Ups and Downs with a Friend in Town

This week has been a challenge in my weight loss journey in that one of my husband's (and my!) best friends from Spokane has been in town for a visit. And we have eaten out. Every. Single. Day. The good news is that we are having a blast, and have explored some new restaurants in addition to some of our all-time faves. It's kind of cool, but I wish the food was calorie free so I could just eat and eat and eat. It's all been so good!

Karl came into Dallas on Monday, and the boys ended up going to Fuzzy's Taco. This is one of the best taco places in Dallas, in my opinion! They put cilantro and feta on their tacos and they are just plain crazy delicious. Fuzzy's also serves alcohol and is home to a Blue Moon Margarita (they take a regular ole margarita and then float a bottle of Blue Moon beer on the top). That's pretty much one of my favorite ways to drink a margarita. For supper on Monday, we had some which wich? Which is good. See what I did there? ha! I think we're becoming which wich? addicts. We've eaten there 3 times in the last two weeks.

Tuesday, I got up early and went to the track to meet some of the ladies from my running group for a tempo run. This was really my first "real" tempo run. In other words - the first that I knew what I was doing. Let me just tell you...I tore that track UP! My normal pace is somewhere between an 11 - 12 minute mile. For this tempo run, I did one lap around the track (1/4 mile or a "400" as fancy runners call it) at an average warm up pace. Then I started doing 800's. I did two laps at a 9:30 pace with two cool down/recovery laps at a 10:30 pace. Then I repeated that. Then I walked a lap with the ladies and then I slow jogged a few more laps for a total of 3 miles. I am so surprised and astounded that I kept my pace up. I've never run anything at a sub 10 pace. As I've said before, I'm slow. And this was really fast. And it was awesome! Our group has decided to now do tempo runs every other week (and do hill intervals the opposite week) to help build up speed. I'm completely down with that and hope it ends up with me being able to run a little faster.

After that I went home and we went to the pool for some fun swimming time. It was still early in the day so the pool water was a little brisk, but we all had fun and it tired out the kids. Piper came home and took a long nap. Danny as usual refused to nap. For supper we decided to try a new place one of my McKinney friends suggested: Whiskey Cake. Oh.My.God. This place was fantastic!! As the name suggests, they have whiskey. And scotch. And tequila?? Our waiter suggested that we start our meal with a "Texas Appetizer" - which is a shot of tequila. Karl and I obliged and greatly enjoyed it. Even though I'm not a huge tequila fan. We also had some food appetizers: fried green tomatoes and a meat and cheese plate. The fried green tomatoes were out of this world good. They had a nice thick batter and were fried to perfection. The sauce they were served with was also killer. The meat and cheese tray had a few different slices of meats/sausages and then 4 different kinds of cheese, a small loaf of crusty bread, some apple slices, and a slice of cantaloupe. The adults went to town on that, but really, it was Danny that surprised me by eating as much of the meat and cheese tray as he could get his hands on. He is his father's son! For supper we all ended up ordering the same thing (Derek felt silly doing this, so he changed his order and got a turkey burger). I got the BBQ Banh Mi. And I didn't think this meal could get any better than the appetizers! This sandwich was moist and spicy and everything I wanted. It was perfect. I had intended to only eat half of it, but by this point I had drank three more drinks (a Peach Pit and two Great Escapes) and when I drink I tend to eat more. So I finished it off. And then ordered cake :) The cake was good too - moist and with a crusty toffee layer. Luckily for my diet, we got one slice of cake and split it three ways. And then we rolled out of there (literally) and went on home. Oh, and did I mention that Derek and Karl both got glasses of scotch. That were $25 a glass?? It tasted like turpentine to me, but they choked it back and pretended to like it.

I was supposed to get up Wednesday morning and do hill intervals, but after a total of 4 drinks (followed up by a beer once we got home and played Castle Panic), I decided against it. Sweating out whiskey was not something I was up for! Instead I got up and determined that I would not blow my diet since my weight increased nearly two pounds from Tuesday to Wednesday. Yikes! So, I ate a small breakfast and then when we went to Torchy's Tacos for lunch, I made sure to mind what I was eating. I calculated points and everything. I was on fire! Actually it was my mouth that was on fire from their Diablo Sauce. I love that sauce!!

