meal as it happens--instead of trying to remember everything at the end of the day.

I ran when I wanted to and finished a great book and did a lot of writing this week. All of those things felt really good. This week I'll do more of those things and fewer of the things that sabotage what I really want.

Sissy Greets Her Dad

at the back door when he comes home from work almost every night. Tonight was the first night she yelled, "Daddy!" when she saw him.

Wednesday Check-In

I am down two pounds this week.

Down 38 pounds; 43 pounds to goal.

I am feeling so much more at peace these days. There is so much less yelling and so much more sitting in the back yard enjoying the weather. We are driving very little and spending a lot less money. I am no longer stressed out and preoccupied with trying to figure out how to get my sugar fix(es) worked into each day.

This week I concentrated on just doing the things I wanted to do.

I wanted to journal my food because it helps me see where I got off track and where I felt bad so I don't have to (hopefully) make the same mistake next time.

I love to run so I ran when I felt like it because it felt good. No stopwatch, no intervals, no restrictions or goals; just me and my music (and no cell phone).

I wanted to "sleep in" (5:50 vs. 5:20, thanks to the kids) and do my mourning routine in a leisurely fashion; then stay home or walk to a park where the kids could play all morning.

I wanted to read or write in the evenings instead of racing around and checking things off my list of Things I Should Get Done, like my strength training DVD and yoga and laundry. I stayed up late reading or writing because I wanted to and didn't feel anxious or guilty about it.

I changed some things up this week that weren't working for me (besides doing what I felt like doing instead of my "shoulds"). I walked the dog separate from the kids every day, which is much more enjoyable for all of us, and he gets walked more consistently. I also changed my laundry pattern so that I am washing/drying at night and folding and putting away in the morning, instead of vice versa.

I finished a book this week that has totally turned my world upside down. Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes. I heard him speak on MPR several weeks ago and got the book from the library. Taubes is a science writer and what he had to say dovetailed beautifully with what I am already doing--both in nutrition and exercise. I loved the book, although it was a tough read since it is mostly discussion about research.

Life here is good.

Obviously Snacks Hasn't Been Paying Attention the Last Five Years

"Mom, don't you have any patience?"

Wednesday Check-In

I am down 1 pound this week.

Still 1/2 pound above where I was before I went north for Memorial Day weekend, but I'll take it. This week I was concentrating not on how much I was eating, but that I was sticking to my food plan and journaling so I could get back on track.

I've had an epiphany in the last week. I read somewhere (can't even remember where) a quote from a woman who had lost weight who said she decided not to do anything to lose weight that she couldn't see herself doing for the rest of her life. Um, duh! So common sense, yet something that has been a major stumbling block for me in the past 18+ months.

When I lost my initial 60 pounds in '06-'07, I realize now it was primarily because I was breastfeeding and baby-wearing. I never had to change my eating habits because I got a gazillion POINTS since I was nursing. I was running and gave that a lot of credit for my easy weight loss, but I'm running now and the weight has not been dropping like crazy like it was back then.

Obviously breastfeeding and baby-wearing were not things I was going to continue for the rest of my life and, sure enough, when Sissy wasn't nursing as her primary source of sustenance anymore, I started gaining that weight back right away.

I have been looking long and hard at the things I have been doing recently and asking myself if I can see myself doing them for the rest of my life. Counting POINTS and working out every day? Hell no. But I can see myself following my food plan--albeit not perfectly--for the rest of my life because it makes sense to me and for me, and it makes me feel a lot better physically and emotionally. I feel much more in control of my whole life, not just my food.

I've also been suffering from a little bit of burn-out on my usual routines, so I've been taking a look at what I have been Making Myself Do (or at least telling myself that I Should Do)--like yoga EVERY day, journaling, walking the dog and the kids at the same time--and trying to change things up; asking myself, If I could do whatever I want to right now, what would it be? And then trying to do it (keeping in mind that I'm home with two little kids 24/7, of course). I figure, I'm really fortunate, I get to be home and have total control over my own schedule, why the hell wouldn't I take advantage of that, instead of feeling guilty about it?

What an interesting journey...

On This Cool, Gloomy Day...

I am wishing for the sun--well spring, actually, because we haven't had much of one this year.

I have been looking through pictures and was reminded of a couple of nice days that we have had. Here is planting day with Minna at our house:





And here is a picture of Minna, Grandpa Alan, & Snacks on their way to the Scottish Fair (on a perfect spring day) last month:


Snacks LOVES the Scottish Fair and begs to go with them every year, and, of course, they love to take him.

Sissy's Words at 21 Months

Yeah ("yee-aaa")
No
Why?
dog ("gawga")
Mommy or Mom (which usually means "I want _____")
ow (usually "ooooowwww")
Hey!
Hi
Bye


A few times we've heard her say "more" and "daddy", but these are rare and not consistent, so I'm not counting them just yet.

She signs "milk", "more", "help" and "please".

I Had Really Good Hair Today...

until a bird pooped in it.

At 8:05 a.m.

Swimmin' with Snacks

Snacks doesn't like to get his face wet. Not in the tub, not in the shower, and DEFINITELY not in any large body of water.

Unfortunately for Snacks, his grandma has a pool, his grampy lives on the lake, and both his parents grew up on the water...so learning how to swim (and therefore getting his face wet) is non-negotiable.

Snacks is currently enrolled in swimming lessons where, we've assured him, he will be for the rest of his life, or until he can swim the length of his grandma's pool under water, whichever comes first.

Every week between lessons he has to practice blowing bubbles in a dish pan at home.

(Self-portrait taken after one of his practice sessions.)