Legend of Me

Getting Involved!

2012-01-20T14:27:00.000-05:00

One of the things that was always important to me when we moved was to make sure that we got the boys involved in the community. It was a huge part of our lives in Revere (and I still visit our old Rec whenever I can!) and I want it to be a part of our lives here. All three boys have been taking swimming lessons since the summer, David has done Soccer in the fall and now he's doing basketball as well as a music class. And Shaun and Evan are a part of the schools Family Center, a free playgroup where parents can come and make a craft and play games with their preschooler. There is also time for playing outside (Evan's favorite part!) when the weather permits!

I am also doing my part at getting involved by becoming a member of the PTA. This is a great community and I am so happy to be a part of it! I am looking forward to checking out more and more activities as the year goes on! Below are some pictures from some of the boys latest activities!

Evan playing at Family Center

Shaun singing a song about Penguins!

Shaun FINALLY puts his face under water to swim!

Building a tall tower on the first snow day of the year!

Evan not sure what to think about the snow

He shoots, he scores!

The next Ray Allen?! Maybe if he were taller!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! This year we rang in the new year with our good friends! It's the first time in a long time that we've even celebrated since usually the Doc has had to work. We did a mock new year with the kids outside, complete with sparklers and snaps! Thankfully it wasn't too cold, in fact it was pretty nice considering it was the last day in December!

The boys with their noise makers!

Shaun's sparkler

After our fun outside the kids got the jammies on and had a little down time before being shipped off to bed!

After the kids fell asleep, the grown-ups enjoyed some chocolate fondue and relaxed. At 11:50 we turned on the Dick Clarks countdown and toasted the New Year with champagne! In the morning we heated up some of the homemade cinnamon rolls that I prepared the day before and Brian made a delicious Roasted Tomato & Arugula Strata, though I agree with Brian that next time it would be better with spinach! After the kids all got ready we headed outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm bright sunny day! We walked down to the cul-du-sac and the kids rode bikes and ran around! It was nice that they were able to blow off some steam outside like that!

For dinner I made a Turkey, it was delicious!

And before dessert, we bribed the children to pose for this picture all together! It's fun to see how much they have changed since the first pictures together!

I can only hope that the rest of 2012 is as wonderful as the first day was! Wishing you all happiness & good health in the new year!

Cape Cod Christmas!

2011-12-31T13:07:00.004-05:00

On Thursday we celebrated Christmas with the Doc's extended family on the Cape! It was very laid back, relaxing day filled with lots of yummy foods. We did a tapas style shmorgishborg, with stuffed mushrooms, little smokies, homemade baked beans (my favorite!), spinach & artichoke dip and then spiral ham and roasted turkey breast for sandwiches! We topped the day off with our annual Yankee swap and I'm proud to say that this is the second year in a row that I have ended up with the gift I contributed and I'm not ashamed to say it!

Of course, no function where I am in attendence would be complete without a family picture. It's nice being able to use the tripod so that one person (usually me!) isn't left out of the picture!

Merry Christmas to all and a very prosperous, happy & healthy 2012!

It's the Holiday Season...

2011-12-26T20:46:00.004-05:00

Hard to believe that another Christmas has come and gone. This was the first Christmas in the new house and it was everything I could have possibly dreamed! We started some new traditions and well as keeping some of the old! We had a lot of Christmas festivities during the month, including the annual Christmas Party at the Revere Rec center! Even though we no longer live there, it didn't stop us from driving south to visit our friends to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year!!

Me and the boys!

The boys got to see Silly Willy the clown but the highlight of the day was seeing Santa!

Even I am not too old to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas! He was a good listener and my speedlite will be arriving via UPS on Thursday!!!!

On Christmas Eve, I started cooking up a storm. I finished putting together my gifts for the neighbors

Then got ready for the IL's to arrive for a Christmas sleepover! I began by starting my dough for the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls and while the dough was rising, I prepared my meatball mixture for our Pasta and Meatball dinner.

One of the new traditions we started was putting out luminaries. This was something that the Doc did as a kid and wanted to do with our boys! The boys helped Daddy and Omi make up the bags and then they set them up along the driveway. I was in the middle of frying meatballs but I took a break to snap a few pictures. It looked really nice once they got them all lit, but unfortunately the picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

After dinner, it was tubby time and the traditional opening up of the Christmas jammies. Then it was time for Evan to go to bed, while the older boys helped get Santa's treat ready!

Everyone leaves milk and cookies, we decided to leave out brownies and hot chocolate! Oh and a peanut butter filled celery stick for Rudolph!

Christmas morning, Evan woke up first at 6:30. He had a rough night sleeping due to a low grade fever and runny nose. David and Shaun woke up at 6:45 right on schedule and ready to go downstairs. But first we had to make sure that Santa had come and gone!

We headed downstairs and the boys started with their stockings, while the grown-ups got their coffee. Then they got to open up their gifts from Santa. Santa wraps all presents in the same special paper so it was easy to tell which ones were from Santa. After the Santa gifts were opened the boys found a card in the tree. Looks like Santa had one last trick up his sleeve. It was a scavenger hunt. In order to find the last gift they had to find all the clues!

Daddy helping the boys read the first clue!

The scavenger hunt led them all over the house and eventually down to the lower level where they found a brand new drum set waiting for them! It was a big hit with David and Shaun and Evan probably would have enjoyed it too, had he not been accidentally walked into a door by a very excited Shaun. Poor kid was having a pretty hard day already and then got to add a nice shiner to the mix.

After the scavenger hunt, we took a break to eat some yummy cinnamon rolls and muffins before opening the gifts from the IL's. While the kids were busy eating I ran up stairs to take a picture of the tree from above!

After gifts it was time to start cleaning up and getting ready for my family to arrive. But of course, I had to take a quick break from my prep to get a picture of me and Charlie by the tree!

And then of course a whole family photo (have I mentioned how much I love having a remote for my shutter!)!

The IL's headed out and I got the Prime Rib seasoned and put into the oven ready for my whole family to arrive! I set up the appetizers and we did our family gift exchange while we waited for my Aunt, Uncle and cousins to arrive for dinner! Doesn't my Prime Rib look delicious! I cooked it just a tad too long, but it was still juicy and flavorful. Next year I'll listen to my instincts and take it out when the temp is 125. But for my first time, I was pretty psyched with how well it turned out!

The gang all enjoying Christmas dinner!

It was an amazing Christmas weekend and one I will never forget. I am looking forward to many more happy Christmas's here in our new home!

Evan - 19 Months

2011-12-15T20:22:00.003-05:00

Because we couldn't get an appointment for him last month, on Tuesday, Evan got a 19 month check up! He is doing really well and had a HUGE growth spurt from the last time he was measured and weighed! He has gone from the 20th percentile for his height at 12 months to the 70th percentile! He's talking up a storm now, there are many words that only I can understand, but most of the time other people can understand him too! Right now my favorite is his Merry Christmas - it's ADORABLE and I am going to try and get it on video! He's not interested in being recorded so he tends to make a liar out of me! I am just glad he sang for everyone at Thanksgiving because I haven't been able to get him to do it on video.

Anyway, here are Evan's stats from his check up:
Height: 33 inches - 70th percentile
Weight: 28lbs 12oz - 75th percentile

He is the same height Shaun was and almost 5lbs heavier than David!

And of course, no post would be complete without a few pictures!

More Holiday Decorating!

2011-11-30T20:43:00.001-05:00

So we finally got our tree issue sorted out, long story short there is a defective section of lights on the top and we had to bring it back to the store. It's not fixed, but they gave us a temporary solution and will get it fixed it after the Holiday season. We decided since they do plan to fix it, this year we'd let it be, because it's not that noticeable. And tonight we (FINALLY) begun decorating! At least it's sorted out, I really love the tree and didn't want to have to return it. Plus we had already put it all together!

Last night we wrapped the tree with a red sparkly ribbon garland and then started adding ornaments tonight. I need to get some hooks for some of the new ornaments so we'll finish it tomorrow. But here is what it looks like so far. I also want to get a larger tree skirt, but the Doc seems to think it's fine. It's WAY too small if you ask me!

I also (thanks to a Pinterest link) spent this afternoon tapping ribbon to my kitchen cabinets as a new way to display my Christmas cards. I liked my wreath but by the end of the month I couldn't see some of the cards, plus it wasn't holding the cards as well anyway. I thought this was such a neat idea, I wanted to try it out! And wouldn't you know, by chance I got my first two Christmas cards of the season, so I was also able to test the new display! Check it out!

Once I get more cards (and I clean up my kitchen a bit!), I'll pop on my wide angle lens and snap a better picture, but you get the idea!

Our Family Portraits!

2011-11-27T18:48:00.003-05:00

Today once it warmed up a bit, we got the boys dressed and headed outside so I could get our annual Christmas card picture. Since I have spent the last year practicing in manual mode and taking classes, I opted to skip the studio this year and take them myself. I ordered a remote for my camera so I wouldn't have to run back and forth with the timer set. This way we could get set and I would just aim my remote at push the button and snap the picture! I am really excited with how they came out! Here are the images I got today from our mini-holiday photo shoot (minus, of course, the official Christmas card photo!).

Shaun's not smiling but I think it's still sweet!

My boys!

Our happy little family!

Me and my babies!

David

Shaunie!

And last but not least, Evan!

A Thanksgiving to Remember!

2011-11-25T22:07:00.000-05:00

This year we had the family over to celebrate Thanksgiving at our new home! It was such a wonderful day and everything went off without a hitch. I won't lie, I did little happy dance in my kitchen when all my food was ready to eat exactly on time!! I am so thankful for family.

My 26lb brined, stuffed herb crusted Turkey!

The Thanksgiving Day spread, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sausage stuffing, squash, homemade gravy and then on the other side is some green beans and roasted carrots and parsnips! YUM!

My boys dressed up for the Thanksgiving festivities!

And now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to start thinking about Christmas! And begin the traditional day after Thanksgiving Christmas decorating. We started tonight by putting up the tree. The boys helped a little but it's so big, Charlie needed a step ladder just to fluff the top! I can't wait to start decorating it tomorrow!

It was a wonderful start to our holiday season! And I hope yours will be as merry and bright!

Homework

2011-11-17T19:46:00.005-05:00

The boys hard at work this afternoon. David has a homework folder that we keep at home and each month he has to complete a certain number of assignments and then keep a journal. Today the assignment I chose for him to do was to make up a story about 5 pilgrims and a turkey.

First I had him draw a picture of the story he wanted to tell, then I had him tell me the story.

5 Pilgrims & a Turkey: By David

Two Pilgrims were out riding a turkey, while the other three watched. They each got to take turns riding the turkey. Then they all went home and the turkey flew away.

I love his drawings and his stories!

Love These Boys

2011-11-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

Just thought I would post some new pictures of the boys! They have adjusted so well to their new surroundings! I am such a proud Mommy! I love these little guys (most of the time!!)

David

Shaun

Evan

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:15:00.001-04:00

Another Halloween has come and gone. This year was especially fun since it was our first Halloween in our new neighborhood! People go all out here with decorations. It's too bad that Trick or Treating was made harder with all the snow but the boys still had fun! Shaun & Evan headed home after about 1/2 hour or so and David and I finished walking the block. We had a blast and can't wait until next year. I'm holding out hope for a Harry Potter theme for next year!

The boys checking out the freak snow in October!

Yoda, Obi-Wan-Kenobi & Darth Vader

Our family Star Wars theme!

David checking out our neighbors witch statue!

Evan Trick or Treating!

Shaun getting ready to get some candy!

Fall: My Favorite Time of Year

2011-10-20T16:58:00.006-04:00

I love fall, it's my favorite season. I love the colors, the smells, the activities, the comfort foods, the decorations, and most of all the cool crisp air of a beautiful sunny fall day! Last weekend and into Monday was about as perfect as it could be.

Of course no fall day would be complete without an impromptu photo shoot! Took me a lot of tries but I finally got my annual fall portrait of the boys! Now I can replace the summer portrait with a fall one!

Look how much they have grown in the last year!

And just so that I could be IN some pictures for a change, I was able to pass the camera over to Charlie and quickly grab this shot after Evan climb up on my back, while I was laying on the driveway photographing the older two racking leaves!

And no fall day would be complete without making a big pile of leaves to jump and play around in!

It's a big, big world!I love fall and I love my boys!

Adventures in Landscaping!

2011-09-26T20:26:00.000-04:00

We have been working on our landscaping for what seems like forever! We have ripped up a portion of the back hill and planted some grass seed, we have also added more seed to the side by the driveway where the previous owners had flowers planted. We also planted my hydrangea, which I love so much!

The biggest accomplishment in our adventures in landscaping was getting rid of the ugly crab apple bush (or whatever it was). I honestly think it was two different types of shrubbery that fused together. It was a beast to take out, the Doc even broke our neighbors ax trying to chop the stump. After chopping it down as much as we could we decided to just bury it and let it rot, hopefully it's been chopped enough that nothing will grow back! In it's place is a much nicer PJM Rhododendron, I can't wait to see how it blooms in the spring.

The Evil Crab Apple thingy!

The Doc v. the Evil Shrub

The shrub that wouldn't die

All gone!

Here are some more pictures of the work we are doing! We still have so much we want to do, but the rest is going to wait until spring!

Taking out the shrubs on the hill

Planting the seed

Now we wait!

Mums are in bloom!

Soccer Superstar

2011-09-11T21:16:00.003-04:00

Saturday David started his soccer clinic. While I admit, I am not the biggest soccer fan in the bunch, I was super proud of him. How cute is he in his uniform! I only watched for a little since Shaun and Evan wanted to go play on the playground. But I got to see from a distance and by the looks of these two action shots captured by Daddy, it looks like he had a blast!

