Quick and Very, Very Dirty

Don't have much time so I wanted to get this posted while two of the kids were still sleeping. It's been a very dirty few days. All the kids got a stomach bug. Nicky had it for two days Thurs & Fri but then he got over it. He's not a concern as we can give him Pedialyte freezer pops. But then the babies got it. I thought Jason got over his on Monday but then he vomited yesterday and started back up. This will be Catie's third day of diarrhea and Jason's second. They're still eating so they're not getting dehydrated but oy, do I have a lot of laundry to do. I empathize with my mother who had cloth diapers to dip in the toilet to clean.

So, by the numbers:

Week 14 Beginning Weight: 193.6
Week 14 Ending Weight: 191.0

Week 14 Weight Loss: 2.6
Total Weight Loss: 18.4

Average Weight Loss: 1.31

The 180's are knocking on my window with their friend, 20 pounds gone. Hopefully, they'll be ready to settle in for a nice long visit next week.

Negging Questions

I'm curious. Have you noticed that negligible has the same root as negligent? So I'm wondering what I neglected this week. Stress was quite a factor. I neglected to eat all my meals this week due to time and giving Nicky things he may enjoy like the smoothie. The point is that after failing to negotiate a better answer, I failed to post a negative number.

Today was a better day. Benadryl early to cut off any potential itching. Phone calls to providers and insurance companies to get a referral to a new doctor. Mentally writing a very nasty letter to the doctor, the hospital, my insurance company and any other individual/company that I can find online to complain to. Playground, nature center, walk around a pond where we lay on our bellies and watched a goose dive underwater repeatedly.

Did you know that calories burned depends on your weight? It's interesting finding calculators online to find actual calories burned for my walk. There's also calculators for the actual number of calories you should be getting instead of the generic answer. Those are interesting.

Mental Exercise

We spent the day at Chuck E Cheese today. All day. Seriously. 6 hours. By 8:30, Catie had been crying off and on for about an hour and Nicky had already scratched his foot bloody and he was crying. A major distraction was needed. I took my turkey and swiss sandwich with me. We got a plate of fries and an unlimited salad bar so we were set for fruits and veggies. Ten bucks in tokens and Nicky was a happy carousel rider. I have no regrets at that as I was in the first arcade generation. It was easy to drop ten dollars before the movie in the arcade playing Joust. Of course, the evening ended similarly to how it began. It's a bad, bad feeling when your son starts crying because you put on lotion. I was going to call the dermatologist and let them listen to the crying because I'm royally ticked at them for not calling me back since my Monday morning call. The answering machine says they return the calls within one business day. Ha. There will be a letter. Actually, according to John, a Letter.

Dinner tonight is yummy Brunswick stew with lentil loaf. I actually claimed John's lentil loaf and gave him my stew. I really like the stew but I really love the lentil loaf. After Nicky fell asleep on me at 6, I had the option to go for a walk or spend time with the babies. John and I laid the babies on the floor and did Wheels on the Bus and tummy zerberts. While not as good for me physically, it was much better for me mentally.

Walk it off, baby.

I was going to talk about the website but honestly I haven't had time to really explore it. As soon as John got home tonight, I bolted out the door for a walk. We think Catie is either sick or teething something fierce as she cried just about all day when she wasn't asleep or being talked to. This, of course, upset Nicky so he got all rashy this afternoon and scratched a number of places bloody. Then I have my heart break to have him cuddled up on me saying "Mommy, I'm sorry I scratched." (We've taught him to rub the itches, not scratch) Jason, my little zen baby, lays back and watches the other two cry (he only cries when he's tired) but he didn't want to eat today.

Thus, the walk to clear my head and restore my equilibrium. And once again, I cannot imagine what my stress levels would be if I had to find something for dinner. One of my comforts is being able to turn off the voice that used to sound constantly in my head "what am I going to fix for dinner". You know, the one that you hear all day, every day. It doesn't matter if you're actually sitting down to dinner, you're still thinking about the next day's meals, or what you could do with leftovers, or if you need to go to the grocery store. Again.

