Welcome to a thread devoted to those who have the ultimate job of taking care of their family. Here you will find wonderful women raising a family and trying to find time to take care of themselves and their weight too. So if you are a SAHM jump right in and say hello and to all you who have been here before I look forward to a new day with you!!

Well, hello all. Liam still didn't sleep great last night, so I'm still kind of tired. I have no idea what's going on with him - he usually sleeps very well at night. Maybe more teeth truly are coming in or something

I'm having my morning coffee, but not breakfast just yet. I want to hold off for a half hour or so because we're going for a walk a bit later than usual today and I want to have my breakfast colser to the walk We've decided to walk to the botanical gardens today for a change of pace . . . they're down the block about 1.5 miles away, so the walk there and back is 2 miles, but we'll also be walking around inside of course.

Geri - 54 degrees??? That's awful!

Crystal - hope the storms have passed and weren't too serious.

Spryng - ssometime you'll have to share some photos of your crochet work. I bet the baby blanket is beautiful. Glad TOM won't impact your WI on Friday

Michelle - glad you like the part-time work. I can't believe you fit that in along with all the walking and everything. It's so hard for me to find time to do anything. Maybe as Liam entertains himself more it will get easier.

Well, I'm off to watch a segment on GMA about people who've lost weight and kept it off. I'll fill you in later.

Okay, here's the GMA lowdown on a long-term study of people who've lost weight and kept it off for more than 2 years. Some of this you won't find surprising. The common factors for long-term maintainance in this group are:

1. Keeping a Low-calorie, Low-fat diet.

2. Large amounts of physical activity. Almost 1 hour every day - seemed to be a major key to long-term weight loss. The hour wasn't necessarily in one chunck, but sometimes broken up throughout the day (i.e., a half-hour in the morning, a half-hour in the evening).

3. Consistency. No days off or giving in even on weekends.

4. Regular WI - once a week - allows them to see small increases in weight and do something about it quickly.

5. Walking is the main form of exercise for the majority.

6. If you maintain for 2 years, your chances of relapsing are cut in 1/2.

Good Morning Gals.

Wow, Leigh, that was interesting. Makes you think twice about how you do it huh? Not you, but all of us. You know what I mean. Sorry Liam didn't sleep well. Most of my kids never slept well, and obviously Andrew is the worst, by far. Of course, his asthma effects him. I'm hoping this next one is the best sleeper yet.

Michelle, glad you liked your evening job. That's great you're doing it. I couldn't imagine having to leave in the evenings, besides dh would HATE it, that's our only time together.

Spryng, I wish I took to crocheting like you did, I would love to make some afghans. Yes, if my kids are asleep when the storms hit, they usually sleep through them. Only if the electricity goes out would Alisa wake up, the others probably wouldn't. They've always slept good in storms. Terrell had about the least of any activity. We are about 30 miles east of Dallas and Dallas and Ft. Worth was hit hardest. More severe storms tonight and tomorrow night. We'll see though. I use to love storms until I had kids, now they scare me too.

Well, I would love to have a nap, Andrew slept okay, but woke up at about 625 and Ally at 635. Andrew is getting 3 teeth in and woke up with fever and cranky. I gave him Tylenol and he's asleep. I have to go to town today and take our loan app. to the bank. In less than 2 weeks we should know if we can continue or not. It's pretty much a 50/50 chance.

I've got Ally's b-day party this weekend so I'm slowly getting my house in order. The party is at 4pm on Saturday, so I'll probably do most cleaning Saturday morning, so it's fresh.
Anyway, I'll check in later.

Good Morning Ladies!!

Leigh - Well hubby and I both decided that maybe I should take a part time job so I can get out of the house and meet some people and socialize with people other than children! He's so understanding! He doesn't mind being home alone with the girls either he did great and everyone was in bed when I got home!

Crystal - Me and hubby get lots of time together so like I said above he thinks its really important for me to get out and meet people. The girl I worked with last night was soo fun. She's 2 years younger than me but she has done a lot in her life I was just suprised!!!

Well I peeked at the scale today and it looked good! But I will keep you all in suspense until sunday!

