Busy, busy, busy...

SPRING AT LAST!!!  Has it really been almost 2 months?!!  Wow...I have been so busy and summer isn't even here yet!  I have so many updates for you I am not even sure where to begin....I have been doing Weight Watchers for 3mo now and have lost a total of 26lbs!!  I cannot tell you how great I feel!  I am actually looking forward to swimsuit season and looking for that perfect suit!  I haven't been able to say that for years!  I also go to the gym about 4 times a week but I would tell anyone looking to lose a few pounds to join....you have nothing to lose but pounds!!!  lol  My little "Who" (my youngests new nickname) is getting so big.  Hard to believe she is almost 9 months old already!  I gave her the new nickname because her hair is like 5 inches long on the top of her head and the only way I can keep it out of her eyes is to put it in a ponytail on top of her head!  Then she looks like lindy lou who from the grinch stole christmas!  I refuse to give her a hair cut til she is atleast one, she has cute baby curls and she is my only girl so her hair will be long!!  (for as long as I have say in the matter).  Today I have a sick little boy (curious george), he must have picked up something when we went to the Children's Museum the other day!  Poor boy!!  He said he was tired at like 10:30am (which from his nickname I am sure you can tell that is NOT normal!) and I said well just go lay on the couch if you're tired...well 10min later he was out cold!  So I moved him to his room and he is still asleep now at 1:15pm! I am so excited....we are looking into starting a coed softball team for the summer!  I haven't played ball in like 10 years and up til recently wouldn't even have thought about joining a team but always wanted to!  Hopefully we can put a team together and get enough people to play!  And my oldest, Einstein, joined his first soccer and Tball team so we're going to be extra busy for the next 2 months!!  He is so excited and I don't think there is anything better than being on a team (whether bball or football or soccer) to help teach our children the 3 D's (as I call them) Dedication, Determination, and Discipline.  But also teamwork, and FUN!  I have so much else to say but as always busy....busy...busy so I promise to update sooner than later!  As always, feel free to leave me any comments or suggestions you have, I would love to hear from you.

It's a Joyous Occasion!!!

My little diaper diva has slept from 6:30pm to 5am for the last 3 nights!!!  I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to actually have real sleep as opposed to this broken sleep thing we have been doing for the past 6 months!  I feel like I could climb a mountain, it is amazing how great you feel when you aren't sleep deprived!  Now if I could only cure the short term memory loss (ie..mommy brain), I would be back on track!
Not so great though with the weight watchers weigh in last Monday.  I worked out 4 days and then had a Superbowl party and gained 2lbs at the scale.  However, I did get some good info that makes sense to me now.  They said when you work out your muscles expand and retain water so since I had worked out that morning I was heavier at my weigh in partly due to water weight (and partly due to the packer Superbowl party, I'm sure!!)  Anyway, that made me feel a bit better and is why when I weigh myself after the gym I weigh more than before!  However, this week I am working out every day except Sunday and Monday just to make sure I am my lightest!!  I really try not to just concentrate on the number at the scale but come on....it is so hard!  I just want to see the pounds come off much faster than they do!  It does help to also take measurements though, I have lost 6 inches over all of my body since starting!  I would recommend Weight Watchers to any mom out there who wants to lose a few pounds!  It really does work (just maybe not as fast as we all want) but it is a healthy way of losing weight and hopefully changing my lifestyle so I can keep it off!  I don't really consider myself a food-aholic, I just tended to grab less-than-healthy snacks on the fly, didn't eat breakfast, and by dinner I was so starving, I would scarf my food down!  So this is giving me a lesson in better eating and how to properly fuel my body.
Keep sending in those "You know you're a mom when...." quotes.  I have another for you...  "You know you're a mom when you turn doing laundry into a game by having a "scavenger hunt" through the house....and it is a never ending game!"  Take care and as always thanks for listening. 

Time to join the gym...

Well, I had my 3rd Weight Watchers weigh in last night and to my surprise I lost another 4lbs this week for a grand total of 11lbs in my first 3 weeks!  I was so excited...mostly since I haven't even begun to work out yet.  I will however, be joining the gym today just to ensure I continue to lose and keep toning this body I was left with after 3 children!  It is amazing the damage children can do to your body!  Don't get me wrong, I love my children and don't regret a minute however, I could have easily done without the extra weight, stretch marks (looks like a bear clawed me up both sides of my stomach), cavities (which I never had until my 1st was born), astigmatism in my left eye, loss of short term memory (or as I call it, Mommy brain), and the kicker, lack of sleep!  It amazes me that I can still carry on throughout the day in my hazy state of mind, on my 3-4 hours of broken sleep, or maybe I don't carry on...I can't remember! LOL 
I received a few more "You know you're a mom when..." chronicles, keep'em coming.
1. "You know you're a mom when at the end of a long day, spider man shampoo will do just fine for a quick shower before bed." 
2.  "You know you're a mom when your idea of a night out on the town is an hour trip to the grocery store while your husband watches the kids."
3.  "You know you're a mom when you don't even bother to close the bathroom door anymore because you are never alone."
4.  "You know you're a mom when you pull over on the side of the road, not because of the police, but because of the little angels in the backseat."
5.  "You know you're a mom when every time you get in the car, someone needs to go to the bathroom."
These are so cute...please if you think of any, click the comments button at the bottom of my blog and send them to me.  I must sign off for now, my little diaper diva is awake!  As always, thanks for listening....

