Weigh in #13 -14

So it has been a couple weeks. I made it through the Christmas holiday pretty much unscathed, which I didn't think would happen. The first week I was busy making treats for some families in the ward and Ben's coworkers and I gained about a pound. And then I didn't step on the scale until after three days of eating out when we went on our little Christmas vacation to Knoxville. AND I did not make the best food choices then--cream cheese danishes for breakfast. Who can pass those up? So really I was expecting that Christmas was going to put me back at least a pound or two so imagine my surprise when I came in 4 ounces under what I weighed two weeks ago. SIGH of relief. :) Now to get back on track.

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Week 8: lost 1 lb

Week 9: lost 2 lbs

Week 10: lost 1 lb

Week 11: lost .4 lbs

Week 12: lost 1 lb

Week 13: gained 1 lb

Week 14: lost 1.4 lbs

Total pounds lost: 12 lbs

Total pounds left: 8 lbs

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas and it was the first WHITE Christmas in 17 years here in Middle Tennessee so that was pretty cool. Just enough snow covered the ground to make everything beautiful. Landon was so excited to see that Santa had left him presents and ate his cookies and milk. At first Landon told us he wasn't going to get any toys because he didn't stay in his bed all night, but I guess Santa is pretty forgiving of 2 year olds. Here's a clip so you can join our Christmas day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
Katelyn loved her dolls, books and more and Landon had a blast opening his presents and seeing action figures, airplanes, Toy Story and much, much more. The Cracker Barrel rocking chairs Grandma and Grandpa Davis got were also a big hit with the kids. But we must say these kids were spoiled this year thanks to their loved ones who reside out West. By the time the presents were all unwrapped the kids had doubled the amount of toys they had. We love you all and hope you had a great Christmas.

A little fun

Thanks to Grandma Davis Landon and I got to construct this cute foam craft. Some of the pieces were quite small so when Landon sneezed we lost the eyes! Oh, well we just drew those on:). We added a ribbon and Landon hung it on the tree.

And not to leave little Katelyn out. She was goofing around in the other room with my coat and when she started crying I came in and found her like this. Hehe, she couldn't get it off.

Isn't she cute? And she still drools all the time. You'd think she'd have stopped that by now. Oh well.

Weigh in #11-12

So I am finally getting back on track with reporting my weight loss. Last week was nothing major (a few ounces) so I thought since I already wrote a really long post I'd wait and throw it in with this weeks. I started to throw some weights into my routine and it has gone fairly well. I haven't done any exercise for the last few days so I have to get back on the ball there. But I did lose a pound this week which is great. I have to say the hardest thing for me right now is that there are snacks in my house again since Landon is potty training and he needs treats for that. Marshmallows, chocolate milk and cookies can be quite tempting.

And I have news that I will be very open about so as not to disappoint anyone. I will kind of be following the Weight Watchers program in a few weeks b/c my husband gets to do it free through his work as long as he loses 10 pounds in 12 weeks. I don't actually get to do it but I DO get to follow his handy dandy book he will be getting so I'm gonna see if this helps boost the weight loss process. Now I want to see if I can at least lose a few more pounds on my own before following this new programs. If I can do that I'll be down almost 15 pounds all on my own--that would be nice:)

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Week 8: lost 1 lb

Week 9: lost 2 lbs

Week 10: lost 1 lb

Week 11: lost .4 lbs

Week 12: lost 1 lbs

Total pounds lost: 11.4 lbs

Total pounds left: 9.6 lbs

Winter is here

Personalize your own digital slideshow

This was the first real snow of the year and it was Katelyn's first time ever playing in the snow. These two were so funny to watch. Landon had a blast walking around and kicking the snow, but Katelyn pretty picked one spot and planted herself there. I had to bring the camera so Ben could see their reaction to the snow since he was at work.

A buzz and trim

It was time to get out the clippers. My two kiddos were looking a bit raggedy.

