GLAD TO SEE YOU HERE!!

Welcome to a thread full of humor, encouragement, friendship & fellowship, as we share the ups & downs of raising a family & losing weight! We welcome all new friends & our returning friends too!!

Be sure to go back and check out the Stay At Home Mom's #28 thread to see what has been going on in everyone's lives & our newcomers.

**Jackie**

Hi!

Today's been a busy day, but I'm keeping my promise about being accountable. I was going to post yesterday, but I decided to talk on the phone to an out of state friend instead. It was great to talk to her again & I enjoyed every minute of our conversation. I'm still going thru the junk in DD's bedroom. It's amazing in a months time what can accumulate! I've gotten rid of tons, but still have a ways to go with it. DD gave me a BIG HUG & said "thanks!" when she got home from school yesterday. I guess she didn't miss the junk either! Ginny: Thanks for your encouragement-it's always appreciated! I keep picturing myself thin & I think I'll have a success in the long run. And Ginny, you are doing such a great job on losing weight & you're such an inspiration to me. Keep swimming in your water!! KimM Thanks for stopping by for a visit & for your advice. How do you like your weight bench & what kind is it? I'm thinking of getting a weight bench at home. I want to take a Body-Pump class so I know what to expect first. Stop in for a visit, okay? Lil'Sunshine Congratulations on the 2# loss! I must be down a few since the other day as I can get my rings off with ease again. (I sure hope so!!) Good for you for keeping a journal & you're so right about reading labels. Some of those labels can really shock the heck out of me! Especially the first time I read a fruit juice label. I thought with the front label reading "Real Fruit Juice", I'd be safe drinking it. After several glasses of juice I decided to read the back label & found out that I consumed almost a 1/2 days worth of calories! I'm glad to hear that you have balanced your meals quite a bit. This is part of the weightloss secret. Also, don't forget to get the much needed rest that you need in a day too! I have to keep reminding myself on that one. Spryng: Glad to see you have broke down your goals in # incraments. I was a little worried about you before the wedding. I was hoping that you would come to your senses later on. I can't remember how tall you are, but I really don't think that you need to lose much more! Don't get too thin, it will only make you sick in the long run. And for the Atkins Diet: I don't believe in it! I do indeed believe that we should watch how many carbs we have, but don't cut it down to an extreme minimum. Oh!, you asked me about what the increased fiber was all about: I read in a magazine just recently that if you increase the fiber in your diet, you may be able to lose without cutting back. It's worth the try. I didn't pick a good week to try though, as it's TOM! I'm hoping next week shows a success for me. I also wanted to tell you one more thing...you seem so grown up for 21 y/o. My niece seems so much younger than you. It must be that you have 2 kids already. They can really make you grow up fast!! My niece has no children, & just got married a year ago. Maybe I'll see a change in her the next time I see her. She just moved with her newlywed husband out of state.
CDM: Where are you moving to & what part of IL do you live in now? Pardon me for asking & the only reason why I ask is because I don't live too far away from IL. I hope that you will start feeling better soon. I started getting the "hacky" cough this a.m. Oh!, and FYI: Ginny & I have decided last winter that coughing counts as some form of exercise. We didn't have a result of wash-board abs, but our tummy muscles sure felt sore! Well gals, if I don't get off this computer, the housework is going to really start piling up! Hopefully I'll get a chance to check in tomorrow. Until then, take care!

Good afternoon!!!!!!
Well, Jackie my friend, you beat me to it! Thanks for starting a new thread, you know how obsessive I get about having to go to another page. (neurotic is probably a better word ). Glad that you had such a great day, yesterday! It's great to talk with a friend that you do not always get to chat with on a daily basis, as it would be with an out of state buddy. I had a great day too, it started off with a walk at around 11 and then had a really pleasant afternoon when I got home. Congrats on digging out
Dd's bedroom. Mission accomplished, and a job well done! I have to dig out here too........still in my paper purge, but I have made some major headway. I got so far behind with Christmas.

I had better go Dh and I are taking the defensive driving course tonite (5 hours ) and I have to be out of the house in 40 minutes. But I had to check in and say hello! Maybe I will get back here later (which I doubt, I slept awfully last nite).