Nothing big planned for us today just gonna hang out and maybe if its nice enough I'll let taylor run through the sprinkler. She really likes that! Well I better get going and get the day going. I will TTYL
Michelle

Good morning all!

Michelle, I'm so glad you enjoyed your first day of work! How long do you plan on working part time? My Dh used to work the front desk at a hotel when we met, and then right before we got married I cleaned rooms there. So I have a question for you, what do your kids usually do while you are working out? I'm thinking about maybe getting in some exercise during the day also but I don't want the kids in the way. Especially Tanner, I can see him attached to my leg, lol.
Crystal, I am just a beginner with crocheting. I started an afghan for Dh a couple months ago but then I talked with an aunt of DH's (who is a great crocheter) and I found out I had been doing a stitch wrong. So she sat me down and showed me how to read the pattern better and all that because some of the terms were sooooo confusing. But I went and bought me a new beginners book at walmart. Actually it was a crochet kit, and the book is very easy to read with lots of pictures and all the patterns are simple but so elegant looking. The blanket I am working on is a cute pattern and has a baby hood built on it so you can completely wrap your baby in it from head to toe. It's so cute. My dd keeps asking me why I am making a baby blanket because there is no one to give it to, lol. I guess I'll hang on to it until there it! But after I finish this one I am eager to start a real afghan for my dh's truck. It's a neat pattern and works up really fast. You use a Q hook (which is the biggest one I can find! lol) and uses 4 balls of yarn at once. But I'm going to finish the one I am working on first. I'll post pictures when I get it done. But I must admit, crocheting has become addicting. I didn't do much in my house yesterday because of it, lol. But I put it away this morning and won't touch it again until after housework is done, lol. But it is so nice to have a hobby again. I hope you get approved for that loan!!! how exciting!! If you don't will you start looking for another house to buy?
Leigh, that study was interesting. So I guess we fit mostly in that category (except for the one hour of exercise each day, lol) Have fun walking the botanical garden today! Sounds beautiful.

What is everyone having for dinner? Since tonight is my tanning night I'm making a crock pot dish. Crock Italian Stew.
So today I'm just cleaning the house, getting my grocery list printed and ready for friday, and crocheting! Oh and tanning tonight, lol. Guess I'll get off here and make my bed. TTYL!

Spryng - When I work out Taylor will sometimes workout with me and Teagan will just crawl around and play with toys and sometimes hubby is home so I just go down to our rec. room and workout there by myself. Yesterday hubby was here, there was no way I could have done 6 miles with no one to help me with the kids.
Your crocheting sounds fun but I don't know if I could do it lol I'm not sure I'm coordinated enough lol. I think I'm just going to have a veggie platter for dinner along with lots of water.

Ok I need to get a walk in just waiting for my kiddies to calm down lol. I'll ttyl!!
Michelle

Good morning ladies

Spryng, my kids play with their toys while I work out. The 4 mi walk takes almost an hour so by the end Tony's trying to hang on me sometimes. I just walk away unless he's really cranky then I have to stop and pick him up. I haven't picked up my crochet needles for a couple of months since I finished that scarf. The rumage sale is in a couple of weeks so I had better start getting my crap together or it'll be here and I won't be ready!

Crystal & Leigh..must be something in the air...Tony's been fussing at night the last week or so for his Nuk. Irritating 'cause he was sleeping so good for so long. I swear he's getting new teeth too because he's constantly chewing and did have some diaper rash last week, but I see no sign of any new ones coming in. He already has the first 8 so I think the eye teeth are next. My Mom insists that those are the worst ones. Crystal, how's the garden growing? I have pulled some green onions and yesterday a bunch of radishes. Yummmmm...nothing like fresh stuff!

Michelle, I will be looking for part-time work come fall too. But I will look for daytime in an office. We need the money just for day to day living. Between the satelite tv, cell phone, air conditioning (it will get warmer, I swear) and dsl internet and food (geez, almost $14 for milk again yesterday ) we'll need extra income. I want to keep my severance pay for stuff for the house, not for day to day expenses. BTW, thanks for walking for me yesterday . I did get 4 miles in this morning. We may actually hit 60 today woooo hooo so we'll get outside later today.

