Good morning, ladies.

I had a good OP week last week. WI is tonight; so, keep your fingers crossed. After all the eating I did over the holidays, I found last week's OP effort quite difficult. DH and I went out to eat twice and it was tempting to order dessert or Pad Thai with noodles. You know what I mean, I'm sure.

Lori, Sorry about your allergic reaction--that's terrible. I'm glad I went to the doctor, too. I'm feeling better, but still not all there. This is horrible. My doctor said that his office has been full of patients with the same thing. Wow! You're in your 6th month. It just seems like the time is flying by. Our friend's daughter is expecting in May and she's been telling me about the baby's room. She and her husband have been painting and fixing up. She still doesn't have a theme for the baby's room. Do you have one for Phoebe's room?

Lori,I'm so glad you are still in remission. How great that has to be.

I had a pretty busy weekend, mostly with rehearsals for Sound of Music and an oratorio I'm singing in. We had terrific weather this past weekend. This week will really cool off (for us). We may have some nights in the 40's.

How is everyone else?

Lisa - I know what you mean about being OP. I have been eating healthier lately, but its still a struggle for me! And oh yes, in the 6th month now. Hard to believe! I feel like it will never end but at the same time it feels like it has gone by too fast. This weekend was not fun, I just felt very uncomfortable. Lots of stretching going on. I need to take some new belly pics and post them

We do have a theme picked out - safari animals. The walls are going to be green, and the furniture is natural (passed down to me, getting a crib to match). I was going to try to find pictures of animals and frame them for the walls, but the room is on the 2nd floor of a cape style house, so the ceiling starts slanting upwards pretty low to the ground. The inside wall will be the best one for putting anything on, and we may have to reserve that for other things.

We haven't actually started on the room yet though. The oil company is coming on Thursday to install the ductwork into the room so there will be a heating/AC vent. A couple of our friends are going to come I think on the 31st/1st to help us put up drywall and then DH and I will install the floating hardwood floor ourselves. Still lots of work to do in there!

My mom got the hall for the baby shower. It will be March 1st. The theme of the shower is going to be safari animals too. My mom sent me a picture of their attempt at a centerpiece for a table - a small diaper cake. It was cute. I can post it for you when I am at home (at work now).

I went out yesterday and tried to finish registering. Its so overwhelming! I think I need to go back to Babies R Us one more time.

Lori: Glad to hear you're still in remission--that's great! It is overwhelming getting things ready and picking out items for the new baby. My suggestion is to include some larger sizes too (6-9 mos., etc.)--not just newborn because babies grow so quickly. It sounds like you have quite the project going on with the baby's room.

Lisa: Bravo to you for staying OP this past week! I hope your WI tonight goes well. It sounds like you had a busy weekend with rehearsals.

We're bracing for cold weather--temps are supposed to drop tomorrow and we'll be looking at the teens for the remainder of the week and possibly even dipping into the single digits at night. We had snow on Friday and Saturday--so far we've had 24" of snow for January and 98" total which is double what we normally have. The prediction was for a snowy winter They're calling for more snow today and therest of the week.

I'm still battling my cough--the mucinex seemed to help but it's not breaking it up as quick as I'd like. I've been tired too so I'm not sure if it's thyroid or cough-related.

I had a fairly quiet weekend--Saturday I stayed home and got our tree down and did laundry. I need to get the ornaments packed away (they're on my dining room table) and then get the outdoor wreaths down. The house always looks bare when the decorations come down.

Hi Ladies,

The weekend was kind of blah. A big round of layoffs in my department occured on Friday and more throughout the company today. Very sad and depressing. My job appears to be safe at least for now and I'm very greatful for that. Tough economic times for sure.
We got about 6 inches of snow on Saturday and have some very cold weather headed our way on Wednesday. I'm ready for spring.

Lori great news! I can't believe how far along you are. I just love the name Phoebe. I always associate that name with someone being happy and fun I think it's because of the Phoebe character on friends. I like the safari themed room what a unique idea. You've got a lot of work planned, it's great that you and DH have some help with it.

Melissa Ughhh aren't you just tired of this weather. I took my Christmas decorations down last weekend and had a nice surprise when I brought them into the storage room in the basement...a mouse! First time I ever saw one in the 15 years I've been in the house! I sent DH to Loew's to get a have a heart trap and we caught the little devil the next morning. Hope he doesn't have any friends

Lisa I need some of your OP mojo. I still can't seem to string together more than a couple of OP days. The scale says my weight is the same but I feel heavier/more uncomfortable...I really need to work on firming up. Hopefully the yoga class I started will help with that.

Well ladies time to get a few projects done. Hope you all had a good Monday. Talk to you soon.

Pam: I am SO tired of winter! We've so much snow this year already and there's more coming! The temps this morning are 34 and from what they're saying it's going to be short-lived because they're going to drop like a rock later! The high tomorrow is 10! *sigh* Enough already! I've had mice in the house before and I hate anything that moves faster than me

I called the doctor this morning and I have an appointment at 11:40--my cough is not going away and I can feel "something" rattling so I think I'm giong to need an antibiotic; add to that I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open by the afternoon. I have to talk to her about my thyroid meds. They cut them in half and I can tell--I have that "fuzzy tired" feeling. My levels were really high and I couldn't understand why they cut them in half.