Have a great nite!
Ginny

I am so tired girls! Our baby has been keeping a fever since yesterday evening. It's been hectic. I stayed up most of the night with her. She's such a good baby not fussy or cranky, she just wants us to hold her. It hurts my feelings to see them when they feel bad. Other than that things here are going well, the diet went ok yesterday. I caught myself munching on some cheetos (who can resist those, I want to know?) and alout couldn't stop! So needless to say I had a cup of low fat yougart for dinner to keep myself from going over the cal limit for the day. So today has been good as far as my diet goes. The baby is still feeling bad and with all the extra attention she is getting the toddler is feeling left out. So I'm fixing her a special dinner and promised her I'd watch Clifford with her. I'd better get busy.

hello all! I have some great news!! I lost that lb I put back on. I'm back to 135. Plus I guess I've been losing inches and not paying attention. I put on my size 12 jeans this morning and they have been baggy for awhile but this morning they seemed ridiculous. So I put them on and showed my DH them trying to coax him into buying me some size 10's today. I thought I really needed them. But he laughed and told me to go naked or wear my old size 8's I've been hanging on to for 3 1/2 years now. So I thought I'd show him what a stupid idea that was. You can't go from a 12 to and 8 just like that. So I put them on to show him how small they still are and guess what!! Yes that's right, they fit! I was ecstatic!! I ran into the living room yelling and flapping my arms like a mad woman. he was quite impressed. They are snug (not tight though) and they slipped on and zipped up without a hitch. I couldn't believe it. No wonder my 12's were falling off of me!! But these are really old so I know I still need to buy new jeans. But all I ever wanted to be was a size 8 and now I am. I figure I'll go ahead and hit 125 but I won't aim for anything smaller than that. I just want to be a comfortable 8. It's so amazing to me. I'm gloating. Sorry. I was just excited.
Sorry to hear about your baby misti. We had an eventful night last night with my 1 year old. We have two great big windows in our living room and our couch sits in front of them. Well the weather was gorgeous yesterday so I turned off the heat and opened all the windows and had a beautiful warm breeze in the house. Well my son was sitting by me on the couch and our cat jumped on the screen outside the window. And my son went after it and the screen gave way and out of the house he fell!! It's a 6 1/2 foot drop to the ground outside. Plus he hit a cement block on the way down. I was freaking out. I ran outside and he was bleeding and hysterical. He had a cut on the back of his head and a very long cut running down the back of his neck. he couldn't walk on one leg and I just knew he was broken. He had scratches and bruises all over him. So we rushed him to the ER and thankfully he was fine. He had calmed down by then and nothing was wrong. He didn't even need pain medication. The cuts are not deep so they stopped bleeding soon and he was laughing and playing in the floor. His leg was sprained but not bad. Today you can tell he's a little sore and looks like he was in a mean fight and lost but he's ok and happy again. I guess I'm going to have to nail the screens shut on this house. They aren't very sturdy. Just a little push and they pop out. I was just so happy he was ok. It scared me so bad.
jackie: thank you so much for caring about me. I've been alot better on my calories. Yesterday I ended with 1035. More than usual for me but I felt good and still lost a lb so it must be good for me. I'm 5'4 and I am about done dieting. I figure I'll lose 10 more lbs and call it quits and just maintain. Now that I am in the jeans I want to be I'm happy. They are a little snug so I'm going to lose until they fit comfortably and when they do whether that's 2 more lbs or 10 I'm done. I won't strive for 120. I know alot of people don't like atkins. And that's ok. It worked when I needed it but I like low calories a whole lot better. I feel healthier and I love what I eat. Plus it's more balanced. Thank you for the compliment about me seeming mature for my age. I always have heard that. I got married at 18 but i wasn't a typical 18 year old. I've always been level headed and such. I had a rough childhood that forced me to grow up faster than I would have liked but that's ok. I would never change anything about my life, past or present. I feel what one has to go through is life shapes them into the individuals they are today. I love who I am today because of it. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful kids that I adore. Life is just getting started for me. I turn 22 next month. Sometimes I feel so old though. I have nothing in common with people my age. Most of my friends are alot older than me. But I love that too. I learn alot from you and ginny too. I love your posts and your interesting lives. You two are great.
Well now that I've wrote a book here today I guess I'll get off here. have a great night everyone!!

