Jessica, thanks for sharing your pics. The girls' room looks lovely! And Carter looks like the kind of dog who will be a good companion for them.
Allison, happy birthday! It sounds like you're having a great time.
I weighed myself for the first time in a couple of weeks, figuring that my life sucks already so why not? I was surprised to see that I'm down a couple of pounds, although still much higher than I'd like. I had felt more in control of my eating last week so I'm glad the scale confirmed it.
My dad had another good day. He doesn't make sense half the time but he's there.
Jessica-- you look great!! How far along are you? I gained about 40 pounds with each of my girls-- which left me pushing 190 at the time. My goal was to not outweigh dh and I never did-- though he hovers around 190 now so I'd be pushing it!
Steph-- glad to hear your dad is doing better. My mom-in-law had a stroke almost exactly a year ago and she is doing very well. It takes a long time to see how much they will recover. Glad your weight was down too...
Jessica You look great! And pregnancy is the one time for sure most women are allowed, even encouraged to be "fat" so enjoy it! You lost the weight before and can do so again.
Jessica, my happiness over your health and thriving belly, and at checking in with Carter again (who looks happy and animated, and completely recovered), is dwarfed by my awe at your skills at sewing. You sew? Really? I can cook, but I can't sew. Understand that this is written by a woman who has a section of her closet devoted entirely to clothing that needs to be hemmed, or to have buttons moved, or mostly buttons sewn back on, and that is rapidly getting out of control. I need to devote half a day to button repair, but the hemming is beyond me and will require a visit from my mother.
Krampus, I hope you caught up on your sleep. After working on sleep last week, I found this is one good habit that's really hard to acquire, and I'm back to getting to bed later than I'd hoped this week, and I can see the difference in my mood.
Steph, unfortunately now I've had several experiences with strokes in the family, so I know that the reemergence of the person you know & love takes time -- but I do think these early signs of progress are a hopeful sign.
Me, I've had another one of those mornings where I woke up a little later than I should, sat there at the dining room table with my coffee and said, "Heck with it." Got on the laptop without going to the gym. Which isn't good, because it makes me uneasy all day at a looming, undone task, but it also lets me breathe outside of the sometimes constricting structures and routines that I've created in my life. I will be at the gym in the afternoon or evening, making up for it.
Saef, LOL, I totally can barely even sew. I do own a cheap sewing machine though, and my mom taught me how to use one when I was a kid. The only way I manage to hem pants is by using transparent thread (looks like fishing line) so that you can't see my uneven stitching, and the only way I can fix buttons is because I have Martha Stewart's homekeeping handbook which has detailed instructions. (My repaired buttons usually fall off again after a few washes though.) I made the pillowcases and curtains with the help of YouTube. Funny story: I was on the phone with my mom after the first set of curtains and discovered that apparently I was supposed to wash the fabric before I started sewing. Oops! You learn something new every day.
Michele, I'm 25 weeks along. I'd also not like to outweigh DH who is around 195 at the moment! (Lucky for me he gained sympathy weight since I got pregnant or I'd be pushing it, he was 180 before.) My goal is to make it to 36 weeks, preferably 37. That gives me about three more months of weight gain and I'm already at 174, so I don't know where I'll end up.
Steph, glad to hear your dad is recovering. I will hope for the best for him. DH's grandma had a series of "mini-strokes" last year and has made a good recovery, although she does have to live in assisted living now. Thanks for your comment on Carter, I am hoping that he'll be good with the babies and accept them as part of his pack that he protects.
Speaking of Carter, he's getting to be an old man although he's in good health. I realized that our 5 year anniversary of adopting him is coming up next month, which means he's about 9 years old. (This also means it's been over 2 years since his back surgery!) He seems to be enjoying his retirement.
Steph Good news that your dad has been having consecutive good days. I just looked out the window and said aloud "SH!T" - I didn't realize it had started snowing again. I work in Menands so thankfully my 787 travel time is pretty short.
OUCH! Tripped over my own boots and fell onto my bad knee and wrist on a set of stone steps. Darn stone is hard stuff! Too bad I didn't fall on to my *ss - that is getting more and more padded every week. I don't think I want to get on a scale until I've had a week at home to lose some of it.
Lucy (dogsit dog) is going to want to run around with me tonite (we play hide and seek and keep away through the living and dining rooms) and I'm gonna be pretty slow I think (my knee is already swelling). Winter sucks (steps were covered in ice).
We stopped at a diner today to get my dad a hot dog and I accidentally ate a big piece of chocolate cream pie - so self-indulgent, so good. I shall be on the bike shortly and will try to burn off half the calories.
Another good day for Dad. He's still quite impaired cognitively but he makes sense more than half the time. The brain is so complex - he can remember the name of my mother's uncle (my parents divorced almost 40 years ago) but can't draw a clock face.
Dagmar, winter does indeed suck. This burst of snow today was just too irritating. The roads were a mess and now it's sleeting, so everything will be icy tomorrow. I hope your knee heals quickly!
And Shannon, I hope you feel better soon. I used to get those long drawn-out colds every winter. Miserable.
Good luck Dagmar and Shannon getting over your knee and your cold!
And thanks to all who responded to my question about whether maintenance is easy or hard, and what kind of weight range is a "maintenance" weight. I got my answer: it depends on the person. For some of us it's easy, for others not so much. It's not easy for me and that's just the reality I must come to accept (working on that, I still wish it were otherwise!)
Good luck Dagmar and Shannon getting over your knee and your cold!
And thanks to all who responded to my question about whether maintenance is easy or hard, and what kind of weight range is a "maintenance" weight. I got my answer: it depends on the person. For some of us it's easy, for others not so much. It's not easy for me and that's just the reality I must come to accept (working on that, I still wish it were otherwise!)
Chris, I would like to meet the person who thinks maintaining is easy. I haven't found that to be true, in my case.
Chris, I would like to meet the person who thinks maintaining is easy. I haven't found that to be true, in my case.
Me either. I've been at this for close to 5 years now (although technically I'm not a maintainter as I never got to goal weight for more than about 10 minutes once ).
I'm home from my Moab weekend. And I'm sore! We hiked to Delicate Arch and Corona Arch (different days) and had a great time taking photos at each place. We did two days of yoga--the second being a celebration of us being 50, so we were to do 50 of the same pose--can't remember the exact pose name, BUT it included lunges, pushups, and standing stretches (something about a sun salutation?). That was two days ago and I'm super sore from it today and driving home from SLC didn't help.
SLC you ask? Well, my next door neighbor growing up came from Switzerland for the weekend and there was no one to take her back to SLC unless she left two days early, so I volunteered to leave one day early and drive her up. It was nice. I stayed with my Dad the night so we could visit and we went out to dinner with my Brother and SIL, so I'm not complaining, except the first two hours of driving were in the dark during rain! Yuck!
Too bad I didn't fall on to my *ss 
- that is getting more and more padded every week. I don't think I want to get on a scale until I've had a week at home to lose some of it.