You know you're a mom when...

This is a good one that I received from one of my followers, "You know you're a mom when a night on the town means Chuck E. Cheese with a side trip to Walmart for milk."  That made me chuckle. Keep sending me those and I'll keep posting them each week.  If you're new to my blog, we are coming up with "You know you're a mom when....." quotes.  I have another for you.  "You know you're a mom when your idea of a good night sleep is 4-5 hours of unbroken sleep!"  I am so tired lately due to my little diaper diva's sleep (or lack there of) pattern.  She finally got her first tooth to pop through but now has a few more coming and is getting used to sleeping with me or staying awake with me all night.  We need to break the pattern soon or I may not only lose sleep but my mind as well!  Then Curious George got another ear infection and Einstein has his 6yr molars coming in so my house is upside down right now.  So I apologize for not blogging much, I always have so much to say but the days just get away from me sometimes!  I am sure you can all relate.  I had a good birthday, went out for drinks with some friends and spent Sunday watching the Packers win with some good friends and good food.  I was however, a bit concerned for my Weight Watchers weigh in due to the good food and drinks but to my surprise I still lost 2lbs!!  Yippy...not as good as the first week loss of 5lbs but I will definitely take it!  Now I have my 3rd weigh in tonight and I am hoping for a loss somewhere between the 2-5lbs mark!  Wish me luck... I will let you know how it goes!  I must say for anyone wanting to lose some weight, this has really not been that bad!  I still get to eat my "treats" just now it weight watchers ice cream, bars, or popcorn and really I can eat anything its just the portions (I was overdoing it before!!).  I haven't even been working out yet, which I plan on doing soon.  I will be joining the gym so I can jog on the treadmill and stair climber since I am NOT a winter/snow person and refuse to walk outside and freeze.  I know I should be used to Midwest winters since I have lived here my whole life but come on...who really gets used to -20!!  Maybe a snowman or Santa... definitely not me! Well I must be signing off.  Thanks again for listening and keep sending me the "you know you're a mom when" quotes.  I'll post a few more next time. 

Happy Birthday to me!!

Well, it's official...I am another year older!  Time seriously goes too fast...can't believe I am already 33... oh, I mean 25 (for the 8th year in a row)!  Well the week started out great, I went to my first weigh in and lost 5lbs in a week!  Hopefully it will continue.  The hardest thing about it is tracking every morsel that I eat.  Trying to find the time between all of the "mommy" stuff but it must be done.  I need to take care of me because really who else will?  So my 3 year old was making me a birthday card and asked me to help him write my name and just by habit I wrote Nikki and he says,"No that isn't right, Mom starts with M!"  How cute!  So we wrote both on the card and I can't honestly tell you what else was on that card!  He drew me a picture of something and said, "you know what that is right, mom?"  I said, "Of course."  Didn't have a clue but I didn't want to hurt any feelings.  I am really looking forward to going out to celebrate my birthday with some friends on Saturday.  Although I have been saving all of my 49 Extra Weight Watchers Points because my favorite drink costs me 4pts a glass.  That is going to add up fast and I am guessing I won't lose another 5lbs this week.  Oh well, I figured it would be a slow process.  Easy to pack on, hard to get off!! 
"I can show you anything...on my belly, belly, belly screen.." (Umizoomi) Wow, you know you're a mom when the only tunes in your head are cartoon theme songs!  Hey that gives me an idea...we'll call it the, "You know you're a mom when... Chronicles."  If you think of one, click COMMENTS at the bottom of my post and let me know what you came up with. I will post a few of my favorites in my next post.  I think that will be fun and I am sure all you moms out there can come up with one! Signing off for now...as always... Thanks for listening and feel free to drop me a line!

Weight Watchers...here I come!

