Deck the halls, jingle those bells but ditch the pudding.
Here comes Santa...at least they haven't made him all skinny yet!

I couldn't find you at first! But I got over it...... how creative.

it is a cold wet day today. Feels like the heat couldn't get warm enough, of course at the computer I am in front of windows and this is an old house. Oh well perhaps I will hop on the Precor to warm up.

Geneve congrats on the loss!!!!!!!!! You are doing great!




Barb

Just wanted to note, to any lurkers. We are all a group of women who recently had babies, trying to lose the weight - everyone is welcome to join us!!!

---------------------------------

Geneve! Congratulations!! 6 pounds - yahooooo! That is so great. What a great morning surprise - for your DH too (hee-hee, getting a little nudity in the morning...)

Barb, good for you, getting up and exercising!

Megan is still sick, poor baby. I'm taking her to the doctor this afternoon to have her tested for RSV - a serious respiratory illness that babies get. We just found out that her cousin Chloe (who is 1 month older) has it, & poor Chloe almost ended up in the hospital. Megan was around her recently. Hopefully she doesn't have it too.

How are you all doing on Christmas shopping? I still have most of it to do. Oh well. Haven't been doing to great on the exercise - I haven't done cardio in a week, but I did do my weight training. I've got to get back to the cardio. I've also been eating at the very top of my WW points range. I need to stop THAT too!

Well, better run. Hugs to you all,
Sue

249: Highest pregnancy weight
225: Date joined WW
205: Current
150: Goal

Where is everyone?? Slow couple of days...

Not much happening here. Took Megan to the doctor, she doesn't have RSV, thank goodness. I've not been good at exercising, but have stayed OP pretty much, other than that. Today I have to bake Christmas cookies for a party - wish me luck with that - it is going to be HARD not to eat the cookie dough. I do o.k. passing up the baked cookies though. Sigh...

Well, hope you're all having a great day,
Sue

Just busy with the holidays and all the committments attached to them. Glad you are staying on point. This time of year that is quite impressive.

I am also glad Megan is fine. We for for a well baby checkup today. I think she is due for some shots but she has a cold and I think they don't give the shots if the kids aren't feeling well. Oh well I suppose I get to see that she has grown.

I have been running around today. Dentist in the morning for one child and doctor in the afternoon. Just catching a few minutes of quiet time (spending it online, of course) between appointments.

I hope everyone is able to get their holiday "stuff" done. I am making many of my presents. In addition to soap I made some pillow cases for the boys and polarfleece socks.



Barb

Hi all. The past few days have just been terrible, too many goodies and not enough exercise. Also yesterday my hubby had a review at work and was told he has 3 months to shape up or he is fired. What great news just before Christmas! So of course he was all miserable and depressed last night. He doesn't know what to do, he has been at this company 3 years and this is the first time anyone has told him that his work isn't okay. The company is a little screwy though, they hired and let go this one guy that was making everyone's life miserable but they haven't really hired someone to take his place so no one is really certain who is in charge of this particular department. Actually it sounds like the 2 guys that did the review don't really know much about the department, they were just going on the info given to them by someone else. Does that make any sense? Well my hubby was going to talk to a buddy of his in the same department and see if he can't get some help figuring out what to do. I told him that if he gets fired and doesn't get something else right away that he can stay home with Drake and I'll go back to work. I don't want to, I get maternity benefits for a whole year and I'd like to take all of that time but if I have to go back to work than I have to go back to work.

This is just a terrible time to try and eat healthy. everywhere you look there are chocolates, cookies, egg nog etc etc. Yesterday I was having all this anxiety over my hubby's job that I ate like there was no tomorrow. My walks have been kind of sporadic too with trying to get ready for Xmas. I just don't seem to have the ambition to do much else after I do my shopping. I hope things will get back to normal after next week.

Drake is doing very well. He is almost turning over by himself. He'll get over on his side and stay there. It is so cute! When do you know when your baby is ready to start real food? I've heard anywhere from 4-6 months, how do you decide?

Geneve - congrats on the 6lbs!!!! That is so great! See things are looking up.

Barb - that is a great idea to make your presents, I wish I was that crafty.

Sue - glad to hear that Megan doesn't have RSV, I hope she is better now. Were you able to make the cookies without eating the dough? I am the other way around, I don't like unbaked cookie dough but I can't get away from the finished product!

Take care all.

