Handmade Love

J made this picnic table for the kids last weekend. It's very cute and the kids love it.

Wonder Boy (5.75 years), The Divine Miss O (almost 4 years)

and Baby Love (15 months this Saturday)

The carpenter himself and he's taking orders!!

Grrrrrrr!

I've been desperately trying to post a little something-something of my ginger-haired boy and my computer has been causing me much angst over it. Grrrr! I've come to the conclusion that I need a new, faster, smarter computer to replace this one. My plan: the kids have an older computer with a gigantic monitor that barely fits on my little childhood desk. I'd been wanting to replace it with a new fancy, dancy thin monitor. Today I realized, why not get myself a new, faster, smarter computer and give this laptop to the kids. I know Wonder Boy would love it and it would fit on the little desk with plenty of room to spare. Voila!! Now I just have to talk the hubby into agreeing with me. Hee hee!!

I went to Weight Watchers last night and up a tiny bit again. Bugger!! Only .8 but still I feel crappy about it. But I'm not going to quit!! I've made up my mind. I have lost 14 pounds and my clothes are fitting better so I should be proud of that. I decided to "Face it!", "Own it!" and "Move On!!" Today is a new day.

The weather today in the greater Seattle area is hot!! By the time I picked Wonder Boy up at school I heard it was already 80 degrees. Yowsa!! I do love the sunshine, it perks my mood up. But oh how I hate the hot heat. I'm hoping future weight loss will help with that.

I got a very sweet, unexpected, note from a gal named Erinn from the happy living blog which made my day a little brighter. I had found her blog via surfing other bloggers a few months back (when I first started myself) and I loved it!!Of course, I had to add her to my favorite reads and her blog has been quietly sitting in my designer blogroll so that I can check in on it here and there. To my surprise, she found me and left a comment a couple weeks back and I just found it today. What a surprise!! I love it when things like that happen.

Before I sign off and try to figure out why my email is taking two years to send, I want to shout out a little "hi" to my lovely and kind friend WHW. I've been thinking about you! xoxox

And with that, I say ciao for now!

Boho Chic

The Divine Miss O hammin' it up!

Just Beachy!

My beautiful family!

We spent yesterday afternoon/evening at the beach in Edmonds eating dinner and searching for beach treasures and special finds including a jelly fish.

What did I just say?

Okay, so I said it. It flew right out of my mouth before I could catch myself. It was like I walked right out of a Montessori school in my tye-dye tank top and hemp pants while I rested my hands on bended knees to look my daughter square in the eyes and said "Use Your Words" in response to her lack of doing so. Instead she was making that high-pitched whiny sound that was like running my finger nails down a chalk board for the umpteenth time. Shivers! Those three little words I thought I would never say. I don't know why. For some reason hearing parents say that always sounded odd to me. Too new aged. Too psychological mumble jumble. Too by the book. Howerver, nobody blinked an eye at my screeching daughter or seemed to take notice of my little Dr. Spock slip-of-thy-tongue. Phew! Rest assured, I'll go back to my usual and more effective "gitrdone" response in the future. "Hey, stop whining!"

Weigh In: week #17

Pounds Lost: gained .6
Today Loss: 13.6
Diet: weight watchers
Workout: walking

As lovely leader Pat from Weight Watchers says "That's nothing! That's a glass of water!" I gained a little on Tuesday. Blah!! We started a summer challenge and I'm hoping to lose 15 pounds by Labor Day. I'm going to do my best at planning meals, drinking more water, walking two to three times a week and getting down to Curves on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before J goes to work.

This week has been a little on the crazy side. Lots of activities and things going on. I'm so glad it's the weekend and a three day weekend at that.

Weird Vibrations

I feel weird today. Last night was The Divine Miss O's school parent information night and tonight is Wonder Boy's Spring Songfest. It was about this time last year that we were just recovering from having a newborn baby and the news of J having testicular cancer all at once. He had just had surgery and things weren't going well.

Last night as I sat and listened to all things preschool, I couldn't help but let my mind wonder to how this very night one year ago I had just dropped J off at the hospital, my in-laws were driving up to help after I called them in a panic, so I could attend this mandatory meeting. I was nursing and hormonal and freaked out inside, all the while trying to hold it together and just get through it without anyone really knowing.

We missed Wonder Boy's Spring Songfest last year. J was still in the hospital with a nasty infection from surgery and life felt too crazy for me to try to suck it up and attend the event. I'm going to send J and Wonder Boy by themselves tonight while I put the girls to bed. I think I need some peace and quiet to relax and chill. Although life is not as crazy as it was a year ago, I still feel odd. Maybe a little emotional. J has his one year appointments and CT scans soon. I will feel better when we know the results.

