Ceejay ~ Yeah I had fun at the mall, Im considering going 3 days a week for the purpose of walking, It seemed like it didnt take as long to walk for 1 hour and 1/2 then it does walking for 45 mins. here at home.

Terra
We don't have a mall in my small town but that is a good way to get in your walk. I go to our super Walmart and do the same. It's easier for me cause I've got things to look at. I try not to stop to look.

-----
I'm on day 2 of my 5 day hitch of work. I'll have 60 hours total for the week with 20 hours overtime. Putting this back for vacation time with my sisters family near Kentucky.

Hope every on has a great day.

I am back among the living. It was a rough week. I didn't miss much work as I worked from home and went in to the office for a few hours at a time.

Not the best situation when one is that sick, but things needed done and they were good to let me do what I could from home, give a few things to the other Admins and come in as I could.

While I am much better than I was last week I still have a lot of congestion and what feels like fluid in my ear. I will go back to the doctor this week and ask for a stronger antibodic. I don't think the cipro is strong enough to knock all this out. Usually I would just call and she would give me something stronger but I want my ears checked as I always have a lot of issues with them.

We have had such nice sunny and warm (in the high 50's) days Friday and yesterday. It's cloudy today but still supposed to be in the 40's.

I stayed home from church this morning and DH went. My newphew's b-day party is the afternoon and I want to be there for that, so I stayed home to get rested up a bit more.

I didn't make it to TOPS this week but my scales say I was down 2 lbs. I will work hard this week to maintain that and hope to lose another 2.

Cee-jay: You are working a lot of hours lady! At least you have a nice plan as to what you will use it for. You said that you have family near KY. Where are they in KY? I'm in Ohio you know..southern Ohio...1 hour from Cincinnati.

Walking at Walmart is a good idea this time of year. We have one in our small town. When I go there I can't imagine being able to walk without stopping because I see everyone. Maybe if I went after 8:30 or 9 p.m. it would work. What time do you go?

Annie: :hug::hug: I would be terrified to be without health insurance as I am sure you are. I am not impressed that your company did not at least give 3 months of insurance severence.
Let's not focus on all that negative for a bit. Let's focus on Ace arriving. How wonderful that he will have a granny who will have extra time to be there for him as he arrives and gets used to this world. And his big brother will also be looking for more time with you as now he isn't the only one and mamma and daddy will have their hands full with a new baby. Time is a precious gift..more than things.

Michelle: Tell me more about the back rehab classes.

Laura: I LOVE massages. So happy for you that you got one.

Terra: When you are mall walking, you can see all the new spring/summer clothes and think about how good you will look in them, with your tonned body from all that walking!

Shad: In your post you said "I felt like I had to take a trip to the sea".....sigh......that calls to me! I never feel better than when the ocean is in front of me or I am on the water.

Happy: How awful about the new volunteers husband! I'm glad that she had you to talk to.

What is the name of the 90 day walking program book?

You mentioned composite decking for your deck. I worked for 5 years for a composite decking company. I started in warranty/claims, then did customer service and then marketing. I wanted to be in Sales and I was going that way until they decided to re-org and said they needed me back in warranty. At the time the economy was pretty good and I didn't want to go back and so I said "what if I don't want to do that". They were shocked, but told me they would give me a 3 month severence package. DH had health insurance then through his company and I felt like I could get another job (which I did in 6 weeks---with P&G) and so I took the package. I have NEVER done anything like that in my life...but I am glad I did or I wouldn't be where I am now.

So, if you want some advice on composite decking, let me know. It's been a few years since I worked in it, but I do know the industry well.

Have a great day everyone. I will be back to posting daily, as I missed you all.

One last thing--I saw that Mel's birthday was March 7. I know those of you who knew her miss her very much. :hug::hug::hug::hug: to all of you.

Good morning girls,

Never take a nap the same day you have to push the clocks ahead for daylight savings time - it really screws up your sleep as you are waking up an hour later than "usual" anyway. :lol:

It's finally above freezing - things are starting to melt a bit. :dance: :carrot: :yay: And we are in no big heatwave so it's just what I'm hoping - a bit of melting each day - slow enough to avoid flooding. The street curbs are a mess of ice, cold water and slush as there is no clear path for it to drain off. Walking is a bit tricky.