Enough of my rambling--I'm having a really hard time getting back to journaling. I used to mark everything down faithfully and lately I just haven't been able to commit to it.

Lisa: How was your WI last evening? I hope it went well.

Gosh, I posted info earlier and my post disappeared. Hmmm

Went to WI and I was up 1/2#. It doesn't sound bad, but I didn't like the number last month and now I'm up farther. Ugh. I know it could have been worse, but I was OP all last week and lost 4-5 pounds. I'll keep at it. It just gets harder and harder to lose the weight, now that I'm over 50.

Pam, I think you'll like yoga--just remember to do what you can and don't strain. You have to work into some of the positions. Good for you for maintaining your weight especially over Christmas.

Melissa, Ugh--your weather sounds horrible. I don't miss it, I must tell you. Yes, when the decorations come down, the house seems blah. Don't blame you for going to the doctor. I ended up going because I just wasn't getting over that hump.

Hang on, Pam, the weather is most likely coming your way! It was warm went I went to the doctor and on my way back to work it started snowing and blowing. The temps are supposed to plummet later this afternoon.

Saw the doctor and I have asthmatic bronchitis. They gave me a breathing treatment which should help to start breaking things up. I've also got a prescription for a Z-pack. I talked with her about my thyroid levels and I'm going tomorrow morning for bloodwork and if that's down even more she's going to put me back on my regular dose. I told her that "I hit the wall" and was really tired. She said the reason the drastic drop was because my levels had flared up so much. At least she listens to me.

Lisa: The weight always goes on easier than it comes off. You'll get the weight off--hang in there!

I had a horrible day at work yesterday. It wasn't because I worked late, but because of what went on during the day. So far I haven't talked to anyone since I've gotten here, so that is keeping me in good spirits so far

Pam - What do you do for work? I feel so lucky sometimes to work as a government civilian employee. Even if they close our facility, they will move us all to another one or offer early retirement (to those eligible).

Lisa - I have definitely been eating better lately. There are sitll some areas in which I could improve though. For example I didn't really NEED that bowl of ice cream with the yummy organic chocolate syrup on it last night, but I have to admit that it did make me feel better after my crappy day.

Melissa - I hope you start feeling better soon now! It is cold here as well. With the wind chill today, it is going to feel like it is 8 degrees out.

Hi Ladies,

I can't stand this frigid cold. I'm sitting in my office dreading having to walk to my car in a few minutes. This is just awful and looks like there is no end in site.

Lori sorry you had a tough day at work...I can certainly relate to that. I hope things were better for you today. I'm a property manager for a New England based supermarket chain. I've been with this company for over 20 years. It's a great place to work and hopefully I'll be here for awhile longer.

Melissa glad you got a diagnosis from your doctor. Hopefully the Z pack and the breathing treatment will clear it up quickly. How is your Dad doing?

Lisa I feel the same way as you 1/2lb isn't bad but the number is more than you want it to be. Once I turned 40 it became much more difficult to lose. I just have to increase the activity level.

Well ladies either I'm going to sleep in my office tonight or go out and brave the cold. I better get going. Have a good night.

It's frigid here, too, Pam. The temp today is 14 and tonight we're supposed to dip down to 3 and tomorrow's high is 7! The wind chill is really bad with it being -20. The snow has been off and on today and they're calling for lake effect later on; the lake isn't totally frozen so we could still get dumped on!

My dad is doing okay--I haven't been out to see him with being sick. I don't want to expose him to something he can't fight off. My mom was there early in the week and found a pack of cigarettes in the pocket of one of his jackets--we have no idea how he got them! The patients aren't permitted to smoke so someone gave them to him.

I'm planning on heading into the office tomorrow so I can tie up some loose ends--the good news is that we have off on Monday so I'll have an extended weekend.

Lisa: I heard this cold snap may even go down as far as Florida.

Pam and Melissa, Goodness I don't envy you your cold weather. How awful. I would just want to stay inside wrapped up in a quilt!

Yes, the cold snap arrived here, but we are at about 58 today; low 40's this morning which was chilly.

Lori, Sorry you had a bad day. I had one, too. Murphy was definitely in place. We had all sorts of problems with the computer, the projector, even the coffee pot. Then I had to leave the office for my professional meeting and locked my purse in my office! I had to get a security guard to drive over to my building to let me in. All in all, it was a fun day.
Eating-wise, I am doing terribly. We had customers here and we put out a lavish lunch, which I ate all of...sigh. I need to get back on track.

I've been doing OK. I've been sleeping a little better lately. Work has been stressful, I actually have more to complain about with work than I do with the pregnancy right now lol. I can't believe I am almost in my third trimester. Boy, time has flown by!

I have a friend's surprise wedding shower to attend tomorrow and Sunday we are going crib shopping.

Here are some belly pics for you that I took last night



Pam - It has been really cold here as well. It is not supposed to get about 15 degrees here today. Yikes!
Melissa - That is strange about the cigarettes. Did your mom mention it to someone there?
Lisa - Be glad that your bad day was due to bad luck. Mine was due to other people being stubborn and narrow minded.