After that I did some work. And then we did some house decorating. And then I went to target and bought things to redo Piper's room. I'll post some pictures soon once I get it all done. But it's super cute (and she loves it!). Following my Target trip, I went to my running group and did 5 miles in 96* heat. Oh Lord it was hot! I drank over 100 ounces of water on my run. And that was just during my run - I'd had probably another 100 ounces earlier in the day. I came home to find the boys had ordered some Papa John's pizza. But I wasn't really hungry. I think the heat had gotten to me. I ate one piece just to have something in my stomach, but wasn't inclined to eat more. And then this morning when I woke up, I had lost my 2 pounds that I gained Tuesday night.

We're going out again tonight - sans kids - so I'm sure we'll have some drinks and yummy food. I'm planning on trying to get in a run this afternoon before we go so that I can work off some of the calories I plan on taking in. I want to be able to enjoy my time with Karl and eat out and have fun, but I also really want to lose or at least maintain my weight. So this week might have ups and downs for my weight. I decided that I would relax my eating habits two nights during the trip (Tuesday and again tonight) and then watch what I'm eating the other 5 days. And to just make sure I'm still running and getting those calories burned off as much as I can.

26.2, 26.2: I'm Dreaming of You!

I feel like lately all of my thoughts have been consumed with three little numbers (and one decimal point): 26.2.

One of the ladies in my running group is planning on doing her first marathon on October 7, the Tyler Rose Marathon in Tyler, TX. I have had my marathon training plan taped to my fridge for (no joke!) 8 months now. I have looked it over and over and over; psyching myself up for this monumental race. When the Tyler Rose Marathon came up during a run, I came home and looked over my training plan. And guess what? I have just enough time to train for this race. Like exactly enough time. I had planned on the New Year's Double (full marathon on New Year's Eve followed by a 5k on New Year's Day) being my first full marathon. But for the past week, I have been really considering the Tyler Rose Marathon as my first. I feel nervous, excited, and a little bit scared. Can I really do this?? And if I can do it, should I do it when I have already signed up for the New Year's Double? Two marathons in the span of three months. Is that crazy??

My final decision has been to wait to sign up for the race until closer to race day. Then I'll be able to see where my training has led me and if doing the full mary is really something I am capable of doing in October. I have also been considering a trip to Nashville to see my side of the family and a trip to Maryland to see Derek's mom's side of the family (who have never met our kids!) sometime in the fall, so I'm not sure how those two events will fit in with a long distance running training plan. I really don't have much wiggle room (okay, so NONE to be exact) in my training plan so I would either need to take the trips after October 7 or just make sure I am running during the trips. Oh running, who knew I would love you so much and that you would take over my life the way that you have??

The number 26.2 is also in my thoughts in regard to weightloss. About 3 weeks ago, I joined the Run With Jess Marathon Weight Loss Challenge (the challenge is officially closed to new members; yes, I'm a bad blogger and didn't post it to my blog for all of you to see and sign up for!). The challenge is basically a group weight loss effort to lose the equivalent of a full marathon (ie, lose 26.2 pounds) during a 13 week time frame. For sending in your weekly weight, you are eligible for prizes. I started this the week before our San Antonio vacation. I lost the first week, then gained during vacation, and then lost last week so I'm down 2.6 pounds total for the three weeks we have been doing the challenge. If I actually reach the goal of losing a marathon, I will be at the weight I was before I got preggers with Miss Piper. Even if I lost a half marathon (13.1 pounds), I would be ecstatic. For that matter, any weight I lose makes me happy. 

I'm doing weight watchers (on my own  - not going to meetings so that I can save money. I'm technically still a Lifetime Member, so I just need to get back to a weight within two pounds of my goal weight - 159 - so that I can go back to meetings for free) to eat healthy and have been setting weekly mini goals for myself (drink x amount of water, eat 5 servings of fruit and veggies a day, positive self talk, etc) to challenge myself a little more. I know weight watchers works (I lost 60 pounds with it back in 2005 and kept it off for about a year before work and grad school got the best of me and I stopped going to weight watchers meetings). I just need to follow it so that I can lose. The Marathon Challenge time frame is tight though, so I'm not sure if I'll actually lose 26.2 pounds. 15 - 20 sounds more reasonable to me. Still....26.2 would be nice!