I have begun my Weight Watchers journey!  I really need to get this extra baby weight off and I am hoping this will be the ticket, along with rejoining the gym.  It is a bit overwhelming at first but I am not one to quit a challenge so bring it on!  I seem to get in this slump after every child...you know where you don't even get out of your sweats all day unless you have to go somewhere and then when you do finally put your jeans on you just want to crawl into bed and cry!  I put mine on the other day and had to lie on the bed to zip them up...that was my breaking point!  My little one is almost 6 months old and I was lighter right after I had her than I am now and I breastfed (which according to what I have read SHOULD help you lose weight).  Anyway, it has been long overdue.  I will feel so much better when I lose 20-30lbs.  I will keep you posted on my progress and let you know if its working in case any of you are looking to lose some weight as well.  And by all means if you have done it and it worked...PLEASE send me a comment and let me know about your experience!  I can always use more motivation. 
On another note... My little diaper diva is almost crawling!  I am not sure if I should be happy or terrified!  If she is anything like Curious George, then terrified it shall be!  Which reminds me of another story.  Whenever he tells me his tummy hurts, I tell him to try to go potty.  So the other day I asked him, "How many corn dogs do you want for dinner, 1 or 2?"  Curious George answered,"10!"  I said, "you'll get a big tummy ache if you eat that much!"  His reply, "That's ok, I'll just try to go potty!"  Awe...kids!  LOL  He never ceases to amaze me!  The other day he told his sister she looked Magnificent!  I was shocked first that he knew that word, second, was able to use it in a sentence, and third, that he pronounced it correctly.  They grow up so fast.
Tony and I went to the Annual Fire Dept. Appreciation Party on Saturday.  What a fun time (until Sun morning)!!  I don't know how or why but I managed to drink more than my share of Seagram 7 whiskey (only 1/4 left in the bottle over 8 hours of drinking) and surprisingly was only hung over until 1pm Sunday afternoon!  A good time was had by all, although we were sad to hear the chief will be retiring.  He has been on the dept for 35 years, done a wonderful job as chief, and we are happy to see he will have some time for himself and his wife once he retires.  Well I am signing off for now.  As always, thanks for listening and please drop me a line and tell me what you think, comments, questions, anything, always welcome!

What is your New Year's Resolution?

I love my children to pieces however, sometimes my nerves are fried, I want to rip my hair out and yell at the top of my lungs (just as they do)...my resolution this year you ask...Try not to get to this point at all or at least not so fast.  More patience is what I need.   I need to focus on the big picture and try not to sweat the little things so much ~ God, please help me to achieve this one!  And of course, my other is to lose a few pounds of left over baby weight! What is your New Year's Resolution this year?  Drop me a line and let me know.

Whirl Wind of the Season...

First, I must apologize for my lack of blogging lately!  I meant to log on and say so many things so many times but have found myself in a whirl wind of the holiday season.  I have so much to tell you, I just don't know where to begin.  I will start with the depressing news... my wonderful minivan, which I almost refused in the beginning, is dying on me.  The transmission is slipping away and I cannot drive it in overdrive any longer so we must get me a new one and soon.  It is so ironic to me that I feel so lost without it when I was so set in my mind that I would NEVER be "one of those soccer moms"  with a minivan.  But the moment my husband drove it up and I opened the back door and saw how much room there was, I have to admit, I was in love at first site.  So now it is with much sorrow that I must bring her to be turned into scrap metal!  I can honestly say I will always have a minivan at least until my children are grown and then I will be getting myself a Harley!!  Also, sadly we have learned of three families who have lost their homes to fires already this season.  I cannot imagine what they are going through and my heart and prayers go out to them.  One was a mother and her 3 year old boy and 6 year old girl.  So sad and 3 days before Christmas!  When my boys heard of this, they so generously said, "We can give the little boy some of our toys!"  So we went to the playroom and went through their mountain of toys and they parted with several things I was pleasantly shocked and very proud of them.  We also found some clothes for the little boy, unfortunately not as many as I would have liked but Curious George is still in a 3-4T.  We also prayed for their family and sent the boxes with a friend.  I so hope it brought them a little comfort.
Now on to the good news...We had a wonderful, fun filled Christmas!  My family came up to our house for Christmas so we had my grandfather, his girlfriend (yes I said my 83 year old grandfather has a girlfriend ~ how cute!), my dad and step mom, aunt, 2 brothers and their wives, and a total of 4 nieces and nephews here.  It was lovely and to top it all off, my daughters god father paid us a visit dressed as Santa for the kids!  You should have seen their faces!  I almost died.  My nephew who is 7, and was sure he was getting coal in his stocking was so excited.  He said to me after Santa left...I thought it was grandpa dressed up but then I saw grandpa sitting in the corner and Uncle Mike, Uncle Ben, and Uncle Tony so I knew for sure it was really Santa!  So adorable and when the party was over and everyone was leaving, he swore he saw "Reindeer tracks" in the snow!  The looks on all of their faces was priceless and it makes my heart happy to know that they will remember this Christmas for the rest of their lives and look back on it as such a happy memory!  All it took was a 60.00 Santa suit on EBay and a very good friend to pull it off!  Priceless! 
We also had Einstein's 6th birthday!  Gosh they get big so fast!  He got to have his first sleepover with 2 of his buddies and I have to say it went very well! 
Then I was busy planning and baking for our New Year's Eve Party which went wonderfully.  We had 9 kids running around playing tag, hide and seek, and just having a good time while us adults played "Catch Phrase", chatted, drank, and just enjoyed each others company.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!  Now Tony and I are looking forward to next Saturday when we attend the annual Fire Dept Christmas Party!  It is always guaranteed to be a good time although I am sure I will have something ridiculously entertaining/embarrassing to tell you about when its over!  Well I am sure I am leaving out some great details but for now I am signing off.  Thanks for listening and I promise not to abandon you for 2 weeks again!  And please leave me your comments, tell me what you think, ask me a question, anything goes.