Before

After

You can tell Landon got a buzz, but I only took a few snips of Katelyn's bangs.

Our little Katelyn has the funniest hair. She has two cowlicks on the crown of her head so her hair swirls into a kind of mohawk in the front and is short on the sides but long on the ends where it curls. It will be interesting to see how her hair grows in as she gets older. I didn't take a true before picture b/c I wasn't thinking until Ben said, "Wait you gave her her first hair cut without pictures." Bummer--but really it was only a few snippets in front.

Christmas is coming

Here is just a glimpse of the kid's first look at the Christmas tree. We put it up Sunday night and we even video taped their reactions on the camera but I'm having trouble getting them on blogger so pictures will have to do for now.

Landon moved the balls up away from his sissy.

He always says "No, No Sissy" when she touches the tree.

But she still touches the tree. She really wanted those balls.

And just as last year we had to move all the decorations to the top half of the tree.

The kids, especially Katelyn, love the Night Before Christmas book that

makes music when you read it. Katelyn "reads" it a dozen times a day.

A quick attempt of a family Christmas tree photo after church.

And I had to include this one because it isn't too often that Ben

takes a photo that I think is framed right--so good job Honey!

I've been trying to teach Landon that Christmas is when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. I've also taught him that Santa brings presents if you leave him some cookies and milk. Here is a conversation between us.

Mom: What will we do on Christmas?

Landon: "Cake."

Mom: We won't have cake but we'll have yummy food.

Landon: "No. Eat cake for birfday."

Mom: "Who's birthday? Mine?"

Landon: "No. Jesus and Ho, Ho, Ho." (he means Santa).

Guess he kind of gets it:)

# side note on my weigh in. Since this is already a long post I'll just tell you I only lost a few ounces but I did add strength training and have been told that might slow down my weight loss at the beginning so I guess we'll see next week.

Advent calendar and boxes

I wanted to spend sometime helping teach Landon what Christmas is and getting him excited for it so we made an advent calendar together. We printed off a sheet of paper that had a star and ornaments on it. Each one has a number. I had him choose what colors to use and "taught" him about coloring within the lines and let him go to town--he did pretty good. Then he helped me glue the tree on and color in the presents at the bottom. Now we add one decoration a day on our countdown to Christmas.

And boxes really are the best toy for kids. They love climbing in and out of it and Landon always uses it to hide in. He even called it his "new house" a couple of times :)

Weigh in #10

Well the Thanksgiving holiday is over and yes, I am ONE pound lighter. Finishing out a week where food is at the forefront of the festivities was a bit worrisome, but I knew I had done a fairly good job. Granted I wasn't the greatest at writing everything down, but I did keep a basic idea of the calories consumed and it helped. Eating at a restaurant was a different experience. We were originally going to go to the Golden Corral so we could pick and choose food for the kids easily, well we showed up and there was a HUGE line going out the door and there was no way we were going to make the kids stand out there with the cold wind for that long. So we tried another buffet style place called Ryans--and it only was a 10 minute wait so Ryans it was. It was actually very easy to make healthy food choices and yes I even saved room for pie with a small scoop of ice cream. Since it was just our little family I thought eating out actually worked well for us and the best part was there was not any clean up. I think a pound lost over Thanksgiving can be viewed as a success. I have now lost 10 pounds which is my halfway mark. So really I have lost about a pound per week which is not that bad, especially since there were about four weeks or so of me hovering at the same weight. Well hopefully I don't have to wait another 10 weeks to lose the last 1o pounds. Guess we shall have to wait and see.