Hi all. Oh Jen, that just STINKS! I remember once when a group of people from my old work's headquarters in another city came in and did a review/audit of the whole office. These people had NO IDEA what we did in Las Vegas, had NO IDEA what the dynamics of our economy or marketplace were, and they just ripped the office to shreds in their report, and fired the office manager, who was actually doing a great job. It was so hard on everyone, on everyone's morale, because it was all so off-base and unfair. Your poor DH. I hope that he can get it straightened out. That is so unfair... Wow, you get maternity benefits for a whole year! That is fantastic. Is that mandated by the government, or ?

About the food - I've heard you should wait till at least 4 months, but my MIL gave it to her kids from 6 weeks on. Who knows!?! Megan is almost 17 weeks and we just barely started feeding her cereal this week. I give it to her once a day. She doesn't seem to like it very much. She swishes it around in her mouth, and then pushes it out. Not much goes down the hatch. She still has a tongue thrust though, so she might not be ready yet. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it soon.

Barb - wow, that's terrific that you are making your presents. How do you find the time? How big was Isabella at her appointment? How are YOU doing, health wise?

Geneve - where are you - come back to us!

I decided not to do my baking on Wednesday, instead I just bought little presents for the people I was baking for. So I dodged the bullet, temporarily. I HAVE to bake on Saturday, for a family party on Sunday. We'll see how that goes. Yesterday for dinner I had 3 servings of chocolate-orange sticks. Very healthy, I know. I felt sick afterwards, so I skipped my ACTUAL dinner. Oh well! And once again, I didn't exercise. Bad me.

Take care all... - Sue

249: Highest preg weight/225:Joined WW/203:Current/150: Goal

Hi all, i'm here and posting but my PC is playing up and keeps wiping, so quickly
Jen, big hug to you , i'm so sorry you have such a worry over xmas.
Pleased Megan O.K
I've had a big fight with my Mum and found out what was bugging ted, he was being bullied by an older child at school, but all sorted now i went and beat the kid up..only joking, but i felt like it. Letters and calls and a meeting and all should be well.
If the pC don't get fixed just wanted to say a merry christmas to you all, and I pray we will have a happier new year with peace and healing.
Never marry a sytems engineer, they break them , they are too busy to fix them and don't understand why it's so important.
Geneve xx

[B]MERRY CHRISTMAS!!![B]

Hi all. Just waiting for the hubby to finish getting ready to go out to the parents. Hope everyone is having a good day. Talk to you later.

Hi all. I just wanted to share a bit of a revelation that I had the other day. I finally figured out why I am having so much trouble losing weight. Well the thing is that I think that I previously thought I was going to lose weight like crazy once I was on maternity leave and didn't have to go to work. I figured I would have lots of free time to exercise and do other things that would help me to lose weight. so here I've been going along since the baby was born and I really haven't lost any weight. I took off most of my pregnacy weight and that was it. I know I have to give my body a chance to recover after being pregnant and giving birth and yes the baby does take up a bit of time but at this point I really do have a lot of time where I am really not doing anything, just being lazy. So my big revelation is that losing weight really has nothing to do with having all this time off work, the fact that I am not losing weight is because I haven't changed. I still have the same rotten eating habits I ever had and all the time off in the world isn't going to change that. I've put on a few pounds these past few weeks because I've been indulging way too much in holiday goodies and not exercising as much and I think I am retaining water because I am not drinking enough. I think I am finally ready to change some of these terrible habits so that I can lose some weight. Can anyone else relate to any of this?

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday with their babies and enjoying their first Christmas. Take care all.

Sue - yes the govt gives us 35 weeks of pregnacy leave and then 15 weeks of parental leave which either the father or mother can take. Also my work tops up my benefits so right now I am getting about 84% of my regular wages. I'm really glad that I'm able to take so much time off to spend with Drake. I started him on a bit of cereal last night which he seemed to take okay but he was a bit sleepy so maybe he was just too tired to put up a fight. We'll give it another try today. The hubby is okay now, he talked to some people at work and they were all really surprised that he had such a poor review and gave him some help trying to sort things out so that he will have a better review next time. A lot of the problem too is that the people that did the review weren't really qualified to do the review, they don't work in his department enough to know how well he does work, I think they were going on something someone told them about one small incident that got blown out of proportion. the whole department is disorganized and doesn't really have one person in charge which doens't help.

That's it - I'm moving to Canada. :> Great benefits. I know what you mean Jen. I have horrible habits too. We just have to create new habits, which is SO hard.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I had a great holiday with family and friends, but I've been eating out of control since Sunday. I haven't gotten back on the scale to see how much I've gained. I was going to start back up with my "healthy eating" yesterday, but DH's Christmas stocking was too tempting - too many good kinds of chocolate. So, today I started again. I'm doing o.k. so far - but I have to go to dinner with the people I work for tonight, and they are taking us to an ultra fancy restaurant. I'm not a fancy type of gal, so I'm not looking forward to it. I figure I'll stick with some kind of grilled fish... I've done enough to sabotage myself in the last couple of days without going even FURTHER off plan. I don't want to ruin all of my progress.