So I've been thinking of 26.2 constantly and eating right and exercising and basically telling myself that there is no room for error in this one. I need to be - and stay - strong. Through family and friend visits. Through moms night's out. Through play dates. Through rain, heat, humidity, and any other weather related challenges Texas throws my way. Through my own self-doubt. I've said it before, but running - and weight loss - is primarily a mental game. I just need to push through the next 10 weeks...and then I can start training for the New Year's Double :) 

Update on the Reset

I am so proud of myself! While I haven't hit the 160's yet, they are RIGHT around the corner. This morning I weighed in at 172.0 - which is huge because it was the Monday after a holiday weekend and a Mom visit. Family visits (which we have a lot of here recently) and holidays are super hard for me to lose/maintain weight. There are just so many treats around and so much going out to eat. But all this weekend, I just told myself that if I really want to see the 160's then I have to realize that family visits and holidays are going to happen and that I can't let them stand in my way. So I didn't. We even ate out and I stayed right on track. Go me!

I've also been drinking water like crazy. Like 90 - 120 ounces a day. I had been drinking about 40 ounces of water a day and about 48 - 60 ounces a day of pop. It was diet pop, but still, not all that great for you. I'm hoping the increase in water is helping me flush all the junk out of my body and filling me up so I'm not just mindlessly snacking.

I kept pretty busy this weekend too. I ran 10 miles on Saturday (in 2hours, 10 minutes!) and then did the Run Like a Mother 5k on Sunday with my Mom (race recap coming soon). It felt good to run so much and keep my legs moving. Today, I'm taking a rest day - which is good because I have a major headache. These weather changes we are having here in Texas are killing my sinuses!

I joined a running group this weekend too. It's a meetup group that meets on Saturday mornings in Plano and does their long runs together. I'm going to my first one this Saturday and I'm hoping that they can help motivate me to run a faster pace. I really want to run my marathon in 5 hours or less. That just means I have a lot of work to do between now and December. My last half marathon was done in 2:53 minutes - and my half in two weeks (from today - eek!) I'm hoping to do closer to 2:45. I'm contemplating signing up for the Hottest Half in August - but I'll probably take that one slow because of the heat. It will definitely be a challenging run!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

I've been getting some gnarly charlie horses in my right calf. Like BAD. Like when I was pregnant bad. And don't worry, I'm not preggers. If that happened, I would start to think God had something against me haha. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out why for the last week or so I've been getting these charlie horses/leg cramps. And my only conclusion? Not enough water. The past three days, I made it until about 3pm and realized I hadn't drank anything other than my morning coffee. Yikes! So, today, I'm going to pile on my water and see if it changes. I think part of the problem is that I'm not a real big fan of Texas water. It tastes like it has dirt or clay in it to me. I miss the Spokane Aquifer! When I drink water here, I put a Crystal Light on-the-go thing in my water and right now I'm out of them. Ergo, I cannot drink water. I *do* have a whole case of bottled water in my laundry room, but let's not talk about that now :) I have been drinking obscene amounts of Cherry Coke Zero in the evenings too, so that might have something to do with my leg cramps, but I would prefer to leave the glorious Cherry Coke Zero out of this.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm back down to where I was before I ate massive amounts of food at Chuy's. Woo-hoo! I was looking back through my food journal (I write down everything I eat) this morning and noticed that I"ll have about 4-5 weeks of good eating followed by 1-2 weeks of BAD eating where I just about blow all the work I'd done in the last month. My new eating goal is to try to not have those two weeks of  bad eating and really buckle down. If I'm ever going to make it to my goal, then I have to eat better. Exercise only gets you so far. I can workout for hours, but if I follow it up with three hot dogs or a whole medium pizza, I kind of just wasted all my hours on working out. I have to put good things in my body!

I've been reading "Born to Run." It's a very interesting book and I'm loving the information on ultrarunning and discovering how our bodies really were made to cover long distances and to run. Right now I'm at a part where the author is getting some nutritional advice. He was told to try salad for breakfast. My first thought was a breakfast salad??? Eww! But really, I'm not a huge breakfast foods person (my sister can attest to me cooking asparagus for breakfast as a kid!), and salads are yummy...I think my next thought was how much work it would be to make a big salad every morning. All that chopping! But the more and more I think about it, how nice would salad be in the morning?? Maybe I should just prepare a big weekly salad on Sunday and eat it all week. I did that years ago when I lost all my weight, and it helped me get my veggies in for the day. Why not do it again, and just eat it for breakfast?