I do agree with you ladies about the down side of MyFitnessPal. I should be a skinny minny according to what it's telling me and the flab is still hanging on for dear life. I think it is off a bit on food calories (under) and over estimates calories burned for physical activity. I've also leaned myself that the only way I can lose weight at the rate of a pound or two a week is to eat less than 1,000 calories a day which comes down to coffee for breakfast and one meal a day and maybe a banana. :dizzy: I know this is not a healthy way of eating so I'm not advocating it. Right now with my hip and knee it limits extensive cardio which doesn't help either. WHICH IS WHY I'D LIKE TO BE DONE WITH THIS ALREADY :tantrum: In any event it's good to record the food - if I wanted to, I could do my own entries with more accurate calories (but do I want do???). As for the exercise, we talked about the frustration that they only give calories expended for cardio activities. I was doing some reading and several articles cited the difficulty of figuring out calories expended for any activity. There are so many factors - person's height and weight and build and amount of effort expended, etc. They say even the built in monitors on the treadmills and heart monitors aren't very accurate. I guess it's just best to shoot for a goal of 30 minutes or more of certain activities and try not to eat you exercise calories. :^:

Susie - the name of the book is The 90 Day Fitness Walking Program

http://www.amazon.com/The-90-Day-Fit...pr_product_top

You can get it from Amazon or one of the many resellers for basically 4 bucks (price of .01 plus 3.99 standard shipping. It's for absolute beginners - the first day you walk just 5 minutes and works it way up slow. What it is trying to do is to get one in the habit of walking. It's a bit slower than the couch to 5k running programs, but something you could easily fit into even your busy day. It also gives a new idea each day to get you into a healthy mindset. Right now with our current conditions, it's a challenge to walk for an extended time so this works perfectly for me, even if I just walk in circles up 3 levels of the house :lol:

Ceejay - one of the nice things in the south was that the churches were community based and would often open their doors to walkers as well as offering some health and wellness classes. There was a huge Baptist church a few miles from my house and they opened up their church for walkers several hours a day which I thought was great. Oh crumbs - a 5 day work week for you means extra time and effort - I'm not sure how you get through such a long stint without falling over and passing out! I hope that the trainee is at least out of your hair for most of the time. Funny that they told you not to let him fill in the paperwork. :lol:

Susie - I don't know if there is anything stronger than Cipro - a stronger dose will no doubt give you tummy issues. There was some antibiotic they gave me when I was in Memphis - I think it started with an A. I refused to take it when I read the paperwork that came with it. While it was really top of the line for respiratory infections, one of the side effects of it was that it had a tendency to spontaneous rupture your Achilles tendon in your feet. AND this could happen 6 months after you STOPPED taking this medicine. :yikes: The doctor poo poo'd my concerns - said it mostly affected runners and since I wasn't a runner I SHOULD be ok. Some of those stubborn flu's seem to warrant a second round of antibiotics to knock them out. Just make sure you are getting as much extra rest as possible. It's nice that they are getting some of the others to help out - I'm sure you are not one to call in sick lightly and these flues have been so nasty that it's more than just going in feeling a bit sniffly. Hope you get better quickly! Glad at least you dropped a bit of weight too. Unwelcome bonus, huh? I would love and appreciate anything you could offer about the composite decking. The company is recommending Trex brand and he hasn't gotten the best of reviews online about it. It's quite heavy and we have a raised deck around the house which is a concern. It's also quite expensive so he's wondering if we should instead consider the redwood option. I said I thought part of the composite benefits would be not having to stain and treat the wood and unlike wood - no warping. But any advice you can give me would be most welcome :hug:

Terra - I too noticed mall walking goes faster than just walking outside. I need something to distract me like looking in store windows or plopping on the Ipod with some good music. Good for you for getting in a long walk! Has your brother moved back in yet?

Annie - hope you are feeling better. Should be a good week with Ace greeting the world. I agree with Susie that having you there with Jacob will help to give him some attention too and transition to his big brother role. Keep us posted please.

Shad - I see they talk about Prosecco on the cooking shows. Is it like bubbly champagne just wine based? I'm not into bubbly - not even effervesant ? water so I probably would not care for that. What sort of bread did you get? I am still thinking of that lovely open air market you posted pictures of. I'd go crazy in a place like that - we'd have a farmers market in downtown Chicago in the summers and I'd always buy a ton of fresh stuff and then try and lug a watermelon and 2 bags chock full of veggies back to the office and then to the train station and home :lol: Totally worth every cuss word, every step of the way as the bags got heavier and heavier! Did you have a nice walk? A trip down to the sea sounds so lovely. Is it getting cooler there now as autumn approaches?