I couldn't resist snapping a head shot in his uniform!

Back to School

2011-09-06T15:44:00.000-04:00

It's back to school time and this year is a big year for back to school. David is now in kindergarten and Shaun is going to preschool! Shaun's preschool is 3 days a week so that will give me some one on one time with Evan! On Friday's I have signed us up for a Mommy and Me swim class. We had our first one last week and he loved it!

Back to school was different this year in the fact that we recently relocated to a new city with a different set up. Back in Revere they had full day kindergarten and while I am sad that David is only in school for 2.5 hours a day we'll make the best of it. I have signed him up for some different activities to make up for the time he won't be in school. I think he is most excited about learning to play the piano. Another difference was how he started his first week. The first day of school was a Meet and Greet where he went in and colored a name tag for himself and met the teachers (his teacher is leaving soon to have a baby so he'll have a guest teacher for the first part of the year).

David at his Meet and Greet

The next day, Wednesday was set aside for half of the class to attend and then the remaining half would attend on Thursday. Friday and Monday were closed for the Holiday weekend. Since David didn't have school on Wednesday we decided to take one last trip to Revere to visit since they don't start until the 8th. I made sure to bring my camera so that I could get a picture of David and Briana. They started school together 2 years ago and I have gotten a picture each year. Just because they are no longer in the same school doesn't mean I can't get a Back to School picture!

Thursday we needed to be up bright and early! School starts at 7:45am sharp! I woke David up and he jumped out of bed and said "It's my first day of school!" then he proceeded to thank me for waking him up for his first day of school! I am wondering how long before I get "just a few more minutes of sleep please!" We ate breakfast, I packed him his healthy snack (an apple) and we went outside to take the obligatory "First Day of School" pictures!

Kindergarten 2011 (I got the idea for the chalk board from a blog; who stole it from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog!)

At school checking out the scene.

Our kindergartner! They grow up so fast!

The boys waiting to bring David to his classroom

David waiting in line to get picked up after a great first day!

He loves his class and he loves his school. He was just as excited to wake up this morning for his second day of school (the first day with his entire class!). Today was also a special day because this was Shaun's first day and Meet and Greet.

Pre-School 2011

Our preschooler! Getting so big!

Walking to the school ready to take on the world!

David (a pro at this school thing!) walking side by side with his little brother, showing him the way!

David and Shaun ready for school!

In Shaun's classroom he walked right in found his cubby and then sat down to play with the Mr. Potato head that was set up on one of the tables. Since I had Evan with me I wasn't able to spend much time walking around with Shaun as I was chasing Evan and making sure he wasn't destroying the place! Shaun seemed just fine and when they asked all the parents to head over to the library for a brief meeting, Shaun said to me, "Mommy, I can stay here?" I think he'll be just fine tomorrow when I drop him off!

Evan didn't want to leave the classroom. He made himself quite at home. He's going to be so sad when we drop Shaun off tomorrow and we don't get to stay again.

Everything went as smooth as could be. I think both kids are going to have a great year and I am looking forward to watching them develop a love of learning!

32 Years Young

2011-09-05T14:20:00.002-04:00

In case anyone was wondering what the best day of the year is; that would be September 4th. Yesterday marked 32 years of my presence on this planet and each year it gets better and better! Oh and in case you couldn't guess, I am also a HUGE Birthday Diva!

For my birthday the Doc surprised me with dinner out in ManchVegas! We went to a trendy bistro called Cotton. The food was delicious as was my Blueberry-Basil Mojito! We finished the night off by sharing the cheesecake which was so rich, but so good!

The Birthday Diva before heading out to dinner

Three weeks ago the boys all got me my birthday present; a new elliptical for our home gym. Earlier in the spring my knee started bothering me so I haven't really run much. But after a lazy summer the pounds started to creep back on! What took months of hard work to lose only took 3 short weeks to start putting back on! I had been doing great early on in the summer but eventually without exercising, the pounds started to creep back on! If only it was as easy to lose weight as it is to gain it!

The Doc putting together my birthday present!

Having the elliptical has been great. Not only is it easier on my knee, but with the two machines the Doc and I are able to work out together! It's so much more motivating! Eventually we'd like to hook up a TV in their and maybe add in a weight machine! So now I am ready to get back on track and lose that pesky 10 lbs (well 15 now thanks to my lazy summer!) I have left to reach my goal!!

Story Land 2011

2011-08-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we got back from our annual long weekend trip to StoryLand. It was a fun trip despite Evan getting sick at the restaurant and the Doc and I forgetting to pack the Pack N Play so he could have a secure place to sleep. Next time, no matter how far away from home we are, we're turning around to get that darn Pack N Play! Needless to say today was a nice day to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Weather wise, while it was a bit muggy it wasn't as hot as last year and the storms held off until we were already back at the lodge. The first storm let up just in time for us to all enjoy a delicious meal at one of our favorite places, Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewery. I got the slider combo and the crab cake sliders were awesome! We had to wait a bit but it was worth it for their yummy food. I highly recommend this place if you're ever in North Conway, NH.

The ride up and back was beautiful. Now that we are in Concord, we just shoot up I-93 and crossed over via RT-302. On the way back we decided to take the the Kancamagus. 302 was just as pretty and not as steep and windy and we had the added bonus of missing all the North Conway traffic. I think we'll stick with that route from now on. Below are some highlights from our day at Story Land.

The boys taking in a show upon our arrival - that is why no one is looking at the camera!

The annual family photo out front!

As good as you're going to get with three restless boys! I am just glad we did this first thing because they were TIRED and CRANKY come the end of the day!

The boys showing off their stickers from the Little Old Lady who Lives in a Shoe!

Jam session

Evan's first ride! He LOVED it!

Shaun was tall enough for the big kid rides this year!

The ball room

David's favorite ride EVER! Shaun didn't love the Polar Coaster and so he didn't want to go on this one.

SPLASH!

David and I after the rapids. Shaun road with us but he was WAY cranky at this point. I was lucky to even get him on the ride!

David had a BLAST! I think Shaun would have had more fun if he wasn't so tired and it wasn't so HOT! Evan LOVED being free to roam and enjoyed the rides he got to go on!

I am already looking forward to next year when Evan is older and I don't have to chase him around! He wants to do everything that his brothers are doing which makes my life very, VERY difficult! Ha!

Making a House a Home - Part 6

2011-08-16T21:25:00.000-04:00

Last week MIL and I finished digging up the Hostas on the other side of the front. I don't know if it was that we had a better system or what, but it was SO much easier and took us A LOT less time to dig up pretty much the same amount.

Before we started working on the digging, we took a drive over to a local nursery. I was curious what some of the trees were in my yard so we clipped a branch off and brought it with us. Turns out it is a crab apple tree. Not something that should be as close to the house as it is and I honestly don't want a bunch of fruit falling all around our front lawn, so I am probably going to cut it down. While we were there MIL pointed out this beautiful hydrangea with red and green leaves. I loved it so much that I bought it! My very first plant for the new house!

We also cut down another tree that was even closer to the house than the crab apple tree is, and transplanted a small geranium. There is still some more work to do on that side but we saw a nasty yellow jackets nest near the front walkway in the ground and we didn't feel like digging around and angering them! I made a call to a pest control company because that is the kind of thing that I am all set messing around with!

Love how open it is now!

On Saturday while the Doc mowed the lawn I took MIL's hand saw and started pruning all our trees in the front. I was a women with a saw and on a mission! Spent a good couple hours working and was very pleased with the difference!

Before:

After:

I still have some more work I want to do but for now it's definitely much more open! But still private, if that makes any sense!

Today was transplanting day! MIL came up again and we hit up the Home Depot for some top soil and I wanted a hand saw of my very own! While we were there we saw that they had Mum's for sale, I couldn't pass them up so I grabbed two burgundy ones and I hope to get a few more (maybe white ones) for the other side of the house.

So staying away from the side with the newly treated wasp nest, we decided to work on transplanting the lilies that were all bunched up together by the front. We dug our holes filled them with some good soil and then dug up the lilies. They are now lined up neatly along the side of the house! I think it looks great, but we won't know for sure how they do until next year when they bloom again. But I think they will look great!

Snarled mess!

Moving them one by one

All neatly in a row!

The new design

The finished view, showing off my new mums!

We are almost finished with the redesign, just a few more plants to dig up and either get rid of or move and we need to plant the hydrangea. I just need to figure out exactly where I want it to go. Then in the spring the plan is to replace the smashed up walkway to something a little nicer!

Making a House a Home - Part 5

2011-08-08T20:10:00.001-04:00

This part is all about Landscaping. The yard was seriously neglected once the sellers decided that they were moving 2 years ago. As I said in the last post, there is an entire section of lawn that is totally dead. Once we got the irrigation system serviced we started running it daily in hopes to revive the lawn. We are already seeing some improvements, but some areas are pretty much beyond fixing at this point and we're going to need to reseed it in the fall.

Along the driveway was some dirt where the previous owners had flowers planted all along the sides. It looked nice, but I imagine it was a lot of upkeep. Not something the Doc and I cared to do, we think it would look just as nice with grass so we decided to plant some seeds (even though they recommend doing it in the fall, we didn't want to wait). We figured we could get a jump start on it and it's already starting to grow!

The Before picture (after hours of weeding!):

Spreading the seeds:

Grass is growing!

I am pretty proud of us! This being our first real yard and all, I think we're doing a pretty good job so far! And so now this brings me to last week. MIL came up on Wednesday to help me with the overgrown Hostas on our front walkway. Not only were they out of control, but they were attracting bees. They were everywhere and personally, I just didn't want to worry about bees being everywhere anytime we used the front walkway. So we dug them up. It was hard work but it looks a million times better now. The whole front walkway has really opened up leaving the Red Maple as the focal point!

6 dug up and 6 more to go!

All the dug up Hotas in the front yard

Saw this little guy hopping around and was able to snap a picture and get the boys over to see!

The beautiful bird bath - a housewarming gift from GG:

The housewarming bench from MIL & FIL - you can't see the top since the boys are sitting on it, but it has my favorite saying on the top "Live well, Laugh often, Love much!

To help get a feel for what the yard used to look like (before the sellers decided that they didn't care anymore) here is a picture of the front exterior from the original house listing.

And this is the front before we started working:

So to sum it all up, we cut down a tree, dug up 12 hostas, weeded, and pruned the red maple. I think it looks pretty awesome so far!

Next on the agenda is to finish pulling up the hostas and then changing the placement of the other flowers so they are more spread out.

The Boys 2011 Birthday Bash!

2011-08-03T21:15:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday we celebrated all three boys birthdays. With Evan's birthday in May, Shaun's in June and David's in August, it would be too hard to do three separate parties so close to one another, and during everyone busy summer. So for the past two years I have combined them! I am going to make this an annual thing. This was the first year we were able to have a party at our own house. I have held the last two parties at the local parks in Revere. While I missed having the Rec team facilitating, it was nice having my own place to host a party!

The theme was Mario and so the menu was made up of all Mario themed foods. There were Bowser Fireballs (sweet and sour meatballs that had a hint of spiciness to them) Wario's Wieners and the Doc's favorite, Chain Chomp Chicken Wings. Just to name a few. I also (thanks to the tips of my good friend Miss Sally!) made the boys their cake. It was a homemade ice cream cake and while it didn't look very pretty, it was super yummy! Eventually I'll get around to posting my menu, along with the step by step process of making the ice cream cake on the food blog.

For now here are a few pictures of the boys enjoying the fun! And a picture of the delicious ice cream cake!!

The boys watching the man set up the bounce house water slide!

David searching for his FIVE gold coins!

Shaun right after the pinata

My Mario Power Star Ice Cream Cake! It tasted WAY better than it looks!!

Making a House a Home - Part 4

2011-07-30T08:28:00.000-04:00

The first night in the new house was a hard to really "enjoy" as the movers didn't even leave until after 8pm, and there was so much work we still wanted to try and get done. We were so exhausted we basically just crashed. We were heading south in the morning to go back and take care of things at the old place. I took the boys to a birthday party and then the park to hang out with some friends while Daddy and MIL made our old place look spic and span!

We met back at the old place around 3 and it was so weird to walk inside. I was at the new house when the movers packed up so I never saw the Revere place empty.

It was so empty. Like we were never even there. It was funny how small the place looked. It seemed almost impossible that all of our furniture had fit in that space. It made me understand why some people pay big bucks to stage their homes when they put them on the market. Even at the new house; some of the rooms looked smaller than we remembered, until we started filling them with our stuff!

We woke up on Sunday and it was time to really start making this house our home! We still had a lot of boxes to still unpack and we had lots of organizing to do as well. The yard was going to need some serious TLC, but that would have to wait until Mid-week. The Doc still had to go back to Revere for his last few days of work. He scheduled an overnight shift on Monday so he would just stay at the Hospital for the night and finish up with his last day on Tuesday. The boys and I continued to unpack and run errands. And then on Wednesday it was time to start working on the yard.

We bought a lawnmower (our first one ever, since we have never had a yard before!), a hose, a weed-whacker and a composter. We havall new toys to try and make the yard look loved again! We had the irrigation system serviced in hopes that it would help revive the dead lawn and to some extent it has helped but next spring we'll have to do some more serious work to fix it.

Evan helping with some weeding

Building the composter

The inaugural mowing of the lawn

Evan wanted to "help" Daddy

The weed whacker

My new composter! It will be great for our garden next year. In Concord, you pay for your trash by the bag. So you purchase special purple trash bags. We always recycled but now this is just one more advantage to starting our compost!