So now my mission for today is to go shopping: buy some Crystal Light so I can drink gobs of water, and get some salad fixings. Oh and my Dad and Grandma come tomorrow(!) so I better get them some food and do some meal planning for their trip too. And my indoor triathlon is Sunday! I'm so excited :) And a little nervous. Mostly about the swimming part. Can you doggie paddle in a triathlon without getting laughed at?? I'll have an answer for you on Sunday.

It's a Celebration

Yesterday my Mom's group met up at Celebration Park where my marathon (in December) is going to be. That is an awesome park and I'm totally stoked that my first ever marathon will be there. Hopefully there will be kids playing on the playground on the marathon day to keep my mind off of the fact that I'm running 26.2 miles! Yesterday, we just let the kids play on the playground and talked whenever our kids were playing near each other. The playground there is pretty amazing. It was a huge play structure with multiple areas that all different age groups could play on. Of course, Piper wanted to chase her brother and try to go down the super tall spiral slides just like Danny. And of course, I was officially the meanest mom ever and didn't let her go down them (she's just so *little*). Danny did pretty good too. He has this nasty habit of seeing open fields (soccer fields in the case of Celebration Park) and wanting to just run the length of them - without me knowing about it. He really only made one or two attempts to run off, so I was happy for that.

I had totally planned on going for a walk around the park after the kids played. BUT, it was 6pm, and the kids were completely red faced and downed the juice I brought for them in about 4.2 seconds and started asking for more (guess I should start bringing juice AND water as it gets hotter out). So, I packed up the kids and convinced my sister that we really, really needed some Mexican food. I had been so excited to move to Texas because of the food: BBQ, brisket, Mexican deliciousness, sweet tea....Really, though, we haven't had too much of those things since we've moved here. Something about being on a budget and not being able to eat out as often as we did back in Spokane *sigh* Anyway, we swung by her place and picked her up and went to a place called Chuy's. I ended up getting the Boom Boom Chicken and a Texas Martini (complete with olives stuffed with jalepenos). It was spicy and oh so delicious!!

We made a pit stop at my sister's and played with her dog (my kids are nuts about dogs) and then headed home. Piper asked to go to bed as soon as we got home, but Danny, of course, wanted to play. If I had just one ounce of that kids energy.....! I ended up putting them to bed and then crawled into bed at 10pm. I was so exhausted!

Today has been a day busy cleaning. We've had pretty much non-stop guests for the last two weeks, and my Dad and Grandma are coming into town for a visit on Saturday. I have cleaned for every person as they get into town (vacuuming, washing sheets, picking up kitchen, etc), but my house is still getting messier and messier and messier. I think every grandparent has brought a suitcase full of toys and treats for the kids, and then we had Easter too. Plus I worked a lot last week. Long story short, despite all my best efforts, my house is trashed and has toys everywhere. I vacuumed the whole house, and washed everyone's sheets, and did all the dishes like normal, but today I went a step farther and cleaned out my fridge and freezer, did some meal planning, *folded and put away* all the laundry I've washed and put into laundry baskets the last two weeks, and even washed the kids' lovies. I'm going to tackle the kids' toys in a little bit. They are out of control!

And my weight watchers has not been going that great. My supper last night was beyond delicious, but when you add in the points that I already had eaten for the day, I ate approximately 91 points. In one day. Yikes! Today, I have done SO much better and am not going over my allotted points, but it's just a little dissapointing to know that I screwed up so royally. Oh well, the past is the past for a reason. You can't change it; just learn from it and move on. Luckily, as I cleaned out my fridge and freezer and cupboards, I discovered quite a bit of fresh fruit and vegetables that need to be eaten before they go bad. So I am planning my meals around those items. And I found a whole loaf of cinnamon brown sugar swirl bread. It is the best!! Especially when you toast it and put a 1/2 tablespoon of peanut butter on it. Man! Totally worth it and reasonably low-point and satisfies a sweet tooth as well :)