Laura - yay on the massage. Hope BF liked his too. My endochronologist was really big on the Vitamin D checking. I guess a deficiency can cause a lot of problems and it's true that we tend to spend so much time out of the sun (or behind filtered office and car windows) that we are all rather lacking. My regular doc also was pushing the pneumonia vaccine, a tetanus booster and a hepatitis vaccine. Since I don't travel, I opted out of the hepatitis one but let her talk me into the others. How nice on the jeans find at the thrift shop and hey, for a buck, how can you go wrong even if you cuff them? I have hemmed pants like you said at the seam - being short I always had to hem mine and at one time when cuffed pants were in style, the easiest way to shorten them was to hem them at the top seam. You're a good sewer, should not be a challenge for you.

Michelle - did you have a good poker night? Decide on something to make for dinners? How is Santa's paw doing? I hope his appetite is coming back and he's getting stronger.

Today I have 2 loads of laundry, will continue cleaning up some papers and I have a book to read which needs to go back to the library. I will probably stick my head out the door just to see what 40 degrees feels like if it gets that warm :lol: Have a good Sunday everyone.

Morning all,
I'll be coming and going all day today, so posts will be short and hopefully often.

Yes I went down to the sea. (The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner)
I must go down to the sea again,
The lonely sea and sky.
All I ask is a tall ship,
And a star to steer her by.

So, I took the bus to a place called Island Bay. It's on the south coast of Wellington and walked around the shore to Owhiro Bay and then to a place called Red Rocks. There is an old quarry just past Owhiro Bay and that is the end of the road as such. From there you walk through the gravelly sand and on unmade roads and paths to - well as far as you want to go really. The sea path goes all the way around the bottom of the island and then climbs hills and gullies and eventually gets back to civilisation. About 100km of walking tracks down there. But as I said, I only went as far as Red Rocks which is 6.5km (4.5 miles near enough) and plus the nearly 4km between Island Bay and the quarry. There I sat and watched the tide turn in and the rockpools fill up and suddenly thought that I might get back on the path since it seemed to be coming in quite rapidly. However I noticed several people chancing their luck on the way back. The whole walk took me 3.5 hours and today my feet are a bit on the sore side. I did take some photos and will try to get some up tonight after I have finished the housework that I didn't do over the weekend.
Back soon.

Ceejay ~ Im sorry you dont have a mall in your town but thats cool that you go to walmart to get your walking in.

Susie ~ Yup that is true that I can look at all of the spring and summer clothes so that when I get my toned body I can imagine what I would look like in those spring and summer clothes.

happy2bme ~ Thats cool that you agree that the time you spend mall walking goes alot faster then walking here at home or outside, Yeah my brother and his girlfriend and their baby are all moved in here, They moved in a week ago on Thursday.

Im still gonna walk at night though.

Happy - yes you are right, just recording the eating tends to make us realise what is going in your mouth. I've more or less taken to adding many of the same foodstuffs but taking the calories and other measurements from the packet. It is a pain, but it seems to make things easier for me. If the ingredients are not on the packet or jar (which is legal here - however many of the imported stuff doesn't have it on. Go figure) I look for it on MFP and if it isn't there, I tend to estimate what I think is in the thing. Generally I don't buy imports anyway apart from NZ, Aust and Britain. And because I am fussy, I tend to buy organic anyway.
The Prosecco is a sparkling wine - can't call it Champagne because it wasn't made in the Champagne area of France. It's not particularly fizzy - doesn't go off like a champagne cork but it is light and not sweet or dry and just a nice drink.
I got a bread made of Spelt flour with pumpkin seeds in it. It is nice, but whether the spelt flour makes too much difference I really don't know. I also got a Holsteiner loaf which is a heavy grain and rye dough. One piece is enough type of bread.
The nights are cooling off quite nicely and there was a bit of nip in the air this morning as I came out of the building to walk to work. Not enough to need a hat or scarf but it is definitely there. Haven't seen much in the way of trees changing as yet, but much of it is pine anyway. The attached is in the South Island where autumn colour is the best in NZ. Arrowtown, once mined for gold, now sees gold leaf everywhere


back later.