Making a House a Home - Part 3

2011-07-26T23:15:00.000-04:00

Part 2 left off with our last night in Revere, and so part 3 begins with us waking up early the next morning - it's officially MOVING DAY! Charlie, David & Shaun drove to Jac's to pick up some breakfast (this place had the BEST French Toast!) before the boys and I head back to the new house. The movers are expected to show up to pack up the boxes around 9am and someone needed to be at the new house for our second furniture delivery.

This was the new dining room set and a couch and love seat for the lower level. While I was waiting around, our new next door neighbors stopped by to say hello and invite us over to their cookout. They have 3 boys as well, but their youngest is 9. As she was leaving the cable man arrived to install our phone, cable and internet! It was nice that we were able to get it scheduled the same day! The delivery guys arrived right on the earlier side and set everything up and then Omi arrived for some back up so that I could get some things organized before Charlie and the movers arrived.

After all the delivery was made and the cable was hooked up, we were still waiting to hear from Charlie and the movers. I called to get a status; it was about 2pm at this point. He was expecting to have already been on the road but they were still working. So without a crib and no pack n play, I had no place to put Evan down for a nap, so we all decided to take a drive over to the mall and check it out. It's small but nice. I was able to find a comforter for David's new bed at a store called The Bon Ton. I had never heard of it before but it's basically another department store like JC Penny or Macy's. We ran a couple more errands and headed back to the house.

The movers arrived at 5pm and wasted no time getting things started. It had already been such a long day and there was still so much to be done.

They told us that any boxes we unpacked they would take back! It was great because that meant we wouldn't have all those boxes and trash lying around but it meant that we weren't going to have the luxury to take our time finding places for everything.

Kitchen disaster!

Bedroom disaster!

Playroom disaster!

While Charlie and the movers unpacked, I took the boys over to the neighbors and they had a fire going. It was a nice distraction for the boys and kept them out of the way. They road their bikes around the driveway and once the movers had put Evan's crib together we were able to put them to bed. They were exhausted and went right to sleep with no issues.

David sleeps UNDER his pillow!

Shaun likes to have his flash light

Evan fast asleep

It was going to be another long day, this time back in Revere to take the boys to a Birthday Party while the Doc and MIL clean up the old place. To be continued...

Making a House a Home - Part 2

2011-07-22T21:48:00.000-04:00

Part 2 of the move was to paint and get ready for some new furniture. After we closed Charlie and MIL headed out to Home Depot to get some paint. We really loved how the house was painted with the exception of the Master Bedroom. So we chose our paint color and they went to work. Interestingly we ended up choosing the same color we painted David's nursery from our Philly house!

I took the boys out for a ride to drop my Mom off, since she came to watch the boys while we signed all the papers. We figured it would make the painting go much smoother (and FASTER!) if the boys weren't around to "help"! Before getting back to the house I picked up a few necessities at our new Target (only a 10 minute drive!), in fact all of the shopping is 10 minutes away! It's actually quite convenient! Anyway, since the painting was a much bigger project than expected I decided to let the boys have a little fun in the big bathtub!

The boys had a blast and even though I didn't use that much soap; the jets made the whole tub fill with bubbles.

It was getting late and I had to be back bright and early the next morning so that I could be here for our first furniture delivery; this one from Jordan's! We're hoping that a member of the Sox hits the sign so we can get it all for free! But if they don't (and odds are they won't!) we still get a voucher for 20% total purchase to use towards a future purchase! It will come in handy this fall when it's time to buy Evan his bedroom set and a nice new desk for our office!

The Couch, Love Seat and Chair for the Great Room:

FINALLY! A KING sized bed!!!!!

The boys bedroom sets. Evan will eventually get the same one too!

The furniture ended up being delivered early and they were waiting for me! It was nice to not have to sit around for four hours and wait. So after they were set up the boys and I headed back to Revere for our last night! The boys arrived home and were surprised by what they saw, because while we were at the new house the Doc was with the movers, who packed all of our stuff into boxes. And with all of our stuff in boxes; that didn't leave much for us to do at home so we drove out to the mall to walk around. We picked up some hot dogs and ice cream at Hot Diggity for our last meal in Revere and then it was off to bed because it was going to be another early morning and another LONG, LONG day! To be continued...again...

Making a House a Home - Part 1

2011-07-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

It has been almost a month since we closed on our house and I am happy to say that we have made great progress turning this house into our home! With the exception of a few boxes; most everything is unpacked and put in it's new place! We've even hung some of our pictures on the wall. There is still so much we have planned but most of it will have to wait until at least next spring. I have been photographing the journey and wanted to share the first stage of our move tonight:

Boxes are all packed in Revere:

Evan's Room

David & Shaun's Room

David and Shaun seeing the house for the first time and checking out their new bedrooms! Only Evan (who was 10.5 months old at the time) was the only one to see the house before we closed!

"My Monkey, I have a Monkey!!!" Shaun's reaction to seeing the big gorilla that is painted on the wall of his new room!

Evan already knows his way around!

The kids had a BLAST running around the empty house checking out all the rooms and opening all the doors; finding new places to hide and explore! The next step is furnishing this empty house with all the stuff packed in the boxes above! That made for a very interesting and very long day...(to be continued!)

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T08:30:00.001-04:00

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday! Enjoy your summer BBQ's; fun in the sun and fireworks!

Oh, and what a difference a year makes!

Evan - July 4, 2010

Evan - July 4th 2011 (check out his big boy haircut!)

Home Sweet Home

2011-07-02T21:47:00.004-04:00

It's been a week and a day since the movers packed up all our belongings onto the truck and brought them to our new home! We have made some great progress in getting everything unpacked and into place. There are only about a handful of boxes left unopened. Since the weather has been nice we started doing lots of work on the yard. The lawn is pretty much dead on the entire side of the house and weeds have taken over the front flower gardens. Nothing a little TLC won't be able to fix; it won't be perfect this year; but it will look a lot better!

The boys have adjusted as well as can be expected from a big move away from all their friends and the life they knew before. The hardest part for them has been adjusting to being in their own bedrooms. Tonight wasn't as bad but I think that had more to do with them being so tired from the busy day! I have been documenting our move with my camera and my plan is to put together a little slide show; but for now I have our first official family portrait in front of our new home!

Our Little Graduate!

2011-06-18T07:10:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was David's preschool graduation! It was so cute! The kids all sang songs and each of the three classes did different skits. David was one of four boys in his class and so they were all paired up to do the Bumblebee Song! And just like his mother, you could hear him over all the other kids, he was one of the loudest ones!

Here is David right before going into the hall to graduate!

David performing one of his songs!

Our graduate! We're all so proud!

I cannot believe he just graduated from preschool! Next year he goes to the "big" school! He's so excited about going to Kindergarten in the fall, so much so, that he's already talking about the kind of back pack he wants!

Shaun 3.0

2011-06-11T07:46:00.001-04:00

As of 6:21pm last night our middle guy is officially THREE! We talked a lot about how it was going to be his birthday on the 10th and we would ask him how old he was. He said 4 a lot, (because he hears David say that he is 4) but we would hold up three fingers and he would then say THREE! He told everyone he saw yesterday that it was his birthday, even David's teacher and since they were celebrating the kids who had summer birthdays at school that day she gave him one of the birthday crowns she passes out! He was so excited!

He has really come out of his shell over the last year, mostly due to finding his words. By the end of December he was speaking full sentences and while he was evaluated still a little behind, it wasn't enough to keep him in Early Intervention. He "graduated" and we continued to work with him on our own and through our various playgroups. Today, unless you knew he had EI for speech, you probably wouldn't even know he ever had any issues!!

Shaun's personality is so infectious. I have been told by many parents at our various playgroups how he lights up a room, and that he's most likely to end up being the class clown! Even when he's fresh it's hard to be mad at him because he makes it look so cute!

Shaun's famous "MAD" Face! See hard not to laugh every time he makes that face when he is mad or in trouble!

He's growing into such a funny, energetic, sweet little boy and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for him as he will be starting Preschool in the fall!

The Birthday Boy!

On This Day 3 Years Ago...

2011-06-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

Charlie and I were sitting at a table at the brand new Comcast Building in Philadelphia, PA all dressed up for his Residency graduation dinner. I was 41.2 weeks pregnant with Shaun and our induction was scheduled for first thing the following morning!

Fast forward three years and here we are again all dressed up headed to the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, MA (though NOT pregnant this time!) for Fellowship graduation! The end is here and I am a very proud wife!

Can't believe it has been THREE years already, our time in Boston is coming to an end and there are a lot of mixed emotions that I am feeling. So this won't be a good bye to Boston, it will be a see ya later! We'll be sure to visit often!

Kick Off to Summer!

2011-05-31T08:15:00.003-04:00

Everyone loves a long weekend! But Memorial Day Weekend, in particular, means that the summer season has officially started! The weather certainly helped give this weekend a summer feel and so we spent some time at the beach! Our first official trip to the beach was on Thursday! It wasn't Evan's first time at the beach but it was his first time at the beach being mobile! He enjoyed the playing in the sand and sitting down by the water.

On Sunday the boys all dug a really big hole and David perfected his sand castle making skills, learning how to gently pull up the bucket so that the sand keeps the shape!

Life at the beach is so relaxing and I am surely going to miss being so close. Nothing can compare to the sounds and smells of the ocean.

And thanks to Auntie Kristin, Charlie and I were able to go out on Sunday night to celebrate his birthday (which is today!) with dinner and a movie! We had dinner at BonChon Chicken, a Korean place over in Allston. The fried chicken was so crispy without feeling heavy and the rice was some of the best I have had! I would definitely recommend this place! Then it was off to see the Hangover II. It was funny and we had a great time being out just the two of us! Now that Evan is a older and less needy, I look forward to making date nights more of a regular thing!!

No More Relaxing at the Park

2011-05-22T11:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon we took the boys to the park and Evan has decided that he wants to do what his older brothers are doing. He LOVES going down the slide, but yesterday we found out he also likes to CLIMB UP the slide! Sigh! I don't know what I am going to do with this kid. He's by far my biggest trouble maker of the three! My days of relaxing at the park while the boys play are over, at least for this year!!

Taking Steps!

2011-05-18T20:55:00.003-04:00

Evan has been crusing for what seems like forever, so I thought for sure he was going to walk earlier than his brothers did. Nope! He's been perfectly content to keep on cruising and sometimes maybe walking side by side holding onto my hand. But last Tuesday he took about FIVE steps all on his own! And then he face planted, but I was still so proud! Fast forward a week and he has been getting more confident and taking more and more steps! Not enough to be called an "official" walker yet but he'll be there very soon! In fact today he was cruising along the couch and then he let go and started to walk towards me!!

Another Shorty

2011-05-11T13:59:00.005-04:00

Monday was Evan's one year well check! He's an average weight but still a shorty (and in fact the shortest of the three), his oldest brother David was 1/2 inch taller!! So far Shaun is looking to be the tallest of the bunch (consistently in the 50th percentile)

Other than falling below average in the height department; he is in tip top shape and even starting taking some steps on his own. I wouldn't be surprised to see him officially walking very soon! He still needs to work on his balance.

Height: 29 inches (19th percentile)
Weight: 22.6 pounds (43rd percentile)

Evan doing what Evan does best!

Mmmmm....Ramen noodles!

Size EIGHTS!

2011-05-09T19:08:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I blogged about weight loss journey. I haven't had much to report since my last post. I have been fluctuating a bit; getting as low as 146.2 three weeks ago; and even a bit over my start 148.1 last week. The past Friday I was back down to 147.5. While my weight loss has stalled (for the time being anyway) I know that I am doing something right because I can officially say that I am now a SIZE 8!

The older two boys went away for the weekend with their Omi and so I took advantage of only having Evan to do some shopping. I can normally shop with all three but it's not as easy or as fun for that matter. I was able to try stuff on and it was nice to try on styles I never felt comfortable in before this journey! I even bought a super cute dress that I can't wait to wear at the Doc's End of Fellowship dinner!

So I am still plugging along; still running hard; just not having as much to report as I get closer to my goal!

My lowest weight three weeks ago:

5/6 Weigh In:

It's hard to believe that this was me a year ago. Granted I had just had a baby a week before this picture was taken; but I have come such a long way since then and I am really proud of myself and the hard work I have done to be so close to my goal!!!

Happy FIRST Birthday Evan!

2011-05-01T23:39:00.002-04:00

At 1am this morning our last baby officially turned the big O-N-E! Keeping up with the same traditions I have also put together a video montage of Evan's first year! The end is my favorite part! It shows off Evan's personality at it's best.

He has grown so much even in the last few months. He's parroting lots of sounds, "sings" and dances and is SO close to walking on his own. He's been cruising along furniture for a while now and can even walk side by side holding on with one hand. It's just as soon as you let go, he sits his butt down and crawls. Lazy little nugget! He is such a sweet little man and gives out the best hugs ever! He is truly the "baby" in ever sense of the word. In fact I was telling everyone how "babyish" he seems still to me. I feel like David and Shaun seemed "bigger" at one than Evan and I wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that he is my last one to hit these milestones.

Here's the Birthday Boy (who I couldn't get to sit still for five seconds) All pictures today were on the go!

It's my Birthday and I don't have to smile if I don't want to!!

OK Mommy, I'll smile, but just this once!

One Year Ago...