Monday Weigh In

I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, totally expecting to see a loss. Even a little loss. I hadn't been eating very good at all. But I ran a half marathon the day before my weigh in, so I figured it would all even out. I thought at least I would lose 1 pound. Well, I guess the good news is, I didn't gain! I lost .4 pounds. The week before, I had gained .6 pounds, so I'm almost back to where I started. I'm at 172.2 right now, and I really wanted to be at 169.8 by my birthday on Saturday. I'm realizing that this is not really an attainable goal right now. I just don't know if can happen. I am re-committing to losing weight, however. Losing weight to me is important for a number of reasons.
1 - To be healthier.
2 - To not have to haul as much junk in my trunk across the finish line at races. Even a 5 pound weight loss makes a difference to my knees, I'm sure!
3 - To feel good about how I look. I would love to say that I'm almost 30 and that my weight doesn't affect my happiness, but it does. I feel like a failure when I gain and it makes me depressed. I'm just tired of being overweight. When I lose weight and am at a maintenance weight, I feel good. I love being able to fit into my clothes. I realize I'm always going to have a little bit of a muffin top, but that goes down when I lose weight.
4 - As a person with a degree in health education, I feel that I *should* be at a healthy weight. I know the benefits. I know the why's and the how-to's. I want to be a role model; modeling being healthy in all of it's many facets.
5 - I want my children to understand what healthy is, and what a healthy weight is. Obesity runs in my family's genes. I want them to know that being healthy is something that you have to work at and balance the good and the bad in life to be healthy. I want them to be proud of themselves, confident in themselves, and to not have to struggle like I did. By choosing to stock my pantry with healthy foods, and modeling healthy behaviors to them, they will pick up on that and eat healthily and hopefully follow in my healthy footsteps.
6 - I would love, love, love to be a size 6. Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a size 6. When I lost 60 pounds back in 2004, I made it to a size 8. But I wasn't really exercising at all. If I keep exercising while eating healthily, I think I can make it to my size 6. I don't know why a size 6 sounds like the end-all-be-all of sizes, but it does to me. Right now, I'm in a size 12, so I have a ways to go. I will get there....eventually!

I have lots of reasons to lose weight. Lots of reasons why I should believe in myself, that I can do this! It's just so easy to lose sight of why I set out on this journey in the first place. It can be overwhelming when I think that I would like to lose almost 30 pounds still, and have only lost about 5. It seems like I have worked so hard for that 5, that it's just unreal. Next Monday, though, I WILL see a loss. I know it!

What I've been up to....

The last few days I have been feeling L-A-Z-Y. It's been nice, except for the guilt of not doing much of anything. I have a lot to do too. Lots of cleaning to do, lots of preschool stuff to do, and lots of exercise I should be doing.

I decided to rest and take it easy so that my leg could get some healing time in before my race on Sunday. It is working - my leg is feeling quite a bit better. However, I am *itching* to run. Like creepy-crawly's in my legs screaming to RUN!! So, I'm really excited for my race. But I haven't worked out at all. Since like forever ago. Going to the gym is sometimes the only time I leave the house (okay, for the most part, it is the only time I get out of the house), and since I haven't been going, I've been just lounging around the house on the couch. Maybe I've been lounging in my pajamas for most of the day. And maybe, just maybe, I've been lounging on the couch and not showering. Oh yeah - I'm sexxxy and I know it!

And when I don't exercise, it seems my motivation for eating healthy goes out the window. So not only have I not been working out, but I've been eating some pretty (un)healthy portions as well. Like last night, I was craving some pizza and ended up eating an entire medium pizza by myself. Whoops! I've been doing better today, but, MAN! My stomach hurt yesterday from so much pizza. Like my body was reminding me of what a dumb move that was. I really, really want to be in the 160's by 3/31 (my birthday!!), so I'm really going to have to step up my game and eat healthy. Today, when I weighed myself (I always do a mid-week weigh in on Thursdays), I was at 172.4. Which is pretty much where I started the week at. So I guess God is wiping my slate clean and letting me start over. Thanks Big Guy! I needed that!!

Preschool has been going so-so. I've been reading to the kiddos, and we've been eating "bunny snacks," but until today, I've been taking it a bit too easy this week. But, today, I was back at it. Today, my Mom sent me a package of all the printouts from Oopsey Daisy's blog. They are super cute! We played "Magic Eggs" from her "E is for Easter" packet, read books, and then D and I talked about the days of the week. His favorite day of the week is Saturday because Daddy is home on Saturday's. Awwww! He is the sweetest little boy!!

So, what have I been doing if I haven't been running, planning out meals, or teaching little D and P preschool?