That is so great! I'm so proud of you! It must have felt great! I just wanted to check in real quick before I go to bed and was so happy to hear your good news (I had to post). Sorry to hear about your son, I'm so glad he is ok. That had to have been so scarey. Our baby's fever has finally broke and she is resting quietly. Maybe I might rest good tonight too. I also wanted to thank you Ginny and Jackie for all your wonderful advice and encouragement, it really makes all the difference. Good night girls hope you all had a great day.

Good afternoon ladies! How is everyone today? Things are calm here. I've been cleaning all morning and now I'm finally sitting down. I cleaned out my laundry room today. What I mess it was!! But now I can actually find the washer and dryer with ease! I have about 8 loads of clean laundry to fold and then my house is complete. I hate folding laundry. But it's getting out of hand.
Well I weighed again today. Down another lb. I'm 134 now. I am in love with my scale lately. I bought a big bag of salad today. That will help increase my calories when I have dinner. I'm having a huge bowl of salad for lunch today. I'm actually looking forward to it. I haven't ate salad since I went off atkins. I was so burned out on it. But it's been months and now I want it again.
I hope everyone else is doing great today!! My little boy is doing great now. Now I'm trying to wean him off his bottle. My little girl weaned herself at about 13 months old. he is almost 14 months and won't give it up. Any advice??
I'll check in again later!!

Hi. I read a lot of these posts but don't post too often. I really don't know where I belong. I am a stay at hom mom, so I'll try here. I believe I may have an eating disorder although I know I don't have anorexia...maybe I have a case of the exercise bullimia sometimes (where I exercise off the calories I eat). Mostly, I overeat snacks, sugar and baked goods. With kids it is hard because there are snacks around although I try to buy the more nutritious ones, I still buy things like chocolate and baked goods (or I bake the goods myself using little oil and eggbeaters). I can't blame it on the kids, though. I'm the one who buys it for them and it's like I know I should not but I do it anyway. What I want to do is get off sugar and white flour but I can't seem to do it? Any advice from anyone who has done this, please let me know. I hate withdrawal symptoms (spelling?). Thanks for letting me vent. I did exercise this morning, had a cereal breakfast and chicken and veggie lunch but had three hershey kisses and some hard candy this afternoon...I can't stay on an eating plan to save my life.

Good evening!
Welcome Musicgal!!!! You did not fill us in with too many details~ how many children do you have? What are there ages?
I guess that I do not have any magic fix for the sugar problem.....or the baked goods problem, but I know how deal with it. One thing that I know to be true (and have read elsewhere) is to start your day without sweet gooey stuff. Yup, leave the entemanns and the pancakes out! Start with a protein and a fruit or a complex carbohydrate or a combination of them. And a big glass of cold water. If you start your day with something sugary you have set your taste buds for sweet all day, and the only thing that will satisfy that is more sweet. You might want to drop back a bit too and instead of buying (for example) the chocolate covered grahams, just buy a box of plain grahams for the kids. And believe it or not, you can retrain your body to find that really sweet stuff too sweet or fatty. (I have a low threshold for fats now, as a result of dieting- they taste bad to me). How much do you want to lose? As for me, I have 3 children and want to lose somewhere around 25- 30 pounds. I am following weight watchers, and I walk 5 or 6 times a week. (got a long journey ahead of me!)

Spryng! Congrats on fitting in those size 8's!!!!! That is wonderful and I am sure that you feel great! I had a similar experience when I bought my new jeans, the old ones were falling off so badly, I could not imagine why. (of course, mine are much bigger than 8's........) That was some scare that you went thru with your son! Simply amazing the emotional roller coaster that these kids put us thru. Thankfully, kids are much more resilient than we think and take a lot of bumps and bruises. After it is all said, I am just happy for you that he is fine.

Misti- glad that the baby is fine now and the fever is gone!! Go easy on yourself- typically the day or two (or three or four...) after a little one is sick are extra tough. All that catching up to do on the housework etc....... because of the time lost comforting a sicky. Go easy on yourself, and try to get some time for yourself tool.

As for me, life continues on its insane pace. Sometimes I feel like I live in my van. (well, at least it has a good radio!) I am hoping that tomorrow will be a bit more sane , as if I think that that is possible!!! Dd (15) was home all day and spent most of if complaining that I was not driving her all over to see her boyfriend. (I am warning those of you with little ones.......love them to death.........teething is a cake walk in comparison to a teenager!) Last nites defensive driving course was informative and very funny. The chief of police gave it, and brought a lot of real life situations and humor to it. 5 hours was long, but worth it.