2011-04-30T22:53:00.000-04:00

At this time; I was sitting in my hospital room hooked up to a pitocin drip and waiting very patiently for my epidural! How fast the year has gone. As I have done for David and Shaun; I put together a picture slide show. The hardest part was trying to choose which pictures to use. The side effect to the new camera I received right after he was born was TONS and TONS more pictures.

Can't believe my baby is going to be ONE! In about 2 hours to be exact!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T21:50:00.002-04:00

Easter festivities started on Saturday with our annual Easter Celebration at the Rec Center. The kids had a great time and enjoyed seeing the Easter Bunny.

Evan with the Easter Bunny

Shaun and Me with the Easter Bunny

David with the Easter Bunny

After our Easter Celebration at the Rec; we headed north to the Stack's for another Easter celebration. Erica had put together about 60 eggs for the boys to find. Even thought it felt like November outside instead of mid-April (we could literally see our breath!) the kids had a blast looking for eggs in the backyard.

On Saturday the boys colored easter eggs and then we took a trip to visit with the Mailloux's who were visiting family, where David got to color some more eggs.

This was Evan's first Easter and he had so much fun checking out his basket and playing with the Easter eggs.

Evan's First Easter!

We took our annual family portrait at the Atkinson Congregational Church after the service and this year they had some of the teenagers put out some eggs for the little ones to "find" after the service.

Then it was back to Omi & Grampy's house for another Egg hunt before heading to Grammy and Papa's for the traditional Easter ham dinner!

Out of 20 attempts; this was the winner! The boys are just not as interested in documenting these special moments as their mother is! Ha!!

Mom's delicious Easter ham!

Then after dinner it was time for one last Easter egg hunt with all the cousins!

What a wonderful time spent with family and friends! Until next year!

FOUR and a HALF miles!

2011-04-09T20:58:00.002-04:00

I have gotten side tracked lately (Photoshop and online tutorials are to blame!!) and didn't take the time to blog about my previous weeks weigh in. It was a half pound gain but I wasn't too worried as I had finally gotten outside to run and did my first ever 4 mile run! It was a great feeling to cross that 4 mile marker! I ran the 4 miles in just under 44 minutes. I also got in another 3 miles that same week. I knew I worked hard and ate right and so even though it's always disappointing to see a gain, I knew it would all even out in the end!

Week 2 Weigh In - April 1, 2011

Week 1: 148.0
Week 2: 148.6
Wk 2 Loss: +0.6
Total Loss: +0.6 (36.8 overall)

This week was an even bigger week for me running wise! MIL came down for a visit and while Evan napped, she watched the older two and so I decided to try and run a little bit further down the beach. I didn't map it out beforehand so I wasn't sure how much more it was going to add to my overall distance but figured it couldn't be much more than 4. I also use a program on my phone called CardioTrainer that tracks my runs using the phones GPS. It's fairly accurate and has only given a false reading a few times. But even if the GPS is off, it still works as a stop watch and I always know exactly how long each run takes!

Well the extended beach run ended up being 4.5 miles! And I RAN the entire course in 50 minutes!! I even forced myself to run up the very steep hill at the end. I ran up that hill very slowly, and probably could have walked it faster, but I was determined to run the whole way!! I felt awesome after because I tackled something I have been avoiding each time I have run outside and now it can only get better!

My knee was (and still is) a little sore after that run as I am just starting to run these longer distances. Before running outside I was pretty much consistently running about 2.5 miles on the treadmill. So it's a bit of a shock to the knees right now, but I'll get used to it. I am trying to improve on my speed and one of the ways to do this is by running longer distances. I can tell you one thing though, I am DEFINITELY going to miss running by the beach when we move. There is nothing more peaceful than the sounds and smells of the beach at 7am in the morning!

Last Week: 148.6
This Week: 147.1
Wk 3 Loss: 1.5 lbs
Total Loss: 0.9 lbs (38.3 lbs overall)

So that puts me about 3 lbs away from my goal, which is to way less than the Doc. If I can get in a couple 4 mile runs each week then I should have no trouble at all reaching that goal! And TWELVE pounds is the magic number, for my overall goal of a healthy BMI! Just got to keep chipping away!!

Evan: 11 Months Old!

2011-04-01T20:55:00.001-04:00

A month from today my last baby will turn ONE! Today Evan is 11 months old. He still only has TWO teeth! I only feel bad, because he LOVES food but there is only so much you can mash with your gums. Anything I give him has to be cut up into teeny tiny pieces. And when it comes to eating, this kid DOES NOT discriminate. He's had salmon, haddock, chicken enchiladas, black bean empanadas, cuban pork, BBQ pulled pork and sausage soup. Not only does this kid eat anything put in front of him, he eats LOTS of it! More than both his older brothers combined. I have never seen a kid eat like this one does!

He's also cruising up a storm. He has graduated from his pre-walkers to regular sneakers. I am hoping it will help him with his balance. He just needs to have a little more confidence and balance and he'll be walking on his own. David walked 9 days before turning one and Shaun walked 9 days after turning one, I wonder where Evan will fall! He starting to get more comfortable walking while holding onto one hand so we'll have to see if that means he'll be ready sooner rather than later!

He is also becoming quite the little singer and dancer. I never noticed it until Christel pointed it out today, but he sort of hums the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. We were walking around the Mall and Shaun was singing it when Evan chimed in. He does it all the time, but it never occurred to me how much is sounds like he is trying to sing along! It's pretty cute and something I am definitely going to have to get on video. That, along with video of his sweet dance moves he does at the Rec when Miss Sally sings "Jump around Evan". He gets his grove on!

He's getting so big and I just cannot believe he'll be one in a month!

20% & My New Goal!

2011-03-26T21:13:00.001-04:00

Today marked the last day of my third round of the Biggest Loser challenge with my board ladies! Since January 1st I have lost a total of 7 pounds (4.52% of my body weight). Since I started this journey June 18, 2010 I have lost a total of 37.4 pounds which is 20.17% of my body weight!

Last Week: 148.3
This Week: 148.0
Wk 13 Loss: 0.3 lbs
Total Loss: 7 lbs (37.4 lbs)

Thanks to a nasty cold that I have been fighting for the last two weeks, I haven't really had much energy to run (or do any exercise for that matter). So I am really happy that I have not only been able to maintain my weight but even lose a bit more! I have been very vigilant in regards to my diet and it's really made a big difference. It also helps that I can't really taste much thanks to my runny nose! Ha! I am hoping to get back into the swing of things really soon, especially since as today ends one round it's also the start of the next round!

I have set my goals and it's a simple one this time. As I get closer to my goal weight, it is coming off a lot slower. I like setting small (realistic) goals because it's really discouraging when you don't reach a goal that you have set for yourself. So my goal for the next 13 weeks is to weigh less than the Doc and maintain it! It has been almost 3 years since he started his weight loss journey and he lost 40 pounds. His average weight now is around 144. That means I need to lose a solid 5 pounds to reach that goal. That would also put me at my wedding weight which was 8.5 years ago! I am ready to get going!

Wind Him Up & Watch Him Go!

2011-03-21T21:35:00.005-04:00

Evan's getting braver and braver! He started walking around the room at the Rec today by pushing a sit and spin, so I decided to see how he would do with the wheely cart. It was a little fast for him at first but he caught on quick! Once he masters his sense of balance, he'll be walking on his own in no time!

Forgive the bad video quality, all I had was my phone today, which is better than nothing!

SHORT Shorts!

2011-03-18T22:20:00.000-04:00

For as long as I can remember, I haven't put on a pair of shorts even in the dead of summer. Instead I wore Bermuda shorts or capri's, anything to cover up my THUNDER thighs! Ha! So anyway, I was out shopping last week, and of course I had the boys with me making trying on clothes pretty much impossible. I decided to grab a bunch of different styles to buy and try on at home and then return what I didn't like. One of those items was a pair of 5" shorts (keeping in mind the shortest pair of "shorts" I wore were 12" Bermuda's).

I was curious to see how they would look on me and imagine my joy when I tried them on and they didn't look gross!! The reason I never wore them before was because shorts that short were pretty much tight around my upper thigh and let's just say it wasn't pretty! Dare I say I might actually enjoy bathing suit shopping this year!!

Fitting into SHORT shorts was just the beginning of a great week in my weight loss journey! Today I finally broke through that brick wall that was the 150's. I haven't been in the 140's since right around my wedding 8 and a half years ago!

Last Week: 150.0
This Week: 148.3
Wk 12 Loss: 1.7 lbs
Total Loss: 6.7 lbs (37.1 lbs overall)

That means, that since starting this journey, 9 months ago today, to be exact, I have lost the equivalent of my four year old! Bring on summer so I can rock my new SHORT shorts!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T21:39:00.001-04:00

Today we headed to NH for our annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration and a delicious corned beef and cabbage dinner!

This was Evan's first St. Patrick's Day and he was a big fan of the corned beef dinner, though really there isn't anything you put in front of that kid that he won't eat! I only wish I snapped a picture but by the time I thought of it, he had gobbled it all up! But I have this one of him taking a little nap before dinner!

It was such a nice day outside that I packed the boys rain boots so that they could play outside and since there is still lots of snow left that was melting it was nice and muddy! But they had lots of fun and that is all that matters!

Hope everyone enjoyed their green beer and corned beef! Erin Go Bragh!!

Under Agreement!

2011-03-16T22:02:00.001-04:00

Last week we headed north in search of our dream home. On our first trip up (Saturday, March 5th) we saw some really nice houses but none of them felt like "the one" to us, I wanted to feel like I was at "home". We decided that maybe it would be worth a second trip up north, as there was one particular listing we had not seen that we saw online, and our Realtor had mentioned a couple other listings that he could try to get us in, so we planned to go back on Thursday, March 10th.

On Monday we received an email from our Realtor, apparently he started to look at some old expired listings to see if any of them would be listing their properties again. He attached an old listing sheet for a house over in another part of town that we hadn't really thought about looking in before. We drove up on Thursday morning and started our tour. We were going to be seeing another 6 houses, plus we were going for a second look at our top choice from Saturday. Already after seeing the first three houses we knew we were going to have a better day. We were a little discouraged after that first day about not finding "the one". Now we had already seen a few that would be perfect!

We got to the second to last house late afternoon and when we pulled up to the driveway, even with the property buried in about 8 inches of snow still, I was in love! It probably helped that I had seen the exterior picture from the old listing that was obviously taken in spring/summer, which showcased the house even more! Since the house wasn't even listed, and currently being rented, the owners had a friend of theirs give us the tour. It was even better than I could have expected. It definitely gave me the warm fuzzy feeling I was hoping for! So we got home looked at all the pictures from our tours, talked and talked it over, looked at all our pictures and decided that we wanted send them an offer. The next day they sent us a counter. We had already discussed our options if that were to happen and after talking it over with our Realtor we sent them back a FINAL offer. They accepted, but it wasn't until today, 4 DAYS LATER, that we finally got the singed contract back and officially became that much closer to our new home!

The exterior from the old listing in spring

Close But NO Cigar!

2011-03-12T07:40:00.002-05:00

So I didn't make it to the 140's this week but you cannot really get any closer than that! Ha!

Last Week: 150.9
This Week: 150.0
Wk 11 Loss: -0.9
Total Loss: 5 lbs (35.4 lbs overall!!)

This was also a very big week for me running wise! I chickened out last week running at 6mph on the treadmill, but this week I got out of my head and went for it. As I was got to a 1/2 mile, I was still feeling pretty good so I decided to keep running at 6mph. I wanted to make it a mile! So I pushed myself (which got a bit harder after 7 minutes!) and did it! I ran at 6mph for one whole mile! I cannot believe it! I ran a TEN MINUTE mile! It was one of my running goals for 2011 and I am pretty darn proud of myself for reaching it!!

Mark My Words

2011-03-04T19:41:00.000-05:00

That number WILL be a FOUR next week! There are three weeks left in this round and I WILL be in the 140's even if it kills me!!

Last Week: 151.9
This Week: 150.0
Wk 10 Loss: -1.0 lbs
Total Loss: 4.1 lbs (34.5 overall)

Forgetting about the scale for a minute though, last night marked my best run yet! I ran for 35 minutes at an average speed of 5.5mph, including running for a 1/2 mile at 5.9mph (I thought about trying 6mph but I chickened out). This run also marked my fastest 2 miles (21:17) and my fastest 5k (33:07). Next time I won't let myself chicken out, I will run that 1/2 mile at 6mph, I need to just get out of my head.

Evan: 10 Months

2011-03-01T20:42:00.000-05:00

Today Evan is 10 months old. Hard to believe that in two short months he'll be ONE! He's finally starting to sleep better, not 100% through the night yet, but he is no longer up THREE (sometimes FOUR) times a night. What is nice though is that now if he does wake up I don't usually have to go in, he fusses himself back to sleep on his own. On really good nights he is down at 7 and up around 5am to nurse and then back to sleep until about 6:15-6:30am.

He has been officially off baby food for a month now. He eats what we eat and when I say eat, I mean EAT! I have started referring to him as our little Garbage Disposal, most nights eating more than David and Shaun COMBINED! Last week he even tried Salmon and he loved it! He's never really refused a food that was put in front of him, which can be a challenge since he still only has the two bottom teeth, making chewing a challenge. He's been pretty fussy the last few nights and so I am thinking it could possibly be new teeth but I haven't seen anything yet.

He is into everything now, and he especially likes sitting in front of the TV stand to play with Daddy's X-box. He likes turning it on and off because it makes a ding sound. We have started keeping a toy in front of it so he won't touch it, but he just found that he can move over to the DVD player. Other crazy things he's been doing is trying to climb the stairs and pulling plates out of the dishwasher.