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Week 8: lost 1 lb

Week 9: lost 2 lbs

Week 10: lost 1 lb

Total pounds lost: 10 lbs

Total pounds left: 10 lbs

Weigh in #9

Finally! Success. I broke through that darn awful 7 pound barrier with a two pound weight loss this week. It felt really good and it came just in time too because if I stayed at that blasted 7 pounds lost I probably would have just thrown caution to the wind on Thanksgiving and enjoyed my favorite dessert, pie--and several pieces at that:) But this gives me the determination I need to try my darndest to shy away from those high calorie and fattening foods on one of, if not the most, food centered holidays of the year. And this year I have a plan. Since it is just my little family out here in Tennessee we are not going to cook the traditional Thanksgiving dinner because there will be leftovers and I don't want to be tempted. Besides, it's expensive and time consuming. We have opted to go out to eat, so we'll see how that goes.

What changed this week? Well I have recorded all the foods I ate and exercised to FIT TV once a day (ok, I did miss one day). It is just nice to see some results after being stagnate for a month.

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Week 8: lost 1 lb

Week 9: lost 2 lbs

Total pounds lost: 9 lbs

Total pounds left: 11 lbs

Turkey craft

I've decided that during Katelyn's morning nap Landon and I will spend one on one time doing crafts, reading, and other various learning activities. Today we made a turkey in honor of Thanksgiving next week. I let him trace my hand, pick out the colors of the feathers and then help me glue them on. And he would NOT have a turkey without a hat--funny kid. He did great.

Weigh in #8

So it wasn't great, but with life going how it did this week it is acceptable. Poor Katelyn has been running a fever for over a week and was miserable which meant she wanted to be held all day and night. I waited to take her into the doctors because she went in last Wednesday for her one year check up and the doctor said she was fine, it was just a cold. So she got two vaccinations and a flu shot, which may have triggered the fever. Well turns out my poor girl has had a double ear infection and a ruptured eardrum. She is feeling tons better since the ear drum ruptured but now has TONS of leakage. Gross. But at least life is returning to normal for her. So anyway, mom duties really came first most of this week so I wasn't expecting amazing results since I can't very well go to the gym with a sick child. So drum roll please....1 pound. I know! I just can't break through those SEVEN POUNDS. But this week is looking better as far as exercise goes b/c I know I can't take the kids to the gym with me with Katelyn on antibiotics but I have found an exercise video I will do at home. Now to find the time, maybe in the the early morning before Ben gets up for the day, or when Katelyn takes a morning nap and I entertain Landon somehow, or at night when the kids go to bed--we'll just have to see. Anyway thanks for sticking with me on the very SLOW process. HERE's hoping I can get past these seven pounds this week:)

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Week 8: lost 1 lb

Total pounds lost: 7 lbs

Total pounds left: 13 lbs

Finally a crib

That's right. Our little girl turned one and we just barely got her in the crib. She has been sleeping in the portable playpen for a year b/c Landon didn't switch out of until a few months ago and we never got around to disassembling it to put it up in Katelyn's room. Ben and his dad got it already for her when they were out visiting and now she is sleeping in comfort:)

And Landon pushed the playpen into the entry way and wanted to play in there with his sister

But if he keeps doing things like this (finding the sunblock and putting it all over both himself and the floor) he may just find that the playpen will soon be his "time out" spot. If you click on the photo to make it bigger you can see how much of it he smeared on his legs.

Weigh in #6 and #7

So with family here all last week I kept forgetting to get on the scale first thing in the morning until Friday or so, which is why I thought I'd just record last weeks with this weeks. It was disappointing anyway. I did a terrible job of watching what I ate and I never made it to work out. So I gained 1.5 lbs. Grrr, but very expected. So this week I actually made it to the gym twice for an hour and a half workout but two days doesn't help a ton. I was able to lose just 1/2 a pound. So my friends I am really disappointed in myself and feel like I should just quit this whole recording on the blog thing since I've been stuck at a 6 and 7 pound weight loss. Part of me is also feeling deflated b/c I found out the person who I fashioned my weight loss "goals" after, the one that I have been following on her blog, admitted that she hasn't been doing it alone after all and has been using Weight Watchers. I mean, it is good for her, she's met her 30 pound goal but I had thought it was just from her determination to be accountable on the blog and doing it on her own. So anyway, I KNOW it is possible to do it on my own, I just need to be committed to it and I think that commitment has wavered a lot these past few weeks.

