Post-Baby Weight Loss - Week 12

Since spring has finally sprung, I decided to spruce up the ol' blog a bit.

I gave her a new spring-inspired layout and figured out how to center the blog title and description with the help of Google all by myself.

I also spruced up my weight loss ticker. Notice anything different? Yep, according to it I've almost reached my "goal" weight. I didn't have a huge weight loss or anything...

I had an epiphany.
At work I have a huge project to complete. There are a lot of small steps I have to do first in order to complete the project as a whole. To manage all the smaller steps, I divided the project into four, easier to manage halves. The idea struck me to apply this same principle to my weight loss. Instead of striving for my end goal from the beginning, it makes more sense for me to break up my 17 pounds goal into smaller, more manageable portions. So I'm going to take it 5 pounds at a time. This way, there will be less reason for me to beat myself up and I'll be able to focus on attaining my smaller goals while still working towards my goal weight.

With all this sprucing up, I can't help but feel like I am starting over with my weight loss. I am the first to admit I did not do as well as I thought and hoped I would have with Weight Watchers. But that's my fault. Now that my subscription is coming to an end, the pressure is on to get to where I want to be.

I was able to workout 3 days in a row and it felt AMAZING! It was just the kick in my pants I needed to make sure I was eating right also. Then the week went to hell in a hand basket. Colin got super sick on Thursday and I barely had time to stop and eat let alone make sure what I was eating was healthy. But I tried. Seriously, I did. If we ate out, I ordered everything without cheese or mayo or anything else "bad". I drank water instead of soda. I got a salad instead of fries. And I tried to move as much as I could. I walked circles in the ER and at home while rocking Colin instead of sitting. I cleaned the house instead of sitting around while he slept. Hopefully that all paid off...

I did gain weight but it's hard for me to determine how much since I haven't tracked my weight in a few weeks. According to my Weight Loss Tracker on WW, I gained 2.4 pounds.

Ouch. That one stings a bit.

Keeping my new smaller goal in mind, it helps tremendously to know I only have to lose 4 pounds to get to my goal.

A wedding, a sleep over and Easter

Whew. This has been a whirl wind weekend!

Friday was my brother Corey's wedding day. It was such a beautiful wedding and reception. I can honestly say I never thought he would get married - he never struck me as the marrying type -  so witnessing it made the day that much more special.

The wedding party.

 Friday also marked Colin's first overnight stay away from home. . He stayed with Mark's parents. They were so excited but it was hard for me to let him go. I wasn't ready. I didn't cry, though. It was raining so I had to hurry and get him in his car seat and there wasn't time for me to stand around and think about it too much. I missed him like crazy but it was nice to have an evening where Mark and I could be "off duty". We were able to just have fun and enjoy the evening without worrying about Colin. 

Saturday morning was busy, too. We picked Colin up at 9, went to watch Corey and Elizabeth open their wedding gifts and Mark had softball practice. Thankfully we all got to take a nap before prepping the food for Easter lunch.  

And today is Easter! We are heading to Heather and Trevor's house for lunch with my side of the family and then tonight we'll have dinner with Mark's family. We started the day by searching for Colin's Easter basket. Mark his it really well since it was me doing the searching...jerk :-).

In the basket Colin got:

-The book "You Are My Sunshine". I sang that song to him while pregnant and I still sing it to him. It's a special thing for us.

-The book "The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs".

-A stuffed blue elephant.

-A jar of sweet potato baby food.

-2 rattles.

-And of course, candy for mom and dad :-)

Two more things about this weekend...

COLIN ROLLED OVER ON SATURDAY!

And there won't be a Post-Baby Weight Loss update. Idon'tevenwannaknow.

Happy Easter!!

4 and a half month stats

Weight: 14 pounds, 50th percentile
Height: 24 3/4 inches, 50th percentile
Head circumfrance: 25th percentile

My tiny baby is now average - whoo hoo! He's growing so fast, it makes me super sad but I'm ecstatic that he is doing so well. He seems to learn or do something new every week which has been awesome to watch.

He has learned to punch reach and grab. He now reaches for his toys when they are put in front of him. I've been showing him how to hug. He loves it and giggles the whole time. Last night he almost rolled over from his back to his belly. He got so close. He definitely knew what he was doing because he did it probably 15 times in a row. One time he got his legs over but just couldn't get over his shoulder.

He also got his second round of shots at the doctor. The nurse wouldn't let me hold him. She had a legitimate reason. It's easier to control his legs when he's on the table so the shots get done faster. It was over in about 30 seconds and he didn't cry for long which was nice for mom and dad.

After his first round of shots, I was waiting for him to get crabby or have a fever but he didn't. Boy did he make up for it this time! Wednesday he was super crabby. The doctor said he also had a cold so that attributed to his crankiness. He had a temp of 100.6 so I gave him some Tylenol. A few hours later I checked his temp again and it was up to 101. Thanks for nothing, Tylenol! Add on that we were having a new furnace/AC installed and it made for a semi-stressful day.