On the one hand I am glad he lets me put him down more often (he's still quite the velcro baby!) but on the other hand, he is just getting into ALL kinds of trouble! Thankfully during those times the other two boys will help me out and keep an eye on him. David likes to say that he is "in charge!". That way I can get dinner prepared and not have to worry he's getting into too much trouble!!

Back On Track

2011-02-28T20:44:00.003-05:00

After a rough week, I am back on track. I am going to focus on all the positives and forget about the scale! I took last weeks gain hard because it was because I made bad choices and no amount of exercise that week was going to save me! I had to work really hard last week to get back on track and I still have work to do to get back to my low weight and a LOT more to see that FOUR I thought for sure I would have seen by now. I am always telling my four year old to make good choices and think about the consequences of his actions. I think it is time that I start doing the same!

So no more bad choices, though I am sure it's not the last gain I will see along this journey but as long as I know I worked hard hard and didn't stuff my face with crap then it will be a good week and I can be proud! I need to get back to practicing MODERATION! That is how I have been able to lose the 30+ pounds I already have. I can't eat a big bowl of popcorn EVERY night and expect to see the scale move, but, I CAN if I keep it to a once a week treat!

Last Week: 153.0
This Week: 151.9
Wk 9 Loss: 1.1
Total Loss: 3.1 lbs (33.5 overall!)

Crusin' 101

2011-02-21T21:32:00.004-05:00

We have a cruiser! He has been slowly trying to take steps while holding onto furniture and has even managed to move from one chair to another at the rec center. I have finally been able to get him to do it on camera with a little help from Shaun! I don't know if he'll be walking before the other two but one thing I do know is this kid wants to go, go, GO!

Fell off the Wagon...HARD!

2011-02-19T22:07:00.003-05:00

I have turned into a Yo-Yo and instead of doing something productive about it I wallowed. I wallowed and ate Cookie Brownies. Decadent, delicious, EVIL Cookie Brownies. I am mostly disappointed in my lack of will power when it comes to food. I have the exercise part down and in fact, I have run about 13 miles since Monday, which included a 4 mile run and a 5k. But despite all of that, I am still up almost 2.5 pounds and I have no one to blame but myself. I mean really...you can't eat decadent brownies for three days in a row and NOT expect this to happen.

So on Thursday night I broke down. I am ashamed to admit it, but what kind of blogger would I be if I made this journey look like it was all rainbows and unicorns. It's not, some days it sucks. Especially when I watch the Doc take down a huge slice of Kahlua Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and not even gain an OUNCE! This was a bad week and now that I have wallowed, it is time to do something about it. I am forcing myself to start tracking my food again using MyFitnessPal and maybe I'll be able to break through this wall soon! I have also started using my Biggest Loser Kinect game and doing some Yoga and other exercises to strengthen my core. So if nothing else I'll be more toned!

So here is the damage:

Last Week: 150.4
This Week: 153.0
Week 8 Loss: +2.6
Overall Loss: 2 pounds (32.4 overall)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T22:12:00.001-05:00

It's the holiday Hallmark invented! We got to celebrate on Saturday with our Rec friends in our jammies for a Valentine's Day Breakfast!

The boys had a blast making fun Valentine crafts, riding the train and playing with the toys! It was another great party at the Rec center!

David's sweet skull tattoo!!

Shaun riding Thomas the Train!

Evan enjoying the toys!

Today at the Rec Miss Sally had the kids make a special Valentine's Day flower for their Mommy's! Here are David, Shaun and Evans!

Such a great day, even if it is a "fake" holiday! Ha!

THIRTY FIVE POUNDS!

2011-02-13T21:18:00.005-05:00

As of Friday's weigh-in I am down THIRTY-FIVE pounds since June! Slowly but surely I will reach my goal!

Last Week: 151.1
This Week: 150.4
Wk 7 Loss: 0.7
Total Loss: 4.7lbs (35 overall!)

I have definitely hit a plateau, as I have been hovering in the low 150's for a while now. I figured out that it probably has something to do with Evan (Yes, I am shamefully blaming my baby for not being able to break out of the 150's!). Now that he is starting to eat table food and sleeping more at night he is not nursing as much (which can burn up to 500 calories a day) and I wasn't taking that into account when tracking my calories. So I will keep that in the back of my mind and work on increasing my exercise and adjusting the amount of food I eat and hopefully I'll be able to break through this plateau in the next couple of weeks!

A Small Set Back

2011-02-07T20:59:00.002-05:00

It was only a matter of time before all those snow days caught up to me! This is only my second gain since starting this journey back in June, so I really cannot complain! And it wasn't even a half a pound. But it's still a gain and as I promised myself in the very beginning of this, I was going to hold myself accountable and so here it is:

Last Week: 150.9
This Week: 151.1
Wk 6 Loss: +0.2
Total Loss: 3.9 (34.3 overall)

Looking on the bright side of this teeny tiny set back, I am getting faster with my runs! I am running 2 miles consistently around 22 minutes (or less!)! And today I ran my fastest 5k by almost minute (33:54) with a pace of under 11 minute miles! Looks like we're not going to be getting snow before the next weigh in so hopefully not being stuck in the house will cure munchies!!

And on a related note I wasn't the only one to weigh in this week! Evan and Shaun had their check-ups today and there stats are posted below! I am happy to report that Evan's weight is now proportioned to his height!

Evan's 9 Month Stats:
Weight: 19.2 pounds (23rd percentile)
Height: 27 3/4 inches (24th percentile)

Shaun's 2.7 year Stats:
Weight: 32.8 pounds (75th percentile)
Height: 36 3/4 inches (48th percentile)

Evan: 9 Months!

2011-02-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

Today Evan is NINE months old! It's so hard to believe how fast it has gone by. We are pretty much done with baby food as Evan likes "eating" what we are eating. He's had scrambled eggs, pancakes, Spanish rice with black beans, pizza, macaroni and cheese and spaghetti & meatballs. He LOVES real food! I think his favorite is the blueberry muffin I have been getting him from Dunkin Donuts, but who wouldn't love that!

He still only has two teeth (on the bottom) and we're currently working on some sleep training. He had a pretty nasty cold the last two weeks with an on and off fever so I didn't think it would be very nice of me to sleep train a sick baby! Now that he is better we've decided to try it again. So far so good. He's sleeping longer stretches and we are down to only nursing once per night instead of three times! The last two nights he even slept straight through to 3am! That is a HUGE improvement!

He has mastered getting from point A to point B, by using the Army crawl. He's so fast too! We're going to be putting up the gate very soon! Other milestones he is working on mastering, is pulling himself up to standing. He's done it a few times but he's still not 100% yet. I also won't be surprised to see him start cruising soon. You can tell he really wants to when he is standing up holding onto the couch and there is something at the other side he wants. He goes next Monday for his 9 month well check and we'll get to find out how big he is. He has really thinned out so I won't be surprised if he is around the same weight as he was at 6 months. It's all that army crawling around the living room to work off all that new food!

Chipping Away!

2011-01-30T14:00:00.000-05:00

I am slowly chipping away at all those extra pounds! I am running when I can during this winter, though finding it harder to stay motivated for various reasons, sickness going through the house, shin splints being back and all the snow days. The snow days have been the hardest for me, since it means being stuck inside and that makes me want to munch and snack.

I am definitely looking forward to all this snow melting so I can get back outside for some of my runs! I am especially interested to see how well I do running my route since I have been getting faster on the treadmill. I don't exactly know why, but I definitely run faster outside than on the treadmill. Probably has something to do with the scenery and that you're actually going somewhere! We have also set up and started using the Kinect Santa brought us for Christmas. It's much easier to use than the Wii (no remotes!) and so the boys and I have started dancing again! This game is a much better workout than the Wii one for sure!

In any case, I have no complaints about how things have been going for the most part. I have some work I need to do in the "diet" department but like I said, this has been a tough winter and we've been on an ordering out kick again. The Doc's schedule changes tomorrow so he won't be getting home as late so that will help! And hopefully Mother Nature will stop pummeling us with snow so we're not stuck inside like we have been because I am really hoping that by next week that 5 will be a FOUR! I haven't seen a FOUR in that spot since the Fall of 2002. There will be lots of celebrating when that happens for sure!

Last Week: 151.7
This Week: 150.9
Wk 5 Loss: 0.8
Total Loss: 4.1 (34.5 overall!)

Photoshop

2011-01-25T08:30:00.001-05:00

Ever since I got the new camera I have been checking out some online tutorials on how to use the Adobe Photoshop program that my Dad installed onto my computer. I have taught myself how to do boarders, adjust curves, soften an image and last night I played around with color adjustments.

Here is my before and after of a picture I took of Evan in the shower last night!

Before

After

By adjusting the colors a bit, I was able to take some of the pinkness out of the picture! This photoshop stuff is pretty cool! There is so much more that I can do in the "digital darkroom" and I am looking forward to taking an actual class someday!

Yup! Slow and Steady!

2011-01-23T09:49:00.000-05:00

They say the last 10 pounds is the hardest to lose. Well I have 17.2 pounds to go to reach my overall goal and so I keep plugging along knowing that as long as I keep running and keep making healthy food choices, I will eventually reach that goal! And I know that by losing this weight slowly, I am increasing my chances of keeping it all off!

Last Week: 152.0
This Week: 151.7
Wk 4 Loss: 0.3 lbs
Total Loss: 3.3 lbs (33.7 overall!)

One of the best things about having a group of women who all have the same goals to lean on during this journey is getting some really great tips to help everyone stay on track. In one of our tip threads I had posted these three easy things that I have done to help me along the way. The first one was to get a really good 24oz. water bottle! And fill it and drink it at least 3 times per day. I used to only drink soda. All day long. Now I hardly drink it at all and to be honest, I don't even miss it anymore!

The second tip was about taking baby steps! I have one overall weight loss goal, but found it overwhelming to think about the 50lbs I needed to lose to reach that goal. The fact that my Biggest Loser rounds are 12 weeks long, helped me break down that goal into a number of small more attainable goals. Making my goals smaller has helped keep me motivated because I am able to celebrate each victory!

And last and probably the most important thing everyone should do when starting this journey is to FORGET ABOUT THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE!!!! It's easier said than done, I know. But as long as you make healthy choices and get in some exercise your body will change and it will eventually show on the scale!! It is the reason that I swear by taking measurements and before and after pictures. Because when the scale is being unkind to me, I can go back and look at those before pictures and see just how far I have come and get back that motivation that I can do this! To add to this one of the other moms took it a step further because as she puts it, the scale doesn't tell the whole story! She suggested setting your goal to fitting in a smaller pant size or setting a fitness goal, like running a 5k, instead of a weight loss goals. That really stood out to me and I am going to remember that on weeks where the numbers are moving more slowly!

Building a Snowman

2011-01-20T17:15:00.001-05:00

Yesterday while hanging out at my parents for the day, the kids spent some time playing outside in the snow. They went sledding, had a snowball fight and with the help of Uncle Jesse (OK, so he did most of the work!) built a snowman!

He had a candy cane nose, a pickle mouth and two eyes made out of olives!!

The finished snowman!

The Dentist

2011-01-18T08:40:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday we took the boys to their very first Dentist appointments. Since our insurance changed we were all able to go to the same place and all have cleanings done together. I was having my teeth cleaned while David and Shaun went so I didn't get to see them but they both did great.

The girl was unable to do Shaun's cleaning since he would close his mouth over the polish brush! He does that with his toothbrush at home trying to "eat" the toothpaste. They told me that he is a little young anyway, they normally wait until 3 years old. But for 2.5 he did great! He sat in the chair with no trouble, got to go for a "ride" and even let the girl count his teeth! David also did great! In fact, he LOVED it, especially because the girl let him help paint on the fluoride! He had so much fun, he keeps asking when he gets to go back!

18% and 4 Miles!

2011-01-15T22:35:00.001-05:00

It's officially been 7 months since I started my journey to a healthier me and I have lost 18.02% of my body weight!

Last Week: 152.7
This Week: 152.0
Wk 3 Loss: 0.7 lbs
Total Loss: 3 lbs (33.4 overall)

I have also finally gotten back to my running routine. I have some new goals I would like to achieve this year with my running and that would be able to run a 10 minute mile and to run a 10k (at least!). There is a big road race down on the Cape Memorial Day Weekend which includes a 1/2 marathon, a 7.2 miler and a 5k. I know I can do the 5k, but I am still debating whether or not I want to give the 7.2 miler a go. It's an entire mile longer than a 10k would be. I still have time to think about it since the registration isn't open for the race yet, but it would give me something to work towards! In any case, this week I have already started working on increasing my distance by running at least a 5k on the treadmill. And tonight I ran 4 miles in 46:35 which is an average speed of 5.1 mph! I continued right into my cool down and was so proud of my accomplishment, took a picture of the treadmill with my phone!

I won't be able to do this every night, but with the help of the best running coach ever (Charlie!), we're working on coming up with a new routine. I like structure. It helps keep me focused. Eye on the prize! Or something like that!

Pancakes & The First Snow Day!

2011-01-13T12:53:00.001-05:00

We found out Tuesday (at noon) that schools would be cancelled for Wednesday. It was nice to know ahead of time so that I could plan on being stuck indoors with the boys. I tend to get cabin fever very quickly and I don't like being cooped up inside.

When we woke up Wednesday morning, the snow was coming down fast and furious. The Doc, who was not so lucky, had to go into work. He said the roads weren't great but he made it in safely. I decided to make the boys some chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, since a trip to Dunkin Donuts was out of the question! The boys were excited, since they LIVE for pancakes, but I don't normally have time in the mornings to make them. I even made a small one for Evan since, for the last few weeks we have been slowly introducing him to table foods!!