SO THE NEW SHORT TERM GOAL IS:

* Drink 8 glasses of water

* Write down what I eat

* Exercise 5 days a week

So next weigh in should be interesting. If I don't lose weight my mind is obviously not in the game and I've got to figure out what I want most. And if I do loose some weight and break this darn cycle hopefully it will give me the motivation I need to get going on losing that 20 pounds!

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Week 6: gained 1.6 lbs

Week 7: lost .6 lbs

Total pounds lost: 6 lbs

Total pounds left: 14 lbs

Grandparent visit

As mentioned in an earlier post, Grandma and Grandpa Davis came to town for a week and boy did our kids love it! Aunt Lindsie was able to come for the weekend which was double the fun for Landon and Katelyn. Here are just a few pictures of what we did that week.

Landon and Grandpa wrestled.

Aunt Lindsie and Landon rode the merry go round. (And he did awesome, not scared at all).

Mommy and Landon in the peek-a-boo hole in the Meerkat exhibit.

At the zoo. It was a bit chilly but still enjoyable.

Grandma and Landon made Rootbeer float cookies. Yum.

And Katelyn gave lots of cuddles since she had a bit of fever on and off during the visit, thanks to a cold and teething.

Thanks for coming. It was a great visit and now we just have to figure out when we'll make the trek out west.

Happy Halloween

Unfortunately Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, but we did have a fun trunk-or-treat a couple weeks beforehand that Katelyn and Landon got to dress up for. Landon is in love with Toy Story and wanted to be Buzz Lightyear (although he hated having the hood on) and Katelyn was our little pumpkin. Too Cute:)

He thinks he's pretty cool and loved pushing the red button on his sleeves.

Who's the fairest pumpkin of them all? Katelyn! Katelyn!

Happy first birthday!

My little girl turned ONE on Oct. 30th. What?? Already???? One year went by so fast--even faster than Landon's first year. Why is it that on my kids' birthdays I want to cry and just hug them so darn close--they grow up so fast.

Seems like yesterday I was cradling her in arms like this

Now she's turning into a little girl and leaving the baby stage behind.

She wasn't to keen on getting dirty, but Landon grabbed a corner and showed her how.

Sharing with everyone

And so much happier to have the fork do the dirty work:)

Big brother Landon helped open the presents. Thanks to all who sent cards and presents.

And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Davis and Aunt Lindsie for flying in to celebrate.

We Love you Katelyn Jane and are so blessed to have you in our lives. You are the most amazing little girl and the best little sister to Landon b/c you forgive him for the little bumps and bruises he gives you and continue to play with him. You love to be cuddled and always back up into our legs when you want held (darling). You make the funniest little lip-smacking noises and love to blow wet slobbery kisses and give high fives. You walk all over the place and are getting faster and faster. The outdoors is where you want to be. If the door opens and you don't get to go out you throw the biggest fit which makes us laugh because you always walk up to us and pull our pant legs and throw back your head and wail. Guess you want to make sure we are paying attention :) Stranger or no, you wave to everyone which puts a smile on their faces. Soon you will be parting ways with your binky, but I think you'll do ok without it since you are not overly attached to it:) Thank you Katelyn for a wonderful year and we just love to watch you grow.

Weather

Just thought I'd share the view off of my deck when Lebanon's tornado sirens were going off on Tuesday. Creepy. Because we have satellite television my signal was not working so I didn't know how bad a storm it was until Ben called me from his office to tell me the city's tornado sirens were going off and all of the employees were being told to go to their "safe place." Luckily the storm passed by without any damage with only a a major wall cloud (as seen in bottom photo) and a few reports of a "funnel-like" cloud. It made me think back to the tornado that hit Murfreesboro when we lived there and I was reminded how powerful mother nature is and just how quickly devastation can occur. About an hour after this storm front passed my in-laws flew into the Nashville airport and amazingly they said they didn't have too much turbulence on the flight.