Well, I had better go. I hope to check in tomorrow morning and say hello. If I don't have a great weekend!!!!!!
Ginny

Ginny, thanks for the reply. Actually, I'm good in the morning and early p.m. It's at 4 when the kids come home...then I reach for the sugar and stuff. I should introduce myself. I have 2 boys ages 7 and 9. I thought things would get easier when they got older but it seems to get worse. I call myself Musicgal because I love music but never persued it as a career. I just like to sing along with the radio. I am actually a Lifetime Member at WW and got down to 125 but that was many years ago when I was single and before the kids. After I had my second son I went back to WW and got back down to goal (lost 30 lbs). I keep going back to WW but I can't do this points things and there is no incentive for returning Lifetimers like ribbons or stars or anything (although last year I did get a little radio which I enjoy). I am usually 10 lbs. or less above goal when I re-join and it's so hard to lose those pounds when you are close to goal. (This may be why I think I may have an eating disorder because my BMI and weight are normal for my height even at 135 lbs. but I fear things getting out of control and gaining weight.) When I lost the weight and got to goal with WW (both times), they were using the exchange program where you count the breads, protein/milks, fruits, fat, etc. I was going to try the Richard Simmons food mover plan (again!) because it's similar to the old WW program but I always go off it because like I said in my first post, I can't seem to stick to a plan anymore. My kids love moving the food mover for me (how many chicken legs did you eat today mom?...if anyone has the food mover, they know that they show a chicken leg to represent protein). I think I will come here for support now and try to keep with that program. Thank you for listening. I will go back and read the other posts and see if I can offer any advice. I'm an older mom so maybe I can help in that way. Take care everyone!

Good morning everyone and welcome musicgal!! We already have several tings in common. We are stay at home moms, around the same weight (I'm 134) have the same goals (125) and we both love to sing!! I downloaded karoake files on my computer to indulge in my hobby every now and then. My DH loves to hear me sing. But I have no desire to ever go pro. I love singing to myself and the kids and that's it. I can't stick to a plan either. I was on atkins for ages and got tired of it even though it worked great. Now I'm just on a low calorie diet. No specific plan. I just watch what I eat and try to make better food choices. Not nessasarily low fat though. Last night I had hamburger helper with the kids (1 and 2) for dinner last night. It was really good. But I still stayed low cal. 910 for the day. That's a normal number for me. But I look forward to hearing more from you!! Oh yeah, how tall are you??
Ginny I feel for you with your 15 year old. My little sister is 15 but she's not alowed to date so that sloves the problem of driving her around to see a boyfriend. She's in homeschooling so there are no boys!! It's better for her that way. But before you know it she will be grown and you two will laugh about her teenage adventures. You sound like a great mother. She'll appreciate you some day.

Well I cleaned house like a crazy woman yesterday. I don'tknow what came over me. I got caught up on all my laundry, even folded them and put them away!! Today I want to clean the kids rooms. I don't understand how they accumalated so many toys!!
Talk to you girls later!!

WELCOME MUSICGAL! I hope you have lots of good acvice, I'm always in need These are a great bunch of gals and I'll do my part in helping encourage you! Congrat's again on losing another pound, Spryng! Can I borrow your scale? Mine must not be working! I'm having a pretty rough week here girls. The baby was doing so well, we thought. It was the motrin giving us a fake out. At noon yesterday she began to feel warm again, so I took her temp and it was 103.2! DH flew outa here and was back with the doc in a blink. By the time he got her she was 104.7. They loaded her up in the surburban and got her to the hospital. There they ran about every test imaginable an did some twice. My nerves were shot! She was an angel though, never fussed. And everything was negative, go figure. So they sent us home once the fever was back under control and said to keep an eye on her. She's doing much better. The Doc has been down once this mornin to check her over he says its a virus, she's breaking out with alittle rash. She seems to be doing well though. Oh, Ginny I wish I could find time for myself and "chill" some or even just hide in the corner and have a nervous break down for a minute. No time for that though, what's even worse is I'm the rock in this family. DH is wonderful don't misunderstand but in crisis he panics and you have to guide him through every small detail. Anyhow I need to go dig my house out of the mess it is in. Anybody have a backhoe?