He LOVED them! You can tell by his chocolatey face!

After breakfast was over, I went down and opened up the garage to see just how much snow we had already accumulated. It wasn't much, maybe 5 inches or so, but it was WET and HEAVY.

In fact it was so heavy that it pulled down a wire from our house. Since we didn't lose power, I knew it wasn't a power line, so the only thing I can think of it being is phone line or something and we don't have a land line so it wouldn't affect us.

I came back upstairs and set up the activity that I planned for the morning. The boys Great Aunts got them some fun activity sets for Christmas and this was the prefect day to set one up. It was a plaster magnet set. It came with some paints and paint brushes. I set up some newspaper on the table and let the boys choose the magnets they wanted to paint. I even saved one for myself!

Didn't I do a fantastic job!

Schools were cancelled again today but the roads are clear so I was happy that I could get out of the house. We've already been to Target this morning and then while Evan took a short nap, I took the boys to play out in the snow in our mini-yard! After 20 minutes of being out in the cold they were ready to come in and have some hot chocolate!

Attempting snow angels in our teeny tiny front yard!

It's New Years Resolution Time

2011-01-09T20:50:00.002-05:00

And that means time to get back on the wagon! My biggest goal for the new year, besides getting down to a healthy BMI, is to be able to run a 10k. I am going to start slowly working my way up to running 3 miles consistently on the treadmill and on once the weather is a bit warmer and the side walks clear, I will be running a new course that is a total of 4 miles.

The next round of Biggest Loser is in full swing we had first weigh in on January 1st. I am starting 1.5 pounds higher than where I finished the last round, but considering all the Holiday indulgences and lack of exercise, I cannot complain!

Biggest Loser Starting Weight (my third round!)

Things have been really hectic and crazy around here. I am going on 8 straight months without a full nights sleep (thanks Evan!), add that to a busy Holiday season, and I am just spent! It has finally caught up with me, making it hard to stay motivated. So it's a good thing that the competition has started back up. I still have a good 20 pounds I would like to lose, if not more! And so far so good, I had a great first week. It helped that I have been able to give up my morning bagel sandwich habit!

Starting: 155.0
This Week: 152.7
Wk 2 Loss: 2.3 lbs
Total Loss: 2.3 lbs (32.7 overall)

It's such a good feeling to be so close to seeing that 5 become a 4!! A number that I haven't seen there since my wedding over 8 years ago!!

Bringing in the New Year

2011-01-07T14:10:00.001-05:00

With a little Christmas on the Cape, followed by Santapalooza, which was dubbed Wintahpalooza this year since it was after Christmas! We had a nice visit on the cape with the extended family. Since the boys are the only "kids" in attendance, they get spoiled rotten with attention from their Great Aunts and Great Grandmothers!

The boys with Nana

The boys with GG

The boys with Aunt Vicki and Aunt Karen

We ate some yummy foods, watched the boys play with the cool new toys they got from the family and then the adults did a Yankee swap and I feel no shame in leaving with the Popcorn maker that I had brought! Ha!

Then on Sunday we headed north for our 10th annual Santapalooza. I made a Rib Eye Roast with a Port Wine Gravy and it was served with Brian's salad, baked potatoes and roasted carrots and fennel. It was SO good!

The kids had fun decorating a gingerbread house and playing with the new toys that Santa brought Cameron and Brady!

It was the perfect way to bring in the new year! 2010 was a wonderful year and I know that 2011 will only be better!

Evan is 8 Months Old!

2011-01-02T07:56:00.000-05:00

Not only was yesterday the start of the new year, but it also meant that Evan was another month older! He is really starting to change from that baby look to a more toddler look. Having some teeth helps, he has two as of right now! Plus his hair is growing in a bit more.

We have also started giving him so real foods. He has had some scrambled eggs, ramen noodles, mac & cheese, meatballs, ice cream, banana cream pie and yesterday he even got to have some homemade cheesecake that his Great Aunt Vicki made. We're pretty certain that was his absolute favorite thing ever and MIL couldn't stuff it in his face fast enough! We'll probably start letting him try more and more "real" food, since he seems very interested in what we are eating.

In other milestones, he is on the move using the army crawl. He looks more like an inch worm since he tries to get up on his knees but can't stay there! He is also sitting up on his own, he's been using the side of his crib as leverage, but he's getting better at doing it without the leverage! It was so cute to find him sitting up after I went in to get him from his nap. Then a few days later, I went into nurse him in the night and when I walked into his room, he was STANDING UP! I figured it was just a fluke but when I went in the second time that night and he was doing it again, it was time to lower the crib. I didn't want to take any chances!

Now if we can just work on his sleeping skills! Ha!

Blizzard of 2010!

2010-12-31T21:42:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a way to end the year with our very first blizzard. We got about a foot of snow here in Boston and the winds were definitely fierce! The best part was that apparently snow removal is including in our lease! I had gone outside to shovel a spot for Charlie to park when he got home from work when a truck with my landlords name on it beeped at me! It was really good timing since Shaun was done being outside and Evan was going to be waking up from his nap soon!

Then on Wednesday we went to Grammy & Papa's house to go sledding! I even took Evan down the hill a few times! David loved sledding down the big hill and especially going over the jump that they made!

A quick video of Evan sledding!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-12-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

The song lyrics are true! Christmas is really the most wonderful time of the year! It was made even more wonderful with the news that we'll be heading north this summer. Charlie will be joining a practice up in Concord, NH. It's hard to believe that this chapter in our lives is coming to a close and we'll be able to settle down somewhere for good! I cannot wait to start house hunting and calling some place home! David is already worried about Santa not knowing where the new house is, so we promised that we'd send him a "change of address" form!

We have had a very busy couple of weeks. Our Christmas celebrations started last Saturday at our annual Rec Center party! Silly Willy the clown came and performed his magic show and then made the kids balloon puppets! Shaun asked for a Santa hat!

Then there was a visit from Santa!

The boys had a lot of fun decorating gingerbread men cookies and playing with their friends! The rest of the week was just as busy, David had his class party on Monday, while Shaun was at the Rec getting ready for a Christmas parade! This is Shaun checking out his Rudolph nose! He was pretty excited!

On Wednesday the David had his concert at school. He looked very handsome in his suit!

Thursday was a nice relaxing low key day, we headed over to Susan's to make gingerbread houses. The kits were really cute and had a little candy Santa with a sleigh. They walls were made from brown sugar and pretty heavy so they didn't stay up very well, but the kids had fun and that is all that counts!

On Christmas eve we headed to MIL & FIL's to spend the night. David wrote a note to Finn (our Elf on the Shelf) to let him know to tell Santa that we'd be staying there so he would know where to bring their presents! We went to the Christmas Eve service at the Atkinson Congregational Church and then came back to open up the traditional Christmas jammies, and then make cookies and hot cocoa for Santa before heading off to bed.

Evan liked the paper more than the Jammies!

The boys woke up at 6:40 Christmas morning but I was able to hold them off until 7am. We hung out in our bed talking about what they thought was waiting downstairs for them! David watched for the SIX to change to a SEVEN and said "It's time to go downstairs now!"

The boys before opening their gifts!

This is also a very special Christmas since it's Evan's FIRST Christmas! He had so much fun watching all the excitement going on, but mostly he just liked eating the paper!

After all of the excitement of opening gifts at MIL & FIL's we headed over to my parents for a delicious Christmas Prime Rib dinner and more festivities! My Aunt, Uncle and cousins stopped by for dessert and Secret Santa before we headed back to MIL & FIL's for to pack up and head home!

Shaun 2.5

2010-12-17T22:53:00.004-05:00

The 10th marked Shaun's half birthday and on Monday we attempted to go for his 2 and a half year check up. It was going to be good timing since I needed to go back for Evan's second dose of the flu shot. Well it turns out that since we pushed back his 2 year check up (so that it matched up with Evan's 2 month check up) a month we were 2 and a half weeks early for his 2.5 year check and therefore the insurance wouldn't cover it. I mean really, forgive me for trying to schedule the least amount of office visits possible for my three children. So in any case, since they don't care how LATE you do the check up, we have rescheduled Shaun for February when Evan goes for his 9 month check.

But since he was already undressed to be measured and weighed, and was looking forward to it (we had talked about it in the car ride over), I asked the doctor if he could go step on the scale. I was also curious to get his real time official stats, which are:

Height: 36 inches
Weight: 31 3/4 pounds

Right about in the 50th percentile for both. He has been consistently right at 50 percent since birth! Just an average Joe! In other news, he was re-evaluated for his speech today and no longer qualifies for services! That means he is emerging or at expectations in all levels. I knew he wasn't going to qualify before the big exam since he's been doing so well with using his words, but it was nice to see just how far he has come since the beginning of summer! His new favorite thing to do is sing Jingle Bells and so I am going to try and get him on video, it seriously is the cutest thing ever!

Enchanted Village

2010-12-06T23:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday was MIL's birthday so we celebrated with lunch and a trip to the Enchanted Village at Jordan's Furniture. The boys had a blast seeing all the Christmas displays, but their favorite thing was when the lady made it snow inside! After we walked through the village we waited our turn to see Santa! David couldn't wait to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and Shaun too! I wasn't sure if Shaun would sit on his lap but he ran right up to him and told him that he wanted a Mr. Pricklepants for Christmas! Evan even had fun meeting Santa for the very first time!
When we got home, the boys got to enjoy their early Christmas present from Omi & Grampy, a train set for around our Christmas tree! It was a magical day filled with lots of Christmas cheer! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

The Entrance:

Checking out the Sights

David & Omi

The Boys with Santa!

Evan liked Santa's Hat!

Setting up the new train set!

The new Train!

Is a Big Loser (again!)

2010-12-05T21:40:00.002-05:00

Friday was the last weigh in for the 12 week Biggest Loser competition on my board and I came in 4th place (tough competition this time!) having lost a total of 11.4 pounds! In 24 weeks I have lost 17.21% of my body weight for a total of 31.9 pounds, which is basically the equivalent of Shaun!! I am comfortably in a size 10 now and have lost a total of 5.5 inches off my waist!

One of the requirements of the game was to take before and after pictures. I took them, but swore I would never show them on here. Seeing the woman from my board posting their results is what motivated me to (finally) get my lazy butt off the couch and onto a treadmill and so I decided to post mine, in the off chance that my pictures will motivate someone to do this!! Now I am not a crazy person, I'll spare you all the stretch mark belly images by only showing my results from behind!

The official competition is on hold until January 1st, but a few of us have made a pact to weigh in the hopes to maintain during the holidays. I might be a tad bit ambitious but I am hoping to continue losing! I still have 19 pounds to lose to get to a healthy BMI and that is just to get to the top range of healthy! I hope to be there by Summer! I may never be able to wear a bikini ever again (thanks to my little loves!) but it will be nice not dreading bathing suit shopping!!!

Evan: 7 Months!

2010-12-01T14:02:00.007-05:00

Today Evan is 7 months old!

He's getting so big! According to the Wii Fit Baby Stats he is 19.2 pounds and we're just about ready to start packing away for the last time all the 6-9 month clothes. I have been putting him in size 12 months and 12-18 month clothes now. The 12-18 month pants area little long but they fit nice around the waist! About a week ago we noticed that he was starting to get his first tooth, it finally broke through on Thanksgiving Day but it is still a little hard to see. Last night was the best picture we've been able to get of it. You have to look really close!

He is starting to get up on his knees, so I don't think crawling will be far off now! He already moves around the living room floor by rolling and scooting on his belly. Now we just have to work on those sleeping skills! For a kid that barely naps during the day, you'd think he'd sleep all night!

The Elf on the Shelf!

2010-11-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

Tonight while I was cooking dinner we got a surprise visitor, an Elf on the Shelf!

He is an Elf sent from the North Pole by Santa! He will watch over our house and report back to Santa each night returning back to our house in the morning! Each morning it will be the boys job to find our new friend! While dinner was in the oven we read the story that came with our new friend. It told us that we need to name him! So at dinner, we brainstormed and came up with a list of names!

I wrote down some of the names David came up with but he wanted to write his own down. The last one he wrote was F-I-N. He asked me if that was a real name, since the previous words didn't really go together. I told him it was (even though it should have two N's) and he told me that the list was ready! It was time for us to vote on a name. Since the Doc and I were pretty proud of David for writing the word FIN by himself, that became our vote! David voted for it too and then asked Shaun if he liked it! Evan's vote made it unanimous.

So I would like to introduce you to our new friend who will be watching over us this Holiday season, Finn the Elf!

Yesterday David had written out a letter to Santa, I suggested that maybe he read his list to Finn, because the magical Elf book told us that he takes notes of everything and reports it all back to the big guy himself!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the traditions and I am glad that we have another one to add to our list! This is going to be so fun!

Da-Da!

2010-11-28T22:41:00.006-05:00

I haven't been very good about posting videos of Evan. It seems with each child the amount of video footage has shrunk dramatically. However, in my defense David lived the first two years of his life in Pennsylvania so no one really got to see him do all of these things. Evan has already been able to show off this new trick, but I am still glad that I was (finally) able to capture it on camera!

Evan using his first real sound DA-DA! It's always DA-DA, why can't it ever be MA-MA?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-28T08:22:00.007-05:00

I just love this time of year! I love the food and spending time with family and then getting out all the Christmas decorations. Thursday started with the Newburyport Turkey Trot. It was cold but fun! The boys, MIL & SIL came to cheer us on and SIL took some great pictures!