I just saw a commercial for Pizza Hut's Panormous. Seriously? We need a pizza with a pound of cheese on it? We went to the mall last week and got a small gelato for Nicky, as I was sitting with him and watching him eat it with that little spoon, I saw people with the large bowls of four scoops and polishing it off. Oy boy. On a related note, why do many fast food places no longer have a size small? Sometimes, it's just frustrating. I do like that BK has a $1 value size drink and that they now have Coke Zero.

So, tiring day. I just finished my chicken parmesan as I was writing this. I'm going to go savor the lemon yogurt which comes with it then toddle off to bed. Every day is an adventure and in many years, I will wish for even a bad day if I could have them all with me again.

All jeans are not built the same.

I just got back from a Pampered Chef party. The only type of "Amway" party I go to because I do so love the kitchen gadgets. Especially collapsible kitchen gadgets. Anyway, since I was going to an "event", I thought I might wear something better than my baggy size 16's. Now, you know that different brands fit differently. I had tried on a pair of size 14's last week and they wouldn't button. Today I tried on a different brand. Oooooooo. As long as I sat up straight when I sat down, (no overlapping for me, thank you!) I was good to go in my 14's. Woo hoo!

Yesterday was so beautiful, we went to the National Harbor. Nicky loves to play in the "sand" there. It's more like really small orange gravel but he loves it. There is one thing about going there that I don't like. There are no barriers on the pier to keep small toddlers from falling into 20 foot water. I think the role of mommies is to anticipate every possible bad thing that could happen and stress about it. At least it was a beautiful day. The good thing about being transients is that we know we only have a set amount of time in an area. Therefore, we make sure to see everything and go everywhere we can. Not saying it's easy. Takes about 10 minutes to get everyone out of the car. Then another 15 to put them back in. And that's assuming there's no additional tasks such as emergency diaper changes. But it's worth it when Nicky spends 3 1/2 hours at the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum milking fake cows and running a general store.

So, in an effort to keep my hand in last night, I took the DTG dinner of Southern Cod and baked it into a casserole. I had some extra broccoli from Nicky's dinner and threw it in with the rice and vegetables that came with it. I chopped up the cod and threw in just a bit of skim mozzarella (less than 90 calories). It baked up into a very nice fish casserole. I'm not saying we don't like the cod as it was. It's just that I had a little bit of time yesterday afternoon with Nicky being in a good mood and the babies sleeping. And I do like to cook when I have time. Of course, with everything already chopped and cooked, it took less than five minutes to throw it together in a dish and stick it in the oven. That's kind of like cooking, I guess : )

Lunch today was the reuben. When you receive this meal, remember to put the sauerkraut on after you heat the sandwich. It give it a very nice warm/cold ratio that's perfect for a reuben. The DTG lunches are surprisingly filling. I can never eat more than the sandwich at one time. Oh, and Diet to Go just rolled out their new website. I'm exploring it and will comment on it next time.

Week 12 Results with a side of water

It's 7:45, do you know where your kids are? I do. Sleeping. All of them. Woo hoo! Even night-owl Catie is down. She may wake up but by that point, John will be home. He's a night-owl also. My boys are larks, usually up with the sun. It's absolutely amazing. Nicky's new medicine seems to have cleared up some of his eczema so bedtime is no longer an extended "mommy, rub" drama until he falls asleep from exhaustion. We got to do our two Boyntons, a kiss, and off to sleep. Boyntons, you ask. Why, let me explain. If you've got kids or grandkids, Sandra Boynton has some necessities for you. One of our favorites are Fifteen Animals because the punchline still makes Nicky giggle and he loves saying Bob over and over. But the grand poobah of Boynton has to be Personal Penguin. I don't know whether it's the fact you can download a track of Davy Jones singing it (ooooooo, Davy!) or maybe it's because Nicky sings it with me and it's so adorable hearing him sing "I want to be your personal penguin". Anyway, check those out.