Happy - the DS2 put the composite decking on one of his rental houses. When I chatted to him about the fact that you were thinking of using it, he said 'it's good stuff. Easy to put down, just make sure you don't have an incompetent (insert swear words)(insert nationality here) using a drill, that can't follow a string line and who misses every joist or bearer by (insert more swear words) several centimeters. Because if you do, you will have a lot of holes to patch.

Suzie - good to hear that you are on the mend and feeling so much better. 2lbs is 2lbs, I'd take it. Hope you enjoyed the birthday party. I'm afraid I would not use the malls to walk in. Some might be able to manage it, but I would be peering into shops and looking for bargains. I guess I would just have to get on a treadmill somewhere if I couldn't walk outside. No discipline.
Yep the sea was good, and I slept like a log last night. Still got sore feet, but not much else has changed.

Ceejay - hope you feel better after that slip on the ice. Take care out there, ice is hazardous - even if you only put it in your drinks like I do.

So Mel has been on my mind a lot over the past couple of weeks. Maybe she is telling me to contact Jen again or something. I wished her a happy birthday on the 7th - hers is a day after DS1's birthday. Mel not Jen just in case you were interested in my grammar there.

Okay - so maybe I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning. Every single thing I have touched so far has turned to cr*p. Not achieving much at all. I'm on my 5th coffee and that doesn't seem to be jazzing me up either.

Oh and while I think about it and before I disappear into another meeting, Ruthxxx's dog Disney - who was a Katrina rescue dog - passed away on Friday or the weekend, can't remember which. Such a shame, but as Ruth said, there was no telling how old she was and the poor thing was going through kidney failure so a peaceful end was called for.

Gotta go again.

Shad ~ Im sorry to hear about Ruth's dog, Even though I dont know who Ruth is, Is she a former member of 3FC or is she a personal friend of yours? Just curious.

Ruthxxx is one of the moderators on this forum. I have met her and call her a friend, and she pops in here from time to time. You will no doubt meet up with her one day.

Now where did I get up to?

No idea, but I think I got the latest posts.

Not long now until we all become Aunties again, when Annies little Ace puts in an appearance. It will be nice to have something to celebrate.

Trying to get through to DS2. I keep forgetting that we are 3 hours ahead over here and last time I messaged him, I did it at 3.00am his time. Oooops.:o

I see we have had a few changes in the threads. I have a smilies button with all the most popular on it. The colours seem to have changed or we have more of them or something.
We can even add attachments I think. Not sure how it works but I will eventually find out.

Meantime I should go and finish the bathroom. Then sweep down that end. And do some packing and thinking about what to take home and leave there.

So I will catch you later.

Some photos attached of:
Clouds - from my apartment
Sunset - from my apartment
Red Rocks - now you can see why the place is called Red Rocks
Island Bay Beach
Some interesting embellishments on some of the houses at Island Bay. Some folk have a sense of humour

Morning chicks,

Things are starting to melt and drip here. Nice to see. Got an email that there is no water at the thrift shop - busted pipe. Probably froze and when the thaw came, it broke. The building is ancient with very poor insulation. I left some water bottles in the back where they clean and price the donations and the water was frozen solid - it's that cold back there. So no surprise with the pipes. Just hoping they get it fixed by Thursday when I'm there next. Weight is up a pound today - no surprise - we had pizza for dinner last night. I have to get more stringent with what I'm eating. Always have the best intentions ...

Shad - I enjoyed the pictures - interesting look on that balcony. Guess it's appropriate to have a boat bow as a balcony if you are right at the sea. Handy if the water levels rise too quickly also :lol: I saw the new buttons on the post window - not sure if I will use them or not, but thanks for pointing them out. Also appreciate the commentary on the composite from DS - DH got a chuckle out of that as he can certainly relate. You mentioned packing - are you going home for a short visit?

Guess I will wait for the others to check in today. In the meantime it's trash day and laundry day as well as finding some other things to keep busy day. Talk to you later...

Shad - interesting that you mention Mel - I think she's over our heads, poking about, still stirring a ruckus in her own way. ;) In our minds and our hearts.