• I finished Book 3 of the Game of Thrones series. Wow! There were some scenes where I just wanted to say OMG and tell my husband what was going on. BUT, he's watching the show and not reading the books, and I do not want to spoil those surprises. I seriously am in love with that series. I was reading online book reviews of the next book, though, and it seems like people didn't really like it *sad* So, now I'm looking for another book to read. 
• Catching up on episodes of Walking Dead. Yowzer! That show threw in some curve balls. I mean, Dang! I do think I watch just a few too many zombie/vampire/supernatural type shows. There's True Blood, Being Human, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones...even Once Upon a Time (while not zombies or vampires, there are supernatural elements!). 
• And speaking of vampires, I finally watched the latest installment of the Twilight movies. It was better than what I thought it was going to be, but I'm still not 100% sold on Twilight. Even after reading all of the books, and watching all the movies that are out. RPats is cute and all, but his hair bothers me, and I have a hard time getting over that. 
• Reading blogs and articles on running and injuries and injury prevention. And races. I look at races. 
• I registered for the Patriot Half Marathon on Memorial Day in Rockwall, TX. This will be my first half with rolling hills - hope I do okay on that one. I'm hoping to run the race completely with no stopping for walking. 
• I registered for the New Year's Double at Celebration Park in Allen, TX: a marathon on New Year's Eve and a 5k on New Year's Day. It'll be my first full marathon, and a great way to end my Year of Racing. Woo-hoo! I plan to run (or at least, mostly run) the marathon, and then completely walk the 5k the next day.  I don't know if I'm crazy to do a double, but you get a cool commemorative plate that both of your medals go into. Isn't that cool? Totally worth being sore and not able to move on January 2nd. Right?? 

So, you can, tell, I've been really busy. And I totally have my priorities straight. 

Monday Weigh IN

I did my Monday morning weigh in this morning, and to my surprise, I only gained .6 pounds from last week. The reason I was surprised at so little a gain was because the last two days I have just been eating, eating, eating! Last night KL came over, and we made the best chicken I've had in a while. It was SO delicious! It was Mexican Chicken with Jalepeno Popper Sauce. And that sauce was to die for. I was eating the sauce by the spoonful. I could've licked the bowl it was so good. I do have some leftover sauce, and I'm thinking of using it to make nachos later in the week. I can just imagine how good it'll taste!

After that yummy, yummy supper, we all decided that cake sounded good. So we went to Albertsons and bought a fudge frosted chocolate cake, some brownie bites sprinkled with powdered sugar, and two cartons of ice cream (it was buy one get one FREE and you can't have cake without ice cream. Right??). And home we went for some delicious-ness. I ended up having a few spoonsfuls of ice cream, but two medium/large pieces of cake and about 6 brownie bites. I hadn't counted points pretty much all day, and knew that I was WAY over. Plus, I didn't go to the gym. So that is why I'm surprised at such a small gain. I imagined gaining like 5 pounds.

So, today, is my get back on track day. I'm determined to still be 169 by my birthday, so now I have a little extra to lose before I get there. Depending on when the hubs gets home, I'm going to try and do my 10 mile run tonight. P woke up coughing and hacking and gagging, so I decided to not even take her out to the gym. We're going to have a pajama day and just relax. We're currently watching Dora the Explorer - one of her favorite shows. We've already read her favorite Dora book about 12 times (it's only 5 pages long!), and I have plans to watch her cowgirl Dora DVD later. It's a big Dora day I guess :)

For pre-school today, we are moving on to the theme of Easter, the letter E, and the color Purple. If you haven't already checked out Oopsey Daisy's blog, do it now for some great pre-school activities and lesson plans. Today, we are reading some Easter books (including a Christ-centered Easter story), playing an Easter egg alphabet matching game (wrote capital and small letters on plastic eggs, and D has to try to match up the capital and small letters to make a match), and singing some Easter songs. I'm really excited for Friday because we are watching HOP and eating bunny snacks (my Mom found some jelly belly jelly beans shaped like peas and carrots, I have carrots, a reece's pieces packet shaped in a carrot, and celery).

And my Dad is coming on Saturday! I haven't seen him since my grandfather's funeral 15 months ago. I took P with me to the funeral, and she turned 6 months old while we were there. The last time my Dad saw D was about 19 months ago. My Dad won't even know what to do with these grown up children! My Dad and KL are running the half marathon with me on Sunday, too. He heads back on Monday, and then he is coming down to Dallas in mid-April with my grandma. I can't wait for that visit, because they are coming for a full week. It's amazing how much you can miss your family! I just can't wait to show them how wonderful my kids are, because I gotta say...they are pretty amazing!