Well, hi to everyone else. Hope you all have a great day. I was very bored yesterday...don't know what that was all about. My bf stopped over with her kids in the afternoon for a nice visit. They're the ones coming for a bbq on Friday night. They were up north at her parents cottage for the weekend and today she's back to work and the kids in school.

OK, going to run. Bye-bye

Hey Ladies! I am going to try very hard to be in a good mood today. I don't feel like I have been very supportive lately to you all. I guess lack of sleep, stress, and dear TOM have made me no fun to be around!

I am just gonna keep working on my house in between the crying spells of a very sick baby. I may lift some weights, but no vigorous exercise while TOM is in full force, I just don't have it in me. My eating has been okay, but there is still so much room for improvement. I go to buy fruits and veggies and they all look nasty, or are so outrageously priced I can't bring myself to do it. I think I am a bit picky and need to broaden my horizons a bit.

Spryng,I wish I had a hobby I could do...I think my hobby for now should be exercising until it becomes a habit. LOL!

Michelle, WTG on all the walking, I wish I could have your enthusiasm. I know it would give me more energy.

Leigh, NO DAYS OFF??? Well, I take off one a week or so, unless I am PMSing, then it can get worse! LOL! Thanks for giving me something to think about!

Hello and have a great day to the rest of you all, someone is at my door!! be back later!

Hello again!

Cindi, I'm so sorry TOM has your down emotionally. Hopefully it passes soon. And by you just coming by and checking in on a daily basis is support enough for us. And I agree on broadening your horizons on new foods. I would recommend trying a new recipe at least once a week that includes foods you don't normally eat. I had to really open my mind to vegetables because I'm not a fruit eater so I knew I'd need more veggies to stay full on ww. But I was a canned green bean kind of girl so making steamed veggies now has really been different for me but I find that I like most of everything! And I wasn't a big fish eater (unless it was deep fried or fishsticks, lol) so having baked, broiled, etc fish each week has been nice. And Tanner loves it! But yes, try to include new fruits or veggies and such to your diet, we all need variety to stay OP.
Geri, after my kids got their first 4 teeth (2 on bottom and 2 on top) I never had any more problems with teething with them. Tanner is getting 2 more on top now and never was fussy with those. So hopefully the eye teeth will be easy too. 14$ for milk!!! How many gallons did you get? I was thinking about taking Tanner off formula this month after he turns 1 (on the 24th) but I have enough formula to last a whole other month after that so I'm thinking I'll wait to put him on milk full time since prices are getting so high. He still doesn't take a sippy sup very well so I've been working with him on that. I can't believe he'll be 1 this month.
Michelle, does a veggie platter fill you up? if I eat just veggies I am ravenous an hour later.

Well got all my morning routine done today! including a load of laundry folded and put away. I'm proud of myself. Now I can go crochet and not feel guilty about not getting something done, lol. So, I'll chat with you all later!

Hello Everyone!

I've been crazy busy getting things pulled out of closets for a "yard" sale this weekend. We just don't have anymore room in our closets to hide anything. Since I have like two of everything imaginable, I'll be getting rid of a lot of stuff. I gotta admit, it makes me really sad in a way, knowing how big the boys are getting. Oh well on to different stages and more stuff to buy for that as well. My dining room is the staging area and it's a complete disaster area. I hope everything sells because the idea of cramming any little bit of it back into my closet is not pleasant!

Leigh, that's really interesting about the weight loss stuff and maintaining it. I don't think I could ever NOT have days off, that seems a little extreme to me, but maybe that why I struggle with weight? LOL I'm sorry Liam is having such a tough time sleeping lately. It can be so frustrating when you are trying to figure out what can be causing it, and you never really do. My two are constantly cutting teeth it seems, at least that's what I'm assuming it is.

Cystal, hope you are having a great day so far, aside from all the errand running. Fingers crossed that everything comes through with the loan, I know how hard it can be waiting around for answers. Hopefully there isn't too much stress involved in preparing for Ally big B-day celebration. I always tend to take on too much work and regret it later when I don't really get to enjoy the party.

Michelle, how ya doing? I think it's great that you are getting out in the evenings, bringing in a llittle extra cash. It's fun to converse with adults occasionally! LOL When it stops being fun, you could do something else, that's what so great about it, that how I feel about Yoga. I had a really good class last night and felt so good about myself all night afterwards.