Morning all (barly). Didn’t get here yesterday. Not that I was so busy – but time does get away from me on the weekends. Late start today. I was wiping doggy's paws when he came in from the yard this morning and ended up with a muddy sleeve. I was already pressed for time and that just put an end to making my usual train.
==
Happy – Sorry you missed your yoga class last Thursday, but you know your body and how it will react. I thought you were already doing the yoga class with the popular instructor – must have missed something there. :?: I hope you get into that class in the next session and enjoy it. Why isn’t the treadmill in the house??? Sad story about E. the volunteer. My father was undergoing treatment for lung cancer and experienced the same type of death, but much more sudden and immediate. Very unexpected & shocking – we obviously thought we’d have him around for longer. Re decks – living in a ranch house, I’m glad we don’t have to deal with a deck. The maintenance seems like such a drag. Hope the trex type material is an option for you. The movie I saw Thursday night, “Non-stop” was entertaining, but of course it was totally implausible and over the top. That said, it also wasn’t as good as “Taken” – another Liam Neeson action movie. If anything, it’s something most people would rent or wait until it comes out on cable…or skip altogether.

Annie – Totally agree with Susie’s comment. This is the week!!!

Terra – Good idea to walk in the mall. The cold/ice/snow makes it very difficult to do outside!

Shad – Bread and wine – yum. I do like Prosecco. :cheers: Sounds like you had a nice day at Island Bay with all the walking by the sea. Looking forward to checking out the photos that I just saw you’ve posted. I lurk around on the threads Ruth posts to, and I know her dog Disney was on her way out. Sad, but I know there was nothing to be done, and she had a good life after being adopted by Ruth. Thanks for the update, hadn’t seen anything since Thursday.

Ceejay – Sorry you tripped on the ice – no lasting effects I hope. You’ve got a long workweek – that’s a lot of hours...but the paycheck will be nice for you. :yes: Has the trainee been moved to his permanent duties yet?? Glad to hear the niece’s fiancé got here okay.

Michelle – How’s everything going? How’s your ex-SIL?

