8 Pounds

On February 6th I started this new healthy eating regimen. As I wrote in Everything Good, it is not so much a diet as eating healthier and less (I'm just going to call it regimen cause I hate the whole "diet" thing). I was inspired my Cheryl of Red Pens & Diapers who is kicking some major butt with her weight loss and healthier eating habits. Thanks Cheryl! Anywho, I am down 8 pounds, since the 6th of February. I can hardly believe it. I have cut out sweets, but twice I indulged for my birthday, (oddly enough the scale still went down the next day)? I don't eat or drink anything with artificial sweeteners (except SF gum occasionally), never have never will. I cut out most dairy. I do have a bit of cheese once in awhile and natural, plain yogurt at times on top of something instead of sour cream. I cut out breads & pastas or rice. This is a biggie. I felt guilty eating one of my sons goldfish crackers the other day, but I am really eating none. No juice of any kind. No heavy sauces, creams, gravies either. I did buy a few fat free/low fat items such as fat free natural yogurt and lowfat ranch dip. I mainly eat veggies, fruit, beans, lentils, a little meat and fish. That's it. Amy's meals are a great easy meal, I eat those a lot. I try to stay as pure as possible when it comes to food. Lots of water, tea and high fiber foods. Kashi cereal dry with a large glass of water for breakfast, then an Amy's Tamale Pie for lunch or dinner and possibly some vegetarian chili or salad from somewhere. Seems like when I ate the least my scale moved the slowest. I also was cold, tired and had no energy. If I threw in some meat or fish (small amount) with one of my meals during the day, the scale went down a whole pound overnight. Feels great. It is hard but I have done this before with much success. Dropped 40 pounds on two different occasions, and 20 pounds on another. The only difference is that this is the first time I am attempting to lose weight without any caffeine or exercise. Usually I am a walking fanatic but the weather is against me. I am breastfeeding too which is also different from the other times. I attempted to do this 2 different times since I had my son with no luck. My LC said that my body was most likely still in starvation mode and wouldn't let me lose. Woo Hoo, not anymore! At this rate I will be back to my old size by summer. YEAH!

Oops, Completely Forgot!

The very last thing regarding the signifigance of hearts in my blog Hearts And Things: Baby was three weeks early but the original due date was February 15th. Just one day after Valentines Day.

Can Someone Tell Me . . . . . .

Anyone know how to subscribe to a blog? I have no idea how and there a few blogs I keep up with on a regular basis. Somedays I really don't have the time to keep checking them but still want to read the latest. Please comment to me if you can help. Thanks!

Cute Things

As I was nursing my 1 year old son today, I closed my eyes and laid my head on the back of the rocker. He very softly (rare these days) touched my ears and my hair. He began to play with the small diamond studs in my ears. Every few seconds I realized he would stop, then a few seconds later he would start again. I opened my eyes ever so slightly to see why he was stopping. Would you believe he was touching his own ears in the same spot probably to see if his ears had those sparkly things too? Cute.

Hearts And Things

As you all know my name is Val. After much debate my parents both said my name at the same time and whallah . . . . my name is Valerie. I was born February 9th 1973 so close to Valentines Day which is what mainly contributed to my name. After being born at home on the northwest side of Chicago, we lived there for a few years. When the neighborhood became less desirable my family ventured out to the suburbs. At the age of four I moved in 2 doors down from another little girl who was 5. Her name was Val too. She was a whole year older than me. A year and 3 days. That's right, her birthday is on February 12th just a few days after mine. She came from a family of four. She only had one sibling like myself, an older sister that was, - you guessed it the same age as my sister. 31 years later, Val and I are still friends.

Over the years I tend to get jipped on Valentines day, still do. Not a big deal but because my birthday falls just 5 days before Valentines Day I often get heart themed gifts. I have a small heart collection. So I like hearts just not for the same reason most girls like hearts.

On June 10th 2006 I realized I was pregnant. I just had surgery and was concerned because of the amount of ibuprofen I was taking for pain. I conceived before I even had surgery, woops. Anyhow, we were excited and went for our first ultrasound. We went back to see the doctor to review the ultrasound about the month later. She told me I had a mishapen uterus. We were stunned and scared. She said that everything should be fine but I would be under close observation and would have to go every other week to see the specialists in the Maternal Fetal Medicine department at the hospital. There were risks and several bad things that could happen. It was scary. They told me that I would most likely have to have a cesarean because once the baby got bigger it would not be able to flip into the head down position due to the shape of my uterus. Nonetheless, I got ultrasounds every 2 weeks which was an extra treat. I will have to be watched and go through the same procedure with every pregnancy. Level 2 ultrasound with the vaginal probe every 2 weeks . . . . . . yeah. OB visits the opposing weeks. The biggest concern was preterm labor. Term was 37 weeks. After a relatively smooth pregnancy that was extremely uncomfortable in the end (footling breech, crouched baby in a short woman). I went into labor fast and furious at 36 weeks, 6 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes. Just 20 minutes shy of 37 weeks or "term".

Well would you guess after all that what shape my uterus is? A heart.

Life

Slightly stressed out today and tired. Day 2 of no pm nap. OY! Hubby is back at work but on days . . . . . I'm not a fan of days. Satellite is out and my pm lay down with Frasier and possibly phone time (bedtime ritual) is gone. My new "break" time is spent fixing the dishwasher (yes, I fixed it myself), cooking my husband dinner (as I eat veggies & dip . . . . boo :( ) and cleaning up what I couldn't get done cause no pm nap for baby. Baby is at that stage when he can't wander around alone (falls down too much), yet isn't satisfied sitting in the highchair (unless eating), or sitting on the floor playing with toys (too boring now that he can move around). I should mention, he never crawled so the walking is a bit awkward and highly dramatic. Not sure if I dig the new blog header but it's more interesting than what was there before. Friday I am meeting another mom at the mall's Panera for a bite and followed by some time with our babies at the play area. Thank God! I need mom time . . . . . badly. Also will be having just about all the mom friends I have over next Wednesday for an Old Friends/New Friends Mommy/Baby Get-Together. I plan on providing dinner (not sure what yet). Hope at least a few people show up. Oh, Sunday my family is coming over to celebrate my birthday. That's pretty much it. My whole schedule is all goofed up with this day shift, plus the lack of the pm nap for the baby . . . . . . it stinks! As I type my husband is harassing me for the computer so he can do the budget. Gotta go!

Me meme

Electronic Goose tagged me for my first meme, so here goes ...

Four Jobs I've Had

Dental Assistant
Graphic Designer
Shampoo Girl (basically, beautician's bitch)
Library Technician

Four Places I Have Lived

Chicago, IL
Warrenville, IL
St. Charles, IL
Mytown, USA

Four Places I Have Vacationed

Canada
Dominican Republic
Mexico
Puerto Rico

Four of My Favorite Foods

Sweets (all kinds)
Crab Legs
Salad
Lamb Rogan Josh

Four Things I Like to Do

Go For Walks (preferably in beautiful places)
Go To The Movies
Be Silly And Laugh
Lately, Google, Blog, & E-mail (Aghh, get me out of this wintery prison!)

I'm tagging Red Pens & Diapers back, hopefully she reads my blog enough to see this. . . . . or is there something else I'm supposed to do?

There. Did I do that right, Electronic Goose?