I haven't exercised in quite a while - maybe 2 weeks? I'm not sure. I don't know WHY I do this to myself - I feel so good after I exercise, so why can't I work it into my day? I've GOT to find time to exercise today!!

Well, everyone take care.
Hugs,
Sue

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday week. I realize not everyone is on vacation...still there are festivities to go through.

My friend is having a significant birthday on New Years Eve. We are trying to give her a bit of a celebration, but many of the restaraunts are closed! Yipes this is tricky. I called around and found a couple we can choose from. This is getting tricky. I hope we can pull it off.

Meanwhile I am noticing clothes that were way too big even when I was pregnant are not only snug but are too snug!!! I have to do something about this. I am not only going to watch what I eat now, but I am going to go about it thinking this will be very long term and not short term. If I fill the house with healthy choices I will do better. Before I got pregnant I was doing WW and I found I could watch what I eat in the morning and afternoon and then eat a dinner with my family. This way I could follow WW without my husband really knowing. I think I will try this again. It worked well for me and I didn't have my husband (who is naturally slender) telling me what to eat and what not to eat.

My kids are in toy heaven now. I hope this lasts a week or so.




Barb

I had a really good day yesterday eatingwise. I didn't get in any exercise though. Well it is nice and sunny out today so I think we will get out for a walk. Yesterday it was just too cold and windy. I'll really have to bundle Drake up.

Barb - I hate it when other people think they can tell you what to eat. My hubby does it occasionally even though he needs to lose weight too. Good luck with WW, I'm thinking about trying it too.

Sue - Yes Canada does have a lot of great benefits but we sure pay for it with taxes. Still at least there are some things you can count on if things don't work out. did you get in any exercise? With this cold weather I have a hard time getting myself outside and I just don't seem to get around to riding my exercise bike or using video tapes. Sigh. Things will get better though, I just know it.

It sounds like we have all hit a major speed bump this month. I know I've gained 5lbs! Well we all have to recommit to eating better, drinking lots of water and exercising. WE CAN DO IT!

Hi HAPPY NEW YEAR.
I'm afraid I've been hopeless, i'm too scared to get on the scales and my house is FULL of chocolate. I'm sure people think 'she's fat, she must love chocolate, lets get her some'. Also DH took Ted to Cadbury land (a chocolate theme park) and cam back with loads more. Do you know, in my heart of hearts I'd like to throw it all away. I really want to be thinner and fitter, and I think I want that even more than I want to eat the chocolate.
I read some place about a woman who,when her husband left her, took the wine from his beloved cellar and left a bottle on all of her neighbours steps. I could walk down the road posting bars of chocolate through the doors...and I think I might too, it would be fun and I'd feel so good if I did it. I have this idea that a lot of my sweet eating trouble comes from never being allowed them as a kid, if there is anything sweet about I feel like I have to eat it NOW, before it goes away. I should try to get it into my head that if I really want it I can go to a shop and buy it any time.
Well, I guess I know what ALL of us will be thinking of when we make our new years resolutions. But I figure we have to do it some time, so we culd do it now. Really, not just talking about it, or having good days and bad days, but change our relationship with food, and more important,learn to repect ourselves and our bodies. Tonight I feel like I could do it. If I can figure out a way to make this feeling last for another 365 days i'd be slim and fit...
Here's to a healthy and peaceful 2002 for us all.
Geneve

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION: and I'm trying to be a bit more constructive then 'I will go on a diet' because heaven knows I've been on and off a diet for the past 20 years. I'm contemplating giving up chocolate. I mean, I gave up smoking, gave up riding my motorbike (that's still under review tho') and gave up dating other men once I got married, so chocolate shouldn't be impossible. And cheese too.
I tell you what , I'll give up chocolate and cheese for a month,and every day I do it I'll put a pound in a money box, then I'll be able to buy some new paint or something new to wear.
I should give up bread, but I think that really is impossible.
RIGHT, all agreed, from Jan 1st, no chocolate, no cheese.
Come on then ladies, let's hear yours.
ALSO, do any of you have any plans for another baby?
It's troubling me....dop I send DH for the snip, or do I wait and see if the alam on my biological clock goes off?
Once again, happy new year.
Geneve