Get them to the Church on Time!

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

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!

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!

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!!

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!

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!"

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!

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

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

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!

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!!!!!

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

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%

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!

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!)