watching wheel

owen and i are watching wheel of fortune right now. he's loving the letter bit and is telling me how many of whichever letter is in the puzzle.

i found out today that kindergarten (and prek at my school) registration begins march 2. i can't wait to get owen registered for prek at my school. it's going to be such a good thing for him. he needs the academics that will be offered instead of just the daycare environment. i love his daycare this year. his teacher is wonderful. she's teaching the kids spanish (she's from mexico) and owen is just gobbling it up. according to her, when it's somethign he already knows (like the alphabet or colors or counting), he's bored. when it's something new or challenging, like words in spanish, he's totally attentive. montessori will be great for him. the more i see, the more logical i find it really is.

i stepped on the scale last week and i'm no longer in my desired range. i'm below my desired range by 5 lbs. i guess that'll be my new range, huh? i'm considering them bonus lbs. i actually match my driver's license!!!!! this meanst that from my heaviest (i sneaked up to 180 at one point), i've lost a total of 50 lbs. i feel great and love it! if i keep it up and am where i am now when i get pregnant again, i'll end my pregnancy between 5 and 15 lbs. above where i was when i got pregnant with owen. that will be so cool! the only thing that i hope to change between now and then is adjusting my curves...though i've earned them so i may let them stay. we'll see.

today was the first of two programs put on my by upper el kids (4th and 5th graders). we've been workign on recorders and they all (all 87 of them) learned how to read music. they were amazing. it was the first time they all played together and have never done better. my principal was totally amazed that all of them were reading the music. they had a blast, especially with the last song, during which i was dancing on my podium (three aerobic steps stacked on eachother).

GOAL!!!!!!

i did it! i made the first part of my weight-loss goal. i stepped on the scale earlier this week and found that i have lost (drum roll please!) 35 lbs. since i started this venture in june. not only is my baby weight gone (from both pregnancies), but so is mos of my newlywed weight. in 5 more pounds, i'll be at the bottom of my desired range. if if can go between what i weigh now and 5 lbs less, i'm one happy mama. i've been getting into clothes lately that i haven't been able to wear in years and years.

i went to the y yesterday morning and was on the bike for an hour. it helps that we meet the fam there at 8:30 and owen has swimming lessons at 10. makes me spend more time on the equipment. :-)

fifteen, ten, and twenty-five

this is a diet post.  

as of this morning, i have lost 15 lbs, with 10 more to go before i reach where i was when i got pregnant with owen.  25 more lbs. to go before i am at my goal.  once i'm there, i will allow myself a 5 lb. window for some wiggle room.  i don't ever want to be above 140 and not be pregnant again.  i was so excited to step on the scale and see it at 160.  i honestly couldn't believe it.  granted last week was that week.  i'm hoping not to gain too much this comign week when i'm in denver/keystone, co for my sister's wedding.  

it's working!!!!

i had my dress fitting today for my sister's wedding.  i took a small gamble when i bought a smaller dress than i tried on.  when i picked up my dress about a month ago, it was tight between the bottom of my rib cage to my knees.  i was afraid to move too much in it because i didn't want to rip the seams.  well, when i tried it on today at the store, not only was it looser everywhere but my thighs (and it was only slightly tight there), but we're not even going to hem it.  it fits perfectly!!!!!  what a change in my personal attitude from when i tried on dresses for the first time (and none of them fit properly, some because i was trying on dresses several sizes too large) and from today.  everything is looking great!  i know that if i keep up what i've been doing, the dress will fit beautifully at the wedding at the end of september.  oh, and not having to spend the money on alterations is a wonderful thing, too.  i'm really excited to see what results i have on the scale tomorrow.  i have been slightly discouraged by not losing as much weight as i've wanted, but putting this dress on helps me to see that things are toning up regardless of what the scale says.  i'll take toning over weight loss at this point. with toning, though, the weight loss will come.  :-)

Weight Loss

I'm down 5 lbs. Exercise works! 35 to go till I reach my goal weight.

Day 3...

...and he kept his underwear dry all day long! We did, however have two solids to clean up but they were at times that I was anticipating so I know he's controlling that aspect. This is the first day he's been in underwear that he has made it all day without a wet accident. it's so freeing to not have to worry about pull-ups for most of the day. pottying is so much easier than diapering!!!! way to go, o!

i've made it to the gym three times this week to exercise, plus once with owen to go swimming. i'm hoping to make it at least that much next week. today was fun - it was our whole extended family there, save my b-i-l who is in china for the next month to help get things up and running for the olympics. today i did 30 minutes on the bike, which equaled 5.25 miles, including my cool down which i started once i reached the 5 mile mark. we'll see tomorrow what my weight is.