After the race we headed back to the IL's to get ready for Turkey Dinner at my parents house. It's always a zoo there but always a good time! Didn't hurt that this year the Pats played and kicked some butt!

The Doc had to work that night and into Friday, so it was just me and the boys and we headed out for some pancakes at one of our favorite breakfast places. Then I decided to venture out to the Mall to walk around. Since most of the door-busters were over at that point, it wasn't totally crazy, but it was still busy. Later that night the Doc brought up all the decorations for the tree and the boys got to help put it together!

Then yesterday was Thanksgiving Part 2, down on the Cape! The boys were spoiled with attention from their Great Aunts and Nana and after dinner we took the boys down to a park to run off some energy! It was a great weekend and I am now officially ready for Christmas!

Four Generations!

The Secret to Beating the Holiday Bloat...

2010-11-26T22:05:00.001-05:00

Is to run a 5k Thanksgiving morning! Because, while I didn't stuff my face (as the "old me" would have), I still ate and I even had a sliver of each the pumpkin, apple and pecan pies!

Last Week: 154.2
This Week: 153.9
Wk 11 Loss: 0.3 lbs
Total Loss: 11 lbs (31.5 overall)

I ran in my very first race yesterday and even with a few curve balls thrown my way, (the course was hilly, and no posted mile markers) I finished in just under 40 minutes. My official race time was 39:58, which was 2 seconds faster than I had originally thought!

Here are the Turkey Trotters, me, the Doc, the Stacks and Krystal!

I am so glad I decided to do this! It was an amazing feeling crossing that finish line and I can't wait to do more! And the best part, is that it kept me from gaining the typical Thanksgiving feast weight!!

THIRTY POUNDS! insert happy dance here!

2010-11-19T23:13:00.002-05:00

Today I can officially say that I have lost 30 pounds (31.2 to be exact!) in 5 months!!

Pinch me, because I MUST be dreaming! I really needed a big week and for it to come right before Thanksgiving is just the boost I need to keep me honest next Thursday! My goal for next week is to pretty much maintain. I don't plan on stuffing my face, but I also plan on eating without worrying about counting calories! It's Thanksgiving after all and I have worked really hard! Running my very first 5k first thing in the morning won't hurt either!

Last Week: 157.0
This Week: 154.2
Wk 10 Loss: 2.8 lbs
Total Loss: 10.7 lbs (31.2 overall)

With only 2 weeks left in this round, it's doubtful that I will reach my goal to lose a total of 10% of my body weight. I would need to lose a total of 6 pounds for that to happen, which is pretty ambitious! But it was an ambitious goal to begin with so I am not even the slight bit disappointed. After all, I have lost over 10 pounds in 10 weeks; who could be disappointed with those kind of results!

Slow and Steady...

2010-11-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

I won't lie, it's a little discouraging to see how fast the first 20 pounds came off and now I am lucky if I can lose a full pound in a week. But with the exception of one week I have been steadily losing weight for the last 21 weeks, so I do hate to complain. It's just that I still have 22 pounds to lose to get to a healthy BMI and it looks like it's going to take a little longer to get there than I had anticipated. So to help move things along and hopefully give my body a much needed boost/kick in the pants, I will be walking on the treadmill on my days off from running, with the intention of making one of those days another running day once I am no longer getting up with Evan.

Last Week: 157.3
This Week: 157.0
Wk 9 Loss: 0.3 lbs
Total Loss: 7.9 lbs (28.4 overall)

So next week we'll see if the additional days of exercise have an affect on the scale! It would be a huge boost and so motivating to have a bigger loss next week!

My Boys!

2010-11-09T20:48:00.001-05:00

And by boys, I mean everyone in the house except for me! Just thought I would post a few updates about the family. I mean it is after all, not always about me! Ha! I will start with Evan since he had his 6 month check up today. He's no longer a big fat baby, but he's definitely still a shorty.

Height: 25.5 inches (10th percentile)
Weight: 18.2 pounds (54th percentile)

Other than being vertically challenged, he is in perfect health! He was all smiles for the doctor and had a great time showing off by doing lots of crunches. I am pretty sure he's got some abs of steel under the baby fat!

Moving on to Shaun. He has come a LONG way in his speech since we went cold turkey on the binky. I know he still misses it because every once in a while we'll catch him sneaking the ones we have around the house for Evan. He knows they are the babies but he cannot help himself! He has two more months left of Early Intervention and I know he is going to miss his caseworker when we are all done. She has been coming once a week while David is in school to work with him on getting him to use his words, like asking for help when he is frustrated or asking for a turn when he wants to play with something. He can say most of the alphabet now and can count to 20! He can match all his colors, like put all the red blocks together and all the green blocks, and is about 80 percent on knowing the right word for the color. Now if only we can get him to tell us when he has a poopy diaper and use the potty we'd be all set!

David just had school pictures on Monday. He looked so handsome and so grown up in his blazer. I wasn't sure if he would end up wearing the jacket for the actual picture so I wanted to make sure that I got one with him in it. He is starting to sound out words and he's getting really good at telling time. And even though he has an August birthday and we could potentially keep him back another year, there is no doubt in my mind that he's going to be ready for Kindergarten next year!

Now where will that be? That is the question. Right now the Doc is currently finishing up his last year of Fellowship and in the process of searching for open positions. It's exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. Hopefully we'll have an answer soon! We are looking forward to settling down for good, it's been a long time coming!

15%

2010-11-05T21:36:00.001-04:00

Today my total percentage of weight loss is 15.16%! And on top of that, I am in the best shape of my life. I am now consistently running at least 2 miles four nights a week and looking forward to adding in one more day once my darling 6 month old decides to let me sleep at night. I still have a lot of work to do but I am taking it one day at a time. My overall goal has always been to get to a healthy weight for my height and that is 135, so 22 more pounds to go!

Last Week: 158.2
This Week: 157.3
Wk 8 Loss: 0.9 lbs
Total Loss: 7.6 lbs (28.1 overall!)

Evan's Half Birthday!

2010-11-01T22:15:00.001-04:00

Evan is 6 months old today and he is getting so big! I won't know for sure until we go to his check up next week but he's on pace to be as big as Shaun was if not more! He wears 9 month onesies and pajamas and 6-12 month pants and shirts! He has been sitting up for a while now which is nice because he's not always happy to be left in the exersaucer. He's a snuggler and loves to be held ALL. THE. TIME! The joke in the family is that he has "First Baby Syndrome". He's not happy unless someone is paying attention to him at all times, preferably while being held!

6 Months Old!

Over the last week we have started giving him more foods. We started meats and he has even been eating some chunky stage 3 foods. He LOVES the stuff! He does not discriminate either. He likes it all! We have also let him try a teething biscuit. He was a little unsure about it but I think he liked having something to gnaw on!

Tonight we also gave him his first sippy cup to try and put some baby juice in it. Since I have exclusively nursed him since birth, he has never had a bottle and so it was funny watching him try to figure out the cup! He got it eventually, it's just something he'll need to get used to!

And last, the latest milestone is being able to balance himself standing up (holding on to something of course!). He has been hitting all the milestones around the same time as his older brothers did so I decided to see if he could balance himself and he could! I wonder now if he'll follow the same pattern for cruising and walking! He's trying really hard to sit himself up from a laying down position but he just doesn't have the strength yet so we shall see!

I am looking forward to seeing his stats next week. According to the Wii, he's is around 18.5 pounds. I am just crossing my fingers that he grew up too! I am not very hopefull, the kid is just a big giant meatball, short and stout!

Skinny Jeans

2010-10-29T20:53:00.000-04:00

After last weeks weigh in I thought I still had a bit before I would be wearing size 10 jeans, but my size 12 jeans were definitely way loose. I decided to head to the store to pick up a pair of size 10 jeans. I had always loved the look of skinny jeans and boots but knew I could never pull it off before. But now that I have lost almost 30 pounds I decided to go out of my comfort zone and buy a pair! So that is just what I did last week, I bought my first ever pair of skinny jeans! It has been a long time since I have felt this good in clothes! I still need to lose about 23 more pounds to be in the normal BMI range for my height but it's nice to be able to look in the mirror and not cringe (as much! Ha!)

Down another half pound this week! Always nice to see the scale going down even if it is in small increments!

Last Week: 158.7
This Week: 158.2
Wk 7 Loss: 0.5 lbs
Total Loss: 6.7 lbs (27.2 overall!)

Now that I have completed C25k, I wasn't really sure what was next for me. I knew I was still going to keep up with the running and work on training for the big race but I wasn't sure what the plan would be. I like structure and plans but didn't know what I should do. Lucky for me, the Doc is a hardcore runner, having recently ran the Boston Half Marathon. He came up with a new plan for me that keeps me on a specific schedule while also working on my speed. I started on Monday and it looks like this:

Day 1: Regular Run (average about 30 minutes - between 2 and 2.5 miles)

Day 2: Intervals - it will work like the C25k program, training my body to be able to run at a faster pace by slowly building up to it! (on Tuesday I did 60 seconds at 5.5mph and 90 seconds at 4mph for about 20 minutes, next time I will increase the interval time, the Doc suggest 2 minutes at the fast pace and 5 minutes at the slow pace to recover).

Day 3: Regular Run (same as above

Day 4: 5k

Tomorrow night is my 5k night and it will be my second go at straight running it. Sometime in the near future I'll be taking this 5k outside and I imagine my times will be very different! The treadmill paces me so I will be very interested to see how I pace myself on my own.

I'm a C25k Graduate!!

2010-10-22T21:26:00.000-04:00

On the eve of my 31st birthday I set a goal to run a 5k. And tonight that is just what I did! It was the last day of my the training program, week 9 day 3 and after talking to the Doc about my training, he suggested that tonight after the 5 minute warm up walk, that I set the treadmill to 4.5mph and go the distance. I thought, why not! Let's see if I can do this - it is after all what I spent the last month and a half working towards!

It felt amazing; you have no idea just how proud of myself I am! A 5k at 4.5mph is about 41:25, and that is not too shabby for someone who, up until last early last month, hadn't run a day in her life! It's a good feeling to know that I can do it, especially since as of yesterday I am officially signed up for my very first 5k! I, along with the Doc and some other friends, will be running the 21th Annual WCRC Turkey Trot in Newburyport on Thanksgiving Day! Now that I know I can go the distance the Doc (my very own personal trainer!) is going to set up a new program for me to work on my time! But honestly, my goal for this first race is to finish! Having never run outside before, I will be happy just be able to say that I ran the entire distance!

And in other news, I am down another half pound! I don't care how small the loss is I LOVE seeing those numbers going down, down, down!

Last Week: 159.1
This Week: 158.7
Wk 6 Loss: 0.4 lbs
Total Loss: 6.2 lbs (26.7 overall!)

And since this is the halfway point in round two of my Biggest Loser Challenge, I also took my measurements. I have lost an inch off my waistline, and a total of FIVE inches since starting this journey back in June! I see myself in those size 10's very soon!!

Green beans and Raspberries!

2010-10-20T22:26:00.005-04:00

Evan has been eating all kinds of food now! I guess that is what happens when you're the third child. All caution is thrown to the wind. I just didn't have the patience this time around to wait a week before introducing something new. With the exception of the Doc's mild shrimp allergy, we don't really have a history of food allergies in the family and Evan seemed to enjoy trying all the yummy fruits and veggies. I really like the blends that come in the pouches. My favorite pictures were always the ones where they tried the green beans. So here is Evan's first time with green beans the other day!

Another new milestone (if you can even call it that!) is sticking out his tongue and blowing raspberries! He is lucky that he is 5-1/2 months old and that it's still considered cute!

Also, everyone keeps telling me that Evan is going to keep his blue eyes and I would tell them, that Shaun had blue eyes too at this point and his changed, but upon further research, I was in fact mistaken. Shaun no longer had his blue eyes at 5 months old and Evan's are still very much blue! So that means everyone was right and it looks like we have ourselves a blue eyed baby!

Fall Favorites

2010-10-16T22:33:00.000-04:00

Fall makes for some of the best pictures! Check out the beautiful fall photos that Krystal got of the boys! I tweaked them and added the borders, and I can't wait to print them out and frame them! There are so many more good ones, but those will have to wait for another day! For now, here are my favorites!

I Can Jog 2 Miles!

2010-10-15T23:07:00.001-04:00

I can jog 2 miles! Never in a million years would I have thought that sentence would have come from me, but it is!!!! Tonight I finished Week 8 Day 2 of the C25k program, which is a 5 minute warm up walk and then jog for 28 minutes! Tonight I clocked 2.795 miles total (that includes the warm up and cool down), I am so close to 3.1 and I am feeling very confident that I'll be ready for my first race on Thanksgiving Day!

Since I am really serious about this whole running thing, the Doc took me to Marathon Sports Monday, and got me my very first pair of running shoes! First the salesman watched me walk a few times and then came back with a pair of shoes. They were much more comfortable than the cross trainers I was wearing before. After I put them on, he had me go outside and watched me jog up the sidewalk. Can you say, awkward! Ha! Apparently he saw that I was rolling off the side of my foot, something I didn't do while walking and had me try on a different pair of shoes that corrects for it. I couldn't believe how comfortable these shoes are. Next on the agenda, some new running clothes for the big race!

I am on a steady pace to reach my goal and it feels good that I really was able to say buh-bye 160! A small loss this week, but it's still a loss!