My heart goes out to you Misti. That was quite a scare!! What kind of virus does she have? Did the doctor say when she should be better? I'm sure you are run ragged. if your baby takes a nap then you catch one too. Don't worry about the house. You need to rest. Take it easy if you can. Maybe your DH could help out a little with the house and all that so you can just focus on getting your little baby and yourself better!!

Thanks so much Spryng. Looks loke she might have roseola it's in the family with chicken pox. They run a fever for a few days and then break out. After that it's over. She's breaking out in the rash now so h said it should be gone in a week. But she's really been her same sweet self, The kid sure is strong, I am so thankful. As for me, I just put it in high gear and dug the house out. Our oldest helped dust and put clothes on hangers. We laughed and played alot so it made it go by faster. She's a great kid. We even had time to go outside and help Dh stack wood. I burnt up those cals today. Things seem to be getting back to normal, I hope. I know I'll sleep good tonight!

WOW!, This thread is a hoppin'!!

I'm not sure on how much I'm going to post. I've just crawled out of bed about an hour ago after being there the last two days. That lousy virus hit me! 103 d. temp., coughing,coughing,& more coughing! The best part of it though is no appetite! I got on the scale this a.m & was down 6#! I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch though. I'm sure a lot of it is water weight & will re-appear on the scale again. I know I was dehydrated as I had the dry heaves BIG TIME! I forced the water down & the dry heaves stopped a few hours later. A lot has happened on this thread for the two days I've been down. First of all, Welcome, Musicgal! I have an 8 y/o dd & a 13 y/o ds.
My dh name is Gary & we have been married for 17.5 years! You mentioned that you may have an eating disorder. It's great that you know that you are in the ballpark for your ht/wt proportion. If I were you, I'd check this out with your Dr. real soon. It's very common to have a chemical imbalance, which may be your case. I'm not a doctor, so this is why I'm suggesting that you go see one. If I were you I'd ask for a complete physical, along with checking your vitamin,iron & mineral count, etc. Mention to your Dr. that you may have an eating disorder. Until you get to the doc, take care of yourself! Ginny: DD's room never got finished due to me being sick & you can hardly tell I was in there! The rest of the house looks like her room. Well, maybe there's some good to this, DH can actually see what I do in a day! I was really ticked @ him last night. I decided to use all my energy that I had left to change the sheets/blankets on our bed. The whole time I was making it, he stood with his back turned to me with his face 4" in front of the tv! Hello!! Can't you see that I'm ready to fall over & could use some help? (I didn't actually say this to him & kept my mouth shut, but I thought my share.)
Once I had the sheets & pillowcases on the bed I crawled in & said that he was in charge of the covers. With a little complaining from him, he managed to get the covers on. He then was all bent out of shape because he didn't know if they were put on correctly. I finally said: "I don't care how their on, as long as we're covered up!" Ginny, you'll have to fill us in more about the deffensive driving class.
We had a severe accident not too far away from our house yesterday. A drunk driver fell asleep on the interstate, went across the median & hit a lady & her two kids head on.
The Mom will be okay, unfortunately, her two kids didn't make it. The 5 y/o died instantly & the 5 month old died soon after. The car was hit so bad that the baby actually flew out of it's car seat & they had to search for it. It only lived for a short time. And...I think you all know what the outcome was with the drunk driver, hardly a scratch on him! This happened @ 3:00 in the afternoon, not late at night when a lot of the drunk drivers are out there. I guess this should be a wake-up call for all of us drivers & parents. Life is too short, love them like there's no tomorrow! Spryng & Lil'Sunshine: It sounds as though you both had a real wake-up call too! To have your baby fall 6.5 ft. out of a window & another to have a high fever, this is enough to add on a few years to your age! Lil'Sunshine: Is your baby on any meds from the doc? The only reason on why I ask this is because my dd had the same symtoms a few weeks ago & he said that if a rash followed after the antibiotics, there could be a great chance of her having Mono, which isn't anything to fool around with. I hope you had some one-on-one time with your toddler. Spryng: What happened to the cat? Did you find it again? Oh!, by the way....congrats on fitting into your size 8 jeans! I'm jealous!! I guess with all these success stories, it will give me more incentive. Well, I think that I'll sign off for now. I'm starting to actually feel hungry & am very weak. I'm going to see if food agrees with me yet. Until later, TTFN!