something fishy going on

and we call it owen. we got him a pool from target last week. the pool has a whale slide. owen wasn't too keen on the spout (to keep the slide slippery) but as long as his bottom was wet, he went down just fine. he'd go down the slide, say, "brr! fun!!!" and do it again. occasionally he gave me high five. when it was time to get out, i had to carry him, kicking and screaming into the house. we'll do it again tomorrow, so long as it's warm enough. he's going to have a blast at aunt sheena's on friday...

we went to the taste of tacoma today. owen went on four rides: an airplane that went in a skinny oval (think race track) and whipped around the u-turns, a fire truck that went up in the air and back down in a circle (counterclockwise), a canoe ride that went in a (lame) square, and a roller coaster. he loved every single ride. he also went on each ride all by himself. that was a first for us. he had the largest smile on his face that i think he possibly could have during the roller coaster. all i have to say is: we're in trouble. :-)

i was also able to be good in my eating today. i had a chicken and artichoke crepe (with fresh spinach leaves and a light sauce of some sort. it was really yummy. for dessert, i had lemonade sorbet (b&j's) in a waffle cone. now, i know that the waffle cone wasn't the smartest choice, but with as well as i've been doing today, it was ok.

now it's time for my yearly whine. it's HOT and our house gets so stuffy. there is no easy way to get air moving here. it takes two strategically placed fans (one in the front room and one in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room. however, that would mean that one of the bedrooms doesn't have a fan in it to cool it down during the day. and we don't have screens on the windows so i don't feel safe leaving owen's open at night. plus, we can't leave them open during the day because the cat will jump out. we have a total of one window that can be left open. the front and back doors have screens on them (thank God) so we can get air in the house. there's just no straight line to allow for air circulation. purchasing an a/c would not be a wise use of money. we only have maybe 10 or a dozen days like this a year. we could get a window unit, but i'm not sure where it could go. the windows in the bedrooms open up and out. it's aggrivating, really.

Yay!

Owen just came up to me, said, "potty". I asked him if he had to go and he said yes and ran to the bathroom and went, first a little bit on his little potty, then more on the big potty. I am so proud of my little boy! he's in underwear for the evening, i think. i hope he has a repeat performance!

on another hand, we are having quite the storm right now. very strong winds and driving rain. i was supposed to go walking with faye tonight, but because of the storm and because of a thing at her daughter's school, we're not. that's ok, i did probably 60 minutes worth of cardio/core work today with my prek/k classes.

when i went to daycare to pick up mr. o today, one of the people working at the front desk told me that owen bit someone today. i responded with utter shock. that's not like my boy! then i was told that he was just kidding, that owen didn't bite anyone. boy, would there have been consequences when we got home if he had....

a new food item in o's diet is baby carrots. :-) he loves them now!!!!

diet

i'm cruising on my diet. i've been really good about my eating and getting exercise. so far i've lost 5 pounds. tonight faye and i walked the waterfront - sans kids. that was four miles in about 90 minutes. having this success so early on is quite motivating. hopefully, things will keep going. though i'm not expecting the huge dumping of weight like what's happening now, i know that it will slow down at some point. i'm feeling better and have more energy, also. i'm totally loving it!

i learned tonight that the thing at arby's that i thought would have been higher in calories in comparison to other things on their menu is actually one of the best things in terms of calories. amazing.

Memorial Day

we were planning on heading to a family picnic near mt. rainier today, but jeff came down with a fever and has been in bed all day long. currently, both of my boys are napping. owen and i went to the zoo this morning and, what a big boy! - owen walked nearly the entier time. he had on his doggie backpack (aka harness and leash) and only asked to go into the ergo twice and was only in it for a total of 10-15 minutes. we have a smallish zoo, with approximately one mile of trails. it's an easy half-day or less trip. owen definately has favorites. today, it was the walruses, beluga whales, gibbons, and porcupines. we stayed longest in the "house" at the asian forest sanctuary and in the north shore underwater viewing area. it was a nice day for the zoo. not too hot, not too chilly. we took off our jackets about half-way through. oh, and there was "monkey business" going on with the gibbons. luckily, none of the kids knew what was going on...wonder if there will be baby gibbons running around later this year?

owen and i are meeting a friend to go walking at the waterfront later today, after dinner some time, which will make two sessions of exercise for me today. i'm on day two of my diet to finally lose my baby weight. my goal is to lose 35-40 lbs. by my sister's wedding on september 27. that's 18 weeks. i should be able to do it. i'm watching what i eat (literally - i'm keeping track of everything i put into my body on a weekly chart) and exercising as often as possible. i'd love to have to buy a whole new wardrobe in the fall because everything i have is too big...