Last Week: 159.7
This Week: 159.1
Wk 4 Loss: 0.6 lbs
Total Loss: 26.3 lbs

Pumpkin Carving & Decorating

2010-10-14T16:19:00.007-04:00

Halloween is so fun! I love driving around seeing all the decorations people put up, I love picking out costumes for the boys and of course Trick or Treating! This year along with carving our pumpkin, I got a few decorations for the boys to put up outside, a couple tombstones, a big giant spider and some cob webs.

David helping clean out the pumpkin

The boys helping Daddy get ready to carve the pumpkin!

Getting the pattern ready

Carving the pumpkin

The finished pumpkin

Front yard decorations

GIANT spider

Our pumpkins

The boys had fun putting up the spider web and helping me find a home for the skulls! I am really looking forward to all of our Halloween festivities this year! I even got a costume for myself!

Get them to the Church on Time!

2010-10-11T21:08:00.001-04:00

On Saturday John and Kim tied the knot! It was a GORGEOUS day, a beautiful ceremony and rocking reception! Congrats and best wishes for a wonderful life together!

Goodbye 160's

2010-10-08T15:25:00.001-04:00

I had to rub my eyes this morning to make sure that what I was seeing was real. I haven't seen a FIVE after the one since before I was pregnant with David. That was almost five years ago! I was pretty much on cloud nine this morning! Goodbye 160's, and may I NEVER EVER see you again!

Last Week: 161.0

This Week: 159.7

Wk 4 Loss: 1.3 lbs

Total Loss: 25.7 lbs

Yes! You read that correctly! I have officially lost (a little over) TWENTY-FIVE pounds which is 13.86% of my body weight! Picture, if you will, me doing a happy dance! I have now completed 6 weeks of the Couch to 5k training and will start week 7 tonight! The intervals are now over and it's all about the jogging! Week 6 Day 3 was to jog for 25 minutes and I did it! I am jogging slowly but I feel really good and I am confident that I'll be ready come Thanksgiving for my FIRST road race (like ever in my life!).

The comments and support from all of you have been invaluable to me! There are no words! Thank you all very much!

Sitting Up!

2010-10-07T22:31:00.005-04:00

For a couple weeks now, Evan has been doing "crunches" when he would be laying on his back. It seem pretty obvious that he had some strong ab muscles but I was still surprised when someone pointed out to me over the weekend that Evan had sat up in his chair. The chair is inclined a bit but still he pulled himself all the way upright!

David and Shaun first sat up at five months old too, but not this early, so I wasn't sure if Evan would be able to hold his balance. I decided to try tonight anyway and put him on the floor and sure enough, he was able to hold his balance! He's not 100% there, he fell backwards a couple times, but he was able to hold his balance for a good five minutes while Daddy took some pictures!

Using his hands to help balance

So proud of himself!

The PERFECT Fall Weekend!

2010-10-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

Started with some apple picking in NH with my cousins.

Ready to Pick some Apples:

Shaun's apple:

The Tractor Ride:

David's pumpkin:

After apple picking we headed home and then took Daddy over to Piers Park. It's a beautiful park in East Boston that is right on the harbor, with an amazing view of the city. It was the perfect day for a fall photo shoot!

The weekend ended today with the Stack boys birthday bash! Brady is going to be 5 on the 12th and Cameron turned 3 on the 25th! The kids had a lot of fun and the biggest hit of the day wasn't any of the birthday gifts, but rather a box that one of the gifts was packaged in! Because really, who needs toys when you have a box!

Happy Birthday Brady & Cameron!

I JOGGED for TWENTY Minutes!!

2010-10-02T06:43:00.001-04:00

Week 5 in the C25K program is very different than the previous weeks had been. The previous weeks were the same routine each day, week 5 was a different routine for the three days and it went as follows:

Day 1: Brisk 5 minute warm-up walk then jog for 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes, jog 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes and then jog 5 minutes.

Day 2: Brisk 5 minute warm-up walk then jog for 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes and jog 8 minutes

Day 3: Brisk 5 minute warm-up walk then jog for TWENTY MINUTES!

I would be lying if I wasn't a little nervous but many people have told me that running is 90% mental and I was going to push through it no matter what and I did it! And it felt pretty good! I have to say that I am a little proud of myself! My hard work is paying off and I can't say it enough, it's such a great feeling!

Now if only I can get back into making better choices about my food, I may start showing bigger losses. But a loss is a loss so, this week:

Last Week: 161.9
This Week: 161.0
Wk 3 Loss: 0.9 lbs
Total Loss: 24.4 lbs

This weeks loss was a little less than a pound, but add that into my overall total, and I am about a half a pound away from losing a total of TWENTY-FIVE pounds! I have never felt better than I do right now, I am looking forward to getting down into a healthy weight range for my height. Now if only I can stop getting myself a BAGEL for breakfast every morning maybe I can get there a little faster! Ha!

Evan is 5 Months Old Today!

2010-10-01T16:23:00.001-04:00

Today Evan is 5 months old! He is getting to big, he is eating some baby food now (rice and oatmeal cereal, carrots and peas). He is the happiest baby, loves to snuggle and so easy going, which is great considering that we're always on the go!!

According to BabyStats on the Wii Fit Plus, Evan is 18.5 pounds! At his 4 month check last month he was 17lbs 7oz (which put him in the 83rd percentile) and 25 inches (38th percentile). The Wii measures him higher than the doctors office so he's probably more like 18 pounds, still a very big boy who is wearing 9 month onesies and 6-12 month clothes! Clothes David was wearing at ONE!

Here are some cute shots of Evan today!

"Lay Off Me, I'm Starving!"

2010-09-28T21:43:00.000-04:00

Would be the words coming out of my sweet little baby boy these days if he could talk!! Evan will be 5 months old on Friday and I could just tell he was ready for something more. He would give me this sad look every time we had ice cream and I feel so bad. So last week I started giving him rice cereal. He LOVED it, so much in fact that he took the spoon away from me and started to feed himself!

Ready for some food!

I got this Mommy!

Trying out some oatmeal!

David helping out his little brother!

And tonight we added in some carrots!

He is so funny when it comes to eating. He is very impatient, so much so that he grabbed the bowl of food I put in front of him and tried to eat from it. I stepped way for 2 seconds to get a spoon!

No Longer Obese!

2010-09-24T15:15:00.000-04:00

Today is weigh-in day and I am down another (almost) 2 pounds! That puts my BMI at 29.6 which means I am no longer considered obese! Now when I wear my most favorite capri pants, they are a little loose! It is such a great feeling! And I am on such a roll (knock on wood!) that I used a gift card my SIL got me for my birthday and bought a pair of size 10 jeans! I would probably need to lose another 5 pounds, at least, to be able to wear them but I figured it would be good motivation.

Last Week: 163.8
This Week: 161.9
Wk 2 Loss: 1.9 lbs
Total Loss: 23.5 lbs

I look MUCH better than I did the last time I was this weight. I am definitely liking the changes that I am seeing and it is keeping me motivated. I never thought of myself as a runner but I am hooked now, especially if I am going to see results like this!! I highly recommend checking out C25K, you will be amazed at what you can do, you just have to tell yourself that you can!

Jack & Jill

2010-09-20T18:12:00.000-04:00

Saturday was my brother and his wife-to-be Kim's Jack & Jill Party! It was a Mexican Fiesta, complete with raffles, music and a make-your-own taco bar (compliments of yours truly and her sous chefs). A great time was had by all, and in the end, it was the groom who was saved from getting the cool whip pie to the face!!

The Bride & Groom (to be)

Pie in the Face! Kim is such a good sport!

Round 2

2010-09-19T21:59:00.000-04:00

Friday was weigh in day for my second round of biggest loser and I am down another pound! I am on a roll!

Starting Weight: 164.9
Week 1 Weight: 163.8
Week 1 Loss: 1.1 lbs
Total Overall: 21.6

More important to me though, than the number on the scale, is how great I feel and the physical NOTICEABLE changes! Tonight I completed week 3 of the C25k and am starting to really improve my endurance! It's amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it!

It's That Time of Year Again!

2010-09-13T20:58:00.007-04:00

This is my most favorite time of year. I love the colors, the smells, the weather, the activities and most of all the PATS! The boys were ready too in their jerseys. David wanted to know which ones were the "bad guys!"

Today was the start of our playgroup! This year Shaun is going without his big brother (since David is now in school during that time). He had so much fun today singing all the old songs and some new ones! Now he won't have to be so sad when we drop David off at school! He wanted to wear a backpack just like his big brother! And you may recognize the outfit as David's first day of school outfit from last year!

Edited to add in David's Four Year Stats & Evan's 4 Month Stats:

David:

Weight: 37 pounds (56th Percentile)

Height: 39 inches (17th Percentile) - still a little shorty!

Evan:

Weight: 17.4 pounds (83rd percentile)

Height: 25 inches (38th percentile)

Mission Accomplished!!!!!

2010-09-10T20:01:00.001-04:00

If someone were to tell me 12 weeks ago that I would be back to my pre-pregnancy weight, I probably would have laughed. I would have laughed because I never made it to my pre-pregnancy weight after I had Shaun, and I haven't seen my weight before getting pregnant with David, coming up on 5 years now! I have spent the last five years between being pregnant and recovering from being pregnant and my weight has gone from 155 to 215 pounds during that time. I made excuses, telling myself that there was no point in losing weight because I was just going to get pregnant again. Pretty lame, I know.

After I had Evan, I knew I was done having children which meant I no longer had that excuse at my disposal. It didn't matter because I came up with new excuses. I am nursing my baby, I am too tired from having a newborn, I'll be ready in a few months...the list goes on. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the weight wasn't melting off as it had my previous pregnancies. I was stuck at 185 pounds and feeling really down on myself. The only thing left to do was stop making excuses, I needed to just do it! And that is just what I did! I joined my Mommy Board's Biggest Loser competition, stopped making excuses and started holding myself accountable!

I started off slow, making small changes to my diet and adding in some exercise, usually playing some Just Dance on the Wii, with David and Shaun. Once I got myself into the routine of exercising, I was ready for more. I picked up a copy of the 30 Day Shred. I had heard great things about it and decided it was exactly what I needed to kick things into high gear! I put in the DVD and took on the challenge. I was going to do this DVD for 30 days and see where that got me! It was HARD! I yelled at my TV and cursed up a storm, but I wasn't giving up. I made the commitment and I wasn't going to quit! And wouldn't you know all my hard work paid off in the end because:

Starting Weight on June 21, 2010

Ending Weight on September 10, 2010

Last Week: 166.7
This Week: 164.9
Wk 11 Loss: 1.8 lbs
Total Loss: 20.5 lbs

I accomplished what I set out to do and reached my goal! I have lost 11.09% of my body weight, and my BMI has gone from 33.9 to 30.2. I am well on my way to a healthier me! I have signed up for another round of the contest and have made a new weight loss goal, to lose at least another 10%, which would be 16 pounds! I want to thank you all again for all the kind words, encouragement and support you have shown me as I have blogged about my weight loss journey!

Hurricane Earl

2010-09-06T23:08:00.004-04:00

or rather, what was supposed to be Hurricane Earl! With the anticipation of the "hurricane" last Friday we decided to take the boys over to the beach to check out the HUGE waves!

Hurricane Earl is coming!

The Boys having fun on the beach!

So much for the boys first hurricane! But it was still a fun time running in the wind!

10%

2010-09-03T23:05:00.002-04:00

That is right, as of todays weigh-in I have officially lost 10% of my body weight! I can't believe it.

Last Week: 167.2
This Week: 166.7
Wk 11 Loss: 0.5 lbs
Total Loss: 18.7 lbs

I am feeling really great! I definitely have more energy and the accountability of weighing in every week has kept me on track, especially on those nights when I didn't really want to exercise! Which is now, since Evan has hit a growth spurt and is up nursing every 2 hours! But I made a promise to myself that there would be NO EXCUSES! So I keep plugging away and slowly but surely the pounds are dropping!

After spending 30 days with Jillian, and only 1.2 pounds away from my first weight loss goal I am ready for more. So on the eve of my 31st birthday, I have set my next goal. I want to be able to run a 5k road race! I have been inspired by the mom's on my board and so tonight I did it, week 1 day 1 of the Couch to 5k program. So I plan to follow the program and when I have finished, sign up for a road race! I like structure and so I think this is going to be a great way to get fit and maybe even drop some more weight! It worked for Charlie!

First Day of School & Evan is FOUR Months!

2010-09-01T22:03:00.000-04:00

Today was David's first day of his second year at Happy Day Nursery School! It was really on Monday but we were away on vacation. We snapped some pictures of him all dressed up in his first day of school outfit (which ended up being a back up outfit due to the nasty 95 degrees weather outside today). He was so excited about his pirate backpack and matching pirate hat!

He was so excited to see his friends from last year and meeting new friends. It was a great first day and I know he is going to have a gerat year!!

Today is also the first of the month which means Evan is now FOUR months old! I cannot beleive how time is flying! He is still holding strong at 17.5 pounds (according to the Wii)! And because of that, we have officially retired our infant baby car seat carrier. I am sad because I will miss the convienince of the carrier but the burises on my legs from propping him up to carry him say otherwise! We have also retired the baby swing and upgraded him to a rocker seat! It's good up until 40lbs so he has plenty of room to grow into this one! He has also upgrade to size 3 diapers! The 2's just weren't cutting it anymore!

He has his four month check next Tuesday and I'll get his official stats and percentiles but I can gaurentee that he'll be bigger than both David and Shaun were at 4 months! He carries his chunk in his thighs so the picture doesn't really show off just how much of a besat he is!

I have put together a Birth to Four Month slide show, as I did with both David and Shaun (can't forget about Evan!)