Weigh in #5

Well I was able to lose the pound that I had gained. I'm not going to lie, I was hoping for a little more but downward is the right direction. I was able to make it to the gym Monday through Thursday but then sickness hit the kids and you can't take them to the gym's daycare if they have runny noses. BUT that should not have been an excuse not to workout because I should have found an exercise DVD or something to help me when I'm stuck in the house. If any of you have a good suggestion for a workout DVD let me know, thanks. I did however stick to eating fairly well. Of course there was that delicious pumpkin chocolate chip bread given to me from a friend in the ward--and it was still warm. YUM and more Yum. Oh yeah, and then there was the birthday cake that Ben's coworkers sent home with him--I probably could have been at least a couple ounces lighter if I had been a little stronger and not partaken of the butter cream goodness... But all and all my portion sizes were good and my food choices were alright. I just wish it was not so expensive to eat healthy:( This week is going to take a lot of determination because my amazing in-laws are going to be in town visiting for Katelyn's first birthday and anytime we have visitors from out of town there is a lot of eating out and eating not so good for you foods. AND not to mention there is a little holiday called Halloween which is pretty much all about the candy. So wish me luck!

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Week 5: lost 1.2 lbs

Total pounds lost: 7 lbs

Total pounds left: 13 lbs

Fall colors

One of the great things about living in Tennessee is the awesome fall colors but unfortunately this year we had a really hot summer and early fall so we are not going to get a spectacular show of colors this year--but it is better than Idaho or Utah's I guess. There are some brightly colored trees around but they are surrounded by dead ones so you take the little flashes of color for what they are and smile that it is autumn.

Good old Shorter Road in front of our house.

I asked Landon to find me some pretty trees so he pointed them out to me:)

And just to show you how cute my little picture helper is.

Weigh in #4

This is the week I dreaded. I have to post that I gained weight--one pound to be exact. Definitely not what I was going for. I do have to admit that coming off of a week of being sick and basically stuck on a liquid diet I did find it hard not to eat a little more than I should. Whether it was a handful of the kids animal crackers or an extra little bit at dinner, it was hard for me to say no since I'd been in starvation mode for so long and just wanted to EAT! Therefore I guess it's not that strange that the scale went up a pound. I should be glad it was so little :) This will just be more motivation for me to get that number down for next week. Secretly I had hopes to loose 10 lbs by Katelyn's first birthday, now just a week and a half away. I doubt that will happen now as I have four pounds still to go but I can try to get as close as I can to it. Thinking positive, right?

On a high note, guess who ran a whole mile without stopping yesterday at the gym? ME! It may or may not have taken me 12 minutes :) but I DID DO IT! I haven't run a mile since getting pregnant with Landon--so that's like three years ago.

Week 1 : lost 3.6 lbs

Week 2: lost 1 lb

Week 3: lost 2.2 lbs

Week 4: gained 1 lb

Total pounds lost: 5.8 lbs

Total pounds left: 14.2 lbs

October fun

Due to budget concerns we decided to fore go the excursion to a pumpkin patch and go to the local park instead. You just can't beat free--and really the kids had as much or more fun just roaming the huge playground for an hour here in Lebanon. The parks and recreation department had just repaired and painted it so it was in pristine shape for our kiddos to wreck their havoc upon.

Cheesing it for the camera

Little sis and big brother

Who would have thought a bunch of tires could look cute?

Figuring out the net

And cuteness in a swing

It really is fun for us to watch the kids play. Landon always finds kids to follow after, hardly ever saying a word but oh so happy just to be with them. And Katelyn is much more adventurous than Landon was and squeals with delight (not terror) on the swings.