Susie – Glad you’re back to the routine now. I hope whatever med you get from the doc wipes out the last of your infections, though I had the same thought as Happy - that Cipro was one of the stronger/strongest antibiotics out there. At least there’s the 2-lb loss! :D How was the nephew’s bday party??
~~~
Still catching up from Friday’s day off. Nothing much else to report about my weekend. After the massage (bf also enjoyed his), we had some good Polish food nearby. An old school space, dark paneling and all, but very cute/quaint. Glad we discovered it.

Finally watched “Gravity”. Wow, good story. Glad I saw it.

Didn’t do much else this weekend – a couple more long dog walks. Yesterday I twisted my knee a bit while picking up after doggy in a deep bit of snow. Very minor, just twingey.

I finally made doggy’s peanut butter biscuits. He knew they were for him, of course, LOL.

Not back to tracking on MFP – fell off once my weekend started. But the tracking part of weight loss is what works for me – whether it’s on a computer or on paper, just being aware of what I’m shoveling in makes a difference.

Okay, getting this posted and then time for lunch. TTFN.
:comp:

Good Monday to everyone!

Such a busy weekend! Friday night was poker. I got home around 12:30, showered and went to bed, but didn't fall asleep until nearly 2. Had to wake up at 6 to get ready and meet a friend for breakfast at 7:30 before we attended a 1/2 day workshop together in San Francisco. The workshop was amazing. Afterwards, I went to the hospital where my ex-SIL was and visited with her for a bit. She was pretty loopy on meds but at least not in any pain; a double mastectomy is serious surgery. The initial results of the biopsy show that her lymph nodes are clean. :yay: But the complete results, which will determine if she needs to undergo chemo and/or radiation, will take a few days. Then I picked Santa up from day care, we went to the dog park for an hour and then home.

I fell asleep at 8 pm Saturday night and didn't wake up 'till Santa had to go out at 7 am. I went over to my step-mom's and hooked up a new wi-fi printer for her.

Then I went to a Hypnosis for Weight Loss seminar. I thought it was just going to be a sales-pitch kind of thing with maybe one brief hypnosis session. It was actually a full workshop that reviewed nutrition and exercise, and there were four short hypnosis sessions: one where we pictured our ideal body..seeing ourselves in the body we would like to have; the next was a fattening food aversion where we vividly saw all our favorite unhealthy foods turn into something disgusting (I won't share the details for any that may be eating or have just eaten while reading this) - it was quite vivid and felt a little nauseous/revolted; in the third, we imagined a wall that represented whatever our reasons were for resisting - and then after really deeply realizing our reasons for resistance, we pushed the wall over or demolished it; and the final hypnosis session had to do with unzipping our "fat suit" and stepping out of it/taking it off, then we asked our "fat suit" what it's purpose was (to keep people at bay to protect us from getting too close, to help us not feel unpleasant emotions, whatever), we thanked the "fat suit" for doing what it thought we needed at the time, but said that we don't need that anymore, and we threw it away or destroyed it. Then we saw ourselves as healthy, vibrant, energetic and loving our body...as it currently is and as it's becoming our ideal body. Hard to explain, but it was VERY, VERY good.

There are a lot of people out there doing hypnosis for weight loss, and some are probably not that good and some might even be scams. I started a Hypno for Weight Loss workshop in Wisconsin, but then I had to move before it was over. And when this deal showed up on either Living Social coupons or GroupOn coupons, it was only $30 for a 3 hour session and I couldn't pass it up. Granted, I thought it was going to be a private session and it was a group session, but it was still amazing. And I have no desire to eat those fattening foods...I hope that lasts.

Santa is doing better. His appetite is back and he's walking on his foot between 50-75% of the time.

=================
Happy - Glad things may be finally melting. I talked to my ex-DMIL over the weekend and she said that while it's warmed up to 30 there, it's still too cold and she's ready for spring too. Your anniversary fish fry dinner sounds yummy. As for logging on MyFitnessPal, I do really well at logging breakfast and lunch, but sometimes I don't get on the computer at night when I'm home, and sometimes I go nearly the entire weekend without logging on. I suppose I could try and use the app on my phone if I can find it among all my other apps. I start my back rehab class next Monday, and I'll definitely share what I learn. I think I'm going to do a chicken and noodles dish and something else not sure what. Her double mastectomy was not preventative. She actually had tumors in both breasts. This is my ex-DH's second sister to have breast cancer. The first was an older sister about 9 years ago (she was in her late 40s/early 50s), and this SIL is his youngest sister who is 45. So all the females in the family will have regular mammograms, which is a good idea for everyone. I've been getting them since I was 33 which is when my older sister was diagnosed with cancer she was 41 at the time (she's alive and doing very well - this is my sister that lives in Southern CA).

Laura - Glad your massage was relaxing and nice. Congrats on having the smaller jeans fit! That's great!! I haven't seen the trailers or reviews for "Non-Stop", but I really enjoyed Liam Neeson in Taken. Never did see the sequel to Taken though ("Retaken"?, "Taken2"). Glad you liked "Gravity".

Shad - You certainly are getting lots of walking in and visiting lovely places. I loved the photos of the ocean and red rocks, as well as the balcony and the views from your apartment. So beautiful! The sea is calling to me too. I'm hoping to be able to make some time before the end of the month to drive over to the ocean on a Saturday or Sunday. It's only an 45 minute drive, but sometimes my weekends are so full I don't have time for a relaxing day by the shore. So sad that Ruth had to say goodbye to Disney. Disney was very fortunate to be rescued from Katrina and to have found such a loving home with Ruth.

Ceejay - So sorry to hear you had a fall. I'm glad you weren't injured other than the soreness. I'm glad you're step-niece's fiance made it to the States. Enjoy your days without the trainee. So glad he's going to be moved. :D Nice that you're getting some overtime and extra pay so you can save for your vacation! Just allow yourself plenty of rest in the evenings. You're working five 12-hour shifts, right? That's brutal. Take care of yourself and rest when you can. Walking at a big store like Wal-Mart is an excellent way to get exercise.

Terra - The time walking at the mall probably passed more quickly with someone to talk to and more stuff to look at. Walking there 3 days per week is a good idea.

Susie - Congrats on the weight loss. How was your nephew's b'day party? As soon as I have some of the back rehab classes, I'll share the info. :D How cool that you know so much about composite decking. You did a gutsy move telling the decking company you didn't want to go back to Warranty...but I'm so glad it worked out so well for you.

Annie - I hope Samantha is doing well. I'm so looking forward to receiving news from you regarding Ace's arrival. Happy and Susie are right that you'll be able to shower affection on Jacob so he can more easily transition into the big brother role rather than feel jealous at having to share the attention.

I'm going to sign off for now. I didn't sleep well last night. I didn't fall asleep until around midnight, maybe because I slept so much on Saturday night. I'm tired now and need more :coffee: :rofl:

Much love and many hugs to all,