If all goes well, we won't have to go back to the doctor until June 14th for his 6-month checkup.

PBWL - Week 10

Short update...

This week I employed the motto "When in doubt, don't". It's exactly how it sounds. If I had to think twice about eating something, I didn't eat it. It was easier to stick with it than I thought it would be. My 3 month subscription with WW will soon be ending and I'm not planing on renewing it so I'm working on building up my self-control.

I also tried to get in to the habit of doing 10 minutes of Pilate's every night before bed but I only did it once. Whoops! I'm planning to try again this week. It's important for me to have those 10 minutes to unwind and focus on myself.

So here it is...I lost 1 pound. Apparently everything in moderation does work. Who knew?!

Have a good, healthy week everyone! :-)

PBWL - Week 9. Hello, Distractions!

I was seriously distracted this week. At home...at work...everywhere.

Colin hit some major milestones this week. He has FINALLY begun to recognize Mark and me. Now when we pick him up from daycare, he first recognizes our voices then he frantically searches until his eyes focus and find us. His eyes get wide with excitement and he smiles so huge. It makes my heart swell with happiness, excitement, pride. It's just the best feeling.

Another milestone is grabbing. He's always held his hands in fists and never reached or held on to anything. But today...today he was in his car seat and he was starring at a toy on it. Then he flung his arm up, opened his hand and GRABBED IT! He squealed with delight and I did, too. I didn't care that we were in public. I've been waiting and waiting for him to figure out how to control his movements. Now he gets even more excited when he sees his beloved star (which lights up and plays music) because now he knows how to reach up, grab it and shake the hell out of it! I'll post a video of him with his star later today.

Lately I've been getting bored with the whole "working mother" persona. I need a hobby so I've decided to start making jewelry. Not to sell or anything (yet) but just for my own use. Cute, affordable jewelry is hard to find, at least for me, so I figure if I can save a few bucks and have a little something extra in my life to look forward to, I might as well give it the ol' college try. I've already got a few ideas sketched, I just need to get to the store to pick up the beads and other jewelry making essentials.  I've had a lot of fun jotting down ideas and then breaking out my colored pencils and sketching them. I just hope actually making the jewelry will be as fun as sketching has been.

With all the milestone-reaching and jewelry-sketching that has gone on this week, I forgot to track my Points. I usually do it at work but a lot was going on there too so tracking took a backseat. I think I did OK with my eating this week but I did eat some stuff I probably shouldn't have. But you know what? I don't care. I had an epiphany. I currently weigh 10 pounds more than I did before I got pregnant. 10 measly pounds! I realized it's not the number on the scale that I'm concerned with. I want to be toned. I don't like having a jiggly belly, butt and thighs. I know the only why to accomplish that goal is to workout. I'm not going to get into a good workout schedule until Colin starts sleeping through the night. I just do not have the energy. It's probably not healthy to already be exhausted and then workout, which will only exhaust my body more. So for now, I'll continue taking the stairs at work and taking leisurely strolls with the kid. I'll eventually get back to my old body, I just have to be patient. And to be honest, my old body isn't that far away.

So here it is...I gained 1.2 pounds. I'm OK with that. It's far better than I thought it was going to be since I didn't keep track of my food very well.

And if you're looking for more inspiration about how it's completely fine to have an "off-week", head on over to http://somethingiamworkingon.blogspot.com/. She is much better with words than I could ever dream to be.

One Year

One year ago today I saw this...

And instantly I knew my life would soon revolve around this guy...

I went back to the letter I wrote to Colin soon after I found out I was pregnant. It feels like I just wrote it last week. I am constantly amazed at how fast a year passes. How fast a day passes. How fast an hour passes.

I love thinking back to the day I took the pregnancy test. I was paralyzed with fear. Fear of the test being negative. I have never wanted anything more than I wanted to be pregnant. I was beyond ready to do something more with my life. To be a part of something bigger than myself. 

I'm so thankful for the last year of my life. I can't wait to see what happens in the next year!

PBWL Week 8

There's not much for me to reflect on this week. Mark and I only ate out once (a record for us!). I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to have Mark get off work at a reasonable time which allowed us to actually have the energy to come home, cook dinner and then clean up. Let's face it...the reason we eat out so much is because neither of us has the energy at the end of the day to clean up. Yeah, we're lazy. Go ahead and judge ;-)

I'm extremely bad at tracking my Activity Points but I walked most days on my breaks at work and even got in a few walks at night with the dogs. I'm so glad nicer weather is here! Yesterday was an amazing day. It was so beautiful outside. Mark, Colin and I spent the morning outside moving some plants and then we went to the park and took a leisurely walk.

I lost .6. Not bad in my opinion considering I've gained the last two weeks.