New Loves

I'm lovin' Maroon 5!! My new favorite band at the moment. I can't wait to watch LOST tonight. Along with Heroes, it is my favorite show. I'll be sad this summer when all the shows I love are gone. But there's always Wife Swap to look forward to.

A couple cool new healthy blogs I've discovered via word of mouth: Girl on a Diet and Roni's Weight Watchen. Both are inspirational and fun to read. Although I'm up .6 at weigh in last night, overall, I've lost 14 pounds. When I put on pants this morning and felt that they weren't as tight. Good feeling!! As my Weight Watchers leader says "We're getting into real numbers now!" We are starting a summer challenge next week. We are supposed to set a goal for ourselves and the dead line is Labor Day. I think my goal will be 15 pounds which would basically put me down 30 pounds by the end of summer. Wish me luck!!

The Divine Miss O is going to her same preschool next year but three days instead of two. The school's parent meeting is tonight. It is the best little school and sometimes I feel like it was built just for Miss O because she really does belong there. We will miss it when it's time for her to move on.

I'm happy to report Baby Love is feeling much better. She pooped finally! Hip Hip Hooray!!! Oh the joys of parenting. She had her PT appt yesterday morning and she is coming along quite nicely. I'm eager for her to start walking . . . . . . . wait? Did I just say that?!?!?

new duds for summer

My poor, sweet Baby Love hasn't been feeling all that great these last few days. She's been teething, developed a weird heat rash thing and hasn't been eating much, plus the lack of peeing or pooping has been worrisome. I took her to the doctor this morning but of course I got the usual "must be viral and we don't prescribed treatment for anything viral" which is another way of saying "I have no friggin' clue what is wrong, go away, wait it out, and if she gets worse, call back." However, on a good note, she has eaten more today, attempted to poop, the rash seems to be going away (or getting better) and she is in better spirits. I chalk this one up to those bugger teeth all trying to push their way out at the same damn time.

With the weather getting nicer and the few warmer nights we were teased with recently, we realized we didn't really have any summer jammies for little miss Baby Love. Add warm nights with a slight fever she was running plus fuzzy, winter jammies and presto . . . . a prickly heat rash. I found some cute summer jammies for her to wear today just in time for the down pour of rain we are getting. My timing never seems to be right! On my quest for summer jammies for the wee one, I also found some pj bottoms and boxers for Wonder Boy. I cleaned out his jammie drawer this afternoon and took out all his too small, cute printed jammies from Costco and will soon be replacing those with his new big boy pjs. It was at that moment, that very moment . . . . the moment of taking out, folding up, and packing away those little boy, printed dinosaur jammies that I realized my little boy is getting to be so big. He'll be turning six very soon, wearing real pajamas to bed, pees standing up, brushes his own teeth, reads, going to full day kindergarten in the fall . . . . . . . . he is turning into a real life, bona-fide big boy! Wow! It's true! Life can really slip by you in a blink of an eye and kids really do grow up so fast if you don't pay attention.

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend has been a mixed bag of everything. We started out with a Mariner game Friday night with some of Wonder Boy's T-ball team mates and their families. It was fun to see Wonder Boy chat with his friends. He is at a fun age and his interactions with other kids his age are hilarious to watch. Baby Love flirted with the half-drunk people behind us all night and The Divine Miss O fell asleep by the third inning. A girl needs her beauty sleep ya know!

Saturday the boys went out to their second to last T-ball game. I missed my Saturday morning training because their game was earlier than usual. The Divine Miss O and I went grocery shopping - woohoo!!! Good times! I spent the evening with a couple of lovely ladies in Bellevue trying to find a place to eat and do a little shopping. I tried some 40 dollar lipstick and I couldn't stop thinking about it. But 40 bucks for lipstick - really? We had no idea that last night was prom night for the local high school kiddies, so trying to get a spot to sit down and eat was almost impossible. We did however end up a very yummy pizza joint. I had dreams about the heavenly pizza. So good!!

I woke up this morning, Sunday, and headed out for a Mother's Day brunch a week late. It was very relaxing and the food was delish. Afterwards I walked over the stamp store and picked out a few supplies for Wonder Boy's birthday party invites. Oh, how I love a good party theme. It makes me happy!! I spent this afternoon dropping off Amish Friendship Bread starters while my bread was cooking. I came home to the sweet smell of cinnamon. M'm M'm!! It is so good.

It just dawned on me, with all this food I've consumed this weekend, I'm sure my weight will be up on Tuesday. Bugger!! I'll just have to clear my mind and do what the author of The Secret says to do . . . . . . ahhhhh, the power of positive thinking. Hee hee!!

Have a rocking week my friends!!