Spryng I can see how crocheting could become addicting, you keep it up! I can't wait to see some pictures, the baby thingy sounds soooo adorable! As for dinner, I'm not sure tonight, something with chicken and broccoli for sure, but the exact ingredients etc... I'll have to work out from my SBD cookbook. This phase 1 is getting difficult but still doable.

Geri, I hope the weather warms up for you soon. I swear you'd simply melt away over here in Cali, it's going to be over 90 degrees. Arg too freakin hot for me and I was born and raised here!

Cyndi, TOM can make even the sweetest gal Pi$$y, don't sweat it! I forgot to tell you how much I love your siggy, Mom to 6 boys and 1 mean girl! God that cracks me up every time I see it. LOL Is she really that mean??

I'm doing really great with SBD. Tomorrow will officially be my first week weigh in and I'll let you all know how much I've lost. I feel good, really good, not hungry or anything, I'm getting a little tired of eggs, but if that's the worst I have to deal with then it's worth it.

I'll check in later today with everyone,
-Di

Cindi - Sorry to hear about tom! I hope you are starting to feel better. I hope Christian is feeling better. I will keep praying for him.

Spryng - Yes I can get full on a veggie platter used to not happen that way lol. I went all yesterday on the fuel from two oranges and that was it. I need to try and eat more when I'm busy so I don't go into starvation mode.

Di - I can't wait until your first official weigh in! I'm so excited!! So glad you're doing wonderful on sbd!! Keep it up!!

Michelle

Hi girls. I was trying to post earlier and my bible study lady showed up so I'm just now getting to it.

Cindi, hope the ds gets better. Hope you're doing okay.

Michelle, glad you're doing good. You have a great dh, cherish it. I'm not complaining about mine, just wanted to let you know.

Spryng, I tried a crochet book and only got one string done. I couldn't figure out how to turn and make like a square. I get bored too fast anyways. If we don't get approved, we've got a few choices so I'm not sure which direction we'll take first.

Di, thanks for the wishes. I use to put too much effort in the perfect party and everything and realized it wasn't worth it. Most people enjoy it if you enjoy it too. Everything always pans out just right anyway.

Geri, thanks for asking about the garden. I haven't gotten anything from it yet, but it is looking sooooo good. Plants are doing great. We've got some of the best soil out here. You can throw out a seed and something will grow.

Well, here's my day. I realized how much we as stay at home mom's really do. Andrew obviously hasn't felt good today. We went to town to the bank and we had to go inside to drop off this appl. So I dressed me and the kids somewhat nice so we don't look like some ol' homely country folks walking in there and as soon as we pull up in the drive to get out, Andrew throws up all over his seat, socks, shoes, clothes and it's the really really gross kind that really really stinks. I didn't take the baby bag because I was going to the bank and back home and that was it. I found a towel in the back of my car so I did somewhat of a cleaning job, but I didn't want to take him in the bank because he stinks and I didn't want him to throw up in there. So I waited for people to come out and I would ask if they worked there, then the next and finally the next lady did work there and she was going back in so I told her what happened and asked if she could drop those papers off to that man for me and she did. We came home in a stinky car. Andrew is asleep and I cleaned out my car and finished bible study and fixing to have lunch. I just thought I would share this with y'all. Because you see, I'll share it with dh later and he'll pity me for having a sick baby and cranky baby and such, but you don't get the effect when you're not there, you know what I mean. It's just not the same.
Anyway, I'll talk later. Hope everyone is doing well.

Ohhh crystal!!! I sympathize with you!! I can't even imagine having one of my children vomitting all over themselves I would just go nuts lol. I hope andrew is ok!

I just got 3 miles done and 10 minutes of stretching. I plan on doing another 2 miles when I get home later tonight! So that will be 5 miles today.

Well I need to eat and get in the shower.
TTYL!!
Michelle

Michelle are you telling me that neither of your girls have ever thrown up on themselves or in the car or on your furniture or nothing? You've got to be kidding. But I will say it's worse the more kids you have. You just wait, it's bound to happen. Not that I want it to, but you know what I mean. With kids, some things are just going to happen at some point or another.