Critters and Weight Loss

It is a beautiful day here in Texas - I am so blessed to be living in a state with warm weather in early March! Right now, at 2:30pm, at my house it is 73*F. In my hometown of Spokane, WA, it is only 42*F. I love being able to go out and play in the sunshine, and the kids really love it. I love it when they come inside after playing and they just *smell* like sunshine. I'm sure it is only a combination of sunscreen and sweat, but it just reminds me of summer and it makes my heart happy. It is very different than Spokane, where I have seen it snow into June! I guess the only thing I am not liking about the warm weather is the abundance of "critters" that have sprung up recently. Right now my house is plagued by two critters that I could really do without. One is a crane fly, and the other ants.

A crane fly (that's the technical term, I've always called them Skeeter Eaters) look like a Daddy Long Legs with wings. Can you say CREEPY??? I've only had one inside the house, but they cling to my car and flutter around in my garage and outside, they are everywhere. And they fly like they are drunk - bumping into everything and everyone. D is a little terrified of them and yells outs, "Squish it Mom!" when they get too close. Oh, and they don't even EAT mosquitoes so I don't know why they are called Skeeter Eaters...

My other bug nemesis right now is the ant. At least I am plagued with black ants rather than red ants. Anyone ever been bit by one of those things? Ouch!! Since moving into our rental house in late November, I've found ants in the guest bathroom (don't really know why they are visiting that particular room - nothing in there!), my bedroom (had one ON my bed. Barf!), and in the kitchen. In the kitchen, they want to crawl into my recycling bin...which makes me want to stop recycling immediately! I think the better course of action is to just buy a small trash can with a lid to use as my recycling bin, but I hate bugs, and the *thought* of them in my kitchen is just too disgusting for words. Every couple of hours I bleach the crud out of the floor near the recycling can and the window, which is where I am thinking they must be getting in. I've always heard that ants secrete an enzyme that helps them find their way to and from food sources, so I'm hoping the bleach wipes it all out. Ick!

In other, happier, less creepy-crawly, news, I just completed week 3 on weight watchers. I weighed in today and have lost 5.8 pounds total in the three weeks! At the gym on Saturday, I measured my body fat percentage, and had lost 1.5% body fat. Woo-hoo! Go me :) It may not sound like much, but losing body fat is really hard to do, so I am quite pleased with losing that high of a percentage over only a month's time. I have also lost 3.5 inches in the last month from around various parts of my body (measuring arm/bicep, thigh, waist, chest, hips, and calf). I am really trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and body fat %. After I had D, I lost 60 pounds (40 pregnancy pounds, plus 20 additional pounds), and reduced my body fat % by quite a bit. I was at my personal best when I found I was pregnant with P.

I found out I was pregnant with P when I tried to get birth control, and lo and behold, I was already pregnant (breastfeeding is not birth control!). I had some bleeding early on, so my doctor ordered an ultrasound. I had my ultrasound on Halloween 2009, and the following Monday, my doctor called to tell me that it appeared that I was losing the baby. On the ultrasound, they could see an embryonic sac, but they saw no fetal pole or heartbeat. I was told to prepare for the worst, and that it looked like I had a blighted ovum and not a true pregnancy. I remember bursting into tears, and I was driving, and it was just awful. I had to work that night, and I had never been SO glad that no one showed up to one of my events. I was beside myself. Mostly because the husband and I had been so surprised by the news that I was pregnant, and the shock that I had conceived when my son was only 9 months old, that I had some deep regret that I was pregnant. And now, it looked like I was losing my baby, and I wondered if I was being punished for not loving this gift immediately. After blood work to show that my numbers were doubling, and two more ultrasounds, we finally saw a fetal pole and a heartbeat. I cried and felt like a fierce momma bear - wanting to protect my little cub in any way I could. I still do - I always am trying to make sure P knows just how loved she is. Unplanned is NOT unloved!!

During that 3-4 weeks of ultrasounds and the unknown, though, I gained about 15 pounds. I think I have mentioned before that I am a stress eater, and the thought of losing my baby was the most stressful thing I could imagine. My eating habits didn't change much, though, after we found little P in the womb. I gained a total of 50 pounds. And that 50 pounds didn't come off as easily as it had with D. I am still, in fact, holding onto some baby weight. But, I am on the right track now, with running and eating right. I will lose this weight!