Weigh In: week #16

Pounds Lost: .2 (not much, but I'll take it)
Total Loss: 14.2
Diet: weight watchers
Workout: walking (5k training)

My official weigh ins at Weight Watchers are on Tuesday nights. Last week was really good. We did our third 5k in Seattle with NikeTown. Even after starting dead last (because they couldn't find my number) we managed to work our way through the crowd and finish in 50 minutes, 47 seconds. We all got coupons in our goodie bags so the team and I went up to NikeTown really quick to scope things out. I was very much surprised when I thought I was purchasing a size XL pair of pants but found out they were actually a size L. I felt like jumping up and down and giving the clerk a great big kiss. I couldn't believe I had tried on a pair of smaller pants without realizing it and they fit! Awesome!! I was on a high for much of the week because of it.

The kids and I walked down to the library this week instead of driving. When I say we walked down, I really mean we walked D.O.W.N. There are about three rather steep hills that we had to walk back up on the way home. The kids only complained a little bit and were very happy to sit down after getting back home and looking at their new books. Bliss!

I got needs. . .

7:30pm, kids in bed, hubby not home, saw this on some other blogs and tried it out. The set up: go to google.com and type in your first name plus the word "needs" and see what pops up. Here's my top list of seven. Funny!

1. another miracle (another miracle? I'd settle for the first one . . . soon thanks!)
2. a drink (or maybe three, it's been a tough afternoon!)
3. to wear shirts (yes, I'd say so!)
4. to go to bed (you aren't kidding!)
5. a google good time (sounds fun, I'm in!)
6. volunteers (for cleaning and organizing and minding kids would be super!)
7. a new hobby (I do?)

Top TV Five

1. LOST
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. American Idol
4. Survivor
5. Heroes

Why do families hurt?

I've been thinking a lot lately . . . . randomly . . . . . things will pop in my head that I mull over for a bit but usually get distracted by something kid centered, and forget what I was thinking about. The other night, this questioned popped into my mind out of the blue, just like that, and I couldn't let it go. I felt like I had to write it down to sort of purge it out me in a sense . . . . . make myself feel better. Why do families hurt? Why is it so hard for family members to accept each other just the way they are, revel in their unique-ness, and love them for who they are?

Growing up was a quick journey for me. Things like divorce, a working/young/going to school mother, an absent father, invasion of childhood privacy and step families threw me into a world where I was force to take care of myself at a young age. It taught me to be overly cautious and protective of myself and what I held dear. As a tween, I was living with my mom and step-dad, his part time kids and an evil ex-wife that made life miserable for everyone involved, all the while going through painful puberty, horrible jr high experiences and hating everything about myself. Add that with a father that ran from responsibility, pick drugs over his daughter every single time and left me wondering what I did to make him not love me.

I'm sometimes jealous of my husband's childhood. His parents are still together and he grew up in one house (where his parents still live to this day). His childhood was secure enough for him to feel free to go out and live life, learn from his mistakes. He spent his days hanging out with friends, going to rock concerts, throwing parties, fighting with his siblings, living life as an immature teenager trying to figure the world out. I spent my days walking home from school to an empty house and watching TV for hours. (I think this is also the root of my eating habits and weight issues. When I get bored, usually between 3 and 5, I will find myself in the kitchen opening cupboards and pondering over things in the pantry. Not good. I just had an Oprah "aha!" moment.)

I'm very, very protective of my feelings never to be too careful about possible bruising. Growing up as I did caused for a lot of bruising. Therefore, I'm overly protective of myself as an adult. This makes it hard for me to open up whole heartily to people. But if they stick around long enough, I do, and those people are like family to me. I have several wonderful friends . . . . the kind of friends I want to climb up to the tallest building and scream at the top of lungs how much I love them . . . . . true friends. Friends that laugh at my jokes and listen to my thoughts without judgement.

Sometimes, in quiet moments, I let my mind and my heart drift to the family members I don't have and I wonder "what if" and "why is that so painful" and "why is that so hard". It's hard not to wonder. There are times, I think about what I would say if I saw my father. Would I tell him how angry I have been at him all my life or would I say thank you for showing me what kind of person I never wanted to be? Or would I simply just ask him why he didn't protect me?

In the end, I come back to the family I do have. I'm so grateful to have my mom and RTW and my wonderful husband and my darling children. They fill my heart with love and acceptance. I guess, in a way, that is what we all strive for. Acceptance. Some more than others I suppose. Me, more than most.

Thankful Tuesday

Today I'm thankful for sunshine, flip flops, quiet/playing children, fresh air, open windows, mellow music, and the promise of summer and happy memories to come! Have a wonderful day my friends. There's much to be grateful for.