Let's talk water. I once thought it was common knowledge. But one time I mentioned the phrase "water weight" to John and a blank look in return. So I guess it's just something women are familiar with: the unrelenting roller coaster of weight loss and gain throughout the month combined with ankles the size of cantaloupes due to water retention. But what I didn't know until I did a bit of searching is that one pint or 16 ounces of water equals one pound. There's some interesting bits of information combining water and weight loss.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/04/10/water.losing.weight.jampolis/

Oh, speaking of weight loss -

Week 12 Beginning Weight: 194.6
Week 12 Ending Weight: 193.2

Week 12 Weight Loss: 1.4
Total Weight Loss: 16.2

I'm over halfway to my goal of 30 pounds. Another 10 pounds will take me to my pre-pregnancy weight. I spent last weekend going through boxes in my garage, getting ready for the move. All size 18 pants are now history! My 16's which I'm currently wearing are loose. I'm not down to a 14 yet because all my pregnancy weight is around my hips (mummy tummy!) but I'll get there!

Turkey et. al.

I haven't been able to enjoy my new books yet, unfortunately. Tonight was cold and rainy and last night, Nicky didn't get to sleep until almost 9. Poor kid. He was itching so much yesterday afternoon that I gave him some Benadryl. He usually only gets it before bed because the inevitable happened. He crashed at 4:30. So after a two hour nap, he wasn't going to go to bed for a while. So no walkies for me and it will probably show in the weigh-in. Sigh.

For dinner tonight both John and I have a substitution: Turkey BBQ Melts. This should really be on the main menu. It's one of our favorites. Shredded turkey lightly coated with BBQ. I love the light coating. I prefer to taste my food and not the sauce. Then, it's heaped (because there's a lot) on bread rounds with two different cheeses melted on top. For sides, there's cole slaw and some sort of peachy-onion thing. I don't know what it is because as I've mentioned, the substitution menu doesn't list the side items and the new labels haven't caught up to the subs yet. Anyway, that's one side item I don't eat. Peaches and onions just don't seem to match up to me.

In the delivery today I saw that it's cheesy soup and pretzel week. To my fellow DTGers, I again recommend cutting up the pretel and soaking it in the soup. John tried that last month and found it yummy.

For this weeks temptation . . . another holiday

I went to the library to get some books on CD. So much better than books on tape. It used to be difficult to find unabridged versions of books. Now it seems just about all of them are unabridged. That's good. Abridged books are no better than Cliff's Notes which I'm proud to say I never used in school. I love to read. When we read the classics and had a chapter assignment, I usually had to go back and re-read it because I read the whole thing the first day. Anyway, I needed something to listen to for walking. We have a ready made track loop right outside our door. 1/2 mile of street making a loop. But I find sidewalk walking boring and the books should keep me occupied. And I'll get the chance to "read" books I wouldn't normally get. Like Life of Pi which I heard was pretty good.

Indulged a little bit today for Easter but not too much. No jelly beans. No M&M's. Just a couple chocolate marshmallow eggs. I love those. And they're only $1 at Walmart. We got Nicky some electronic eggs. They're too funny. After you press the button, you hide them For 30 minutes, they'll call out things like "I'm hiding" and giggle. And the best part is if you forget where you hide them, they won't start smelling after a week!

John got behind on his breakfasts and then skipped on the weekend so unfortunately, we have to toss the breakfast pizza. Something to remember with DTG is that the meals are prepared and refrigerated, not frozen. (For local pickups) They follow the same rules as any other food you put in the fridge. The pizza was made on Tuesday and meant to be eaten on Friday. Tomorrow would be six days, which I think is too long to wait to eat it. I should have put it in the freezer Friday but I thought he'd eat it on Saturday. Bummer. I would have gladly eaten it if I knew he was going to skip breakfast on Saturday. Just helping out : )

Week 11 Results

We need to go to the zoo every weekend. Happy times!

Week 11 Starting Weight: 197.0
Week 11 Ending Weight: 194.6

Week 11 Weight Loss: 2.4
Total Weight Loss: 14.8

Basically halfway to my goal. Averaging 1.35 pounds per week. That's even with the gain last week. How sweet is that?

Time for a story. When I was young, my mother gave me the traditional chocolate for the holidays. A bunny for Easter. "I 'heart' U" for Valentine's. And every time, I'd stash it away like a squirrel, usually under my bed. And every night I'd have one small bite. (My weight issues started after I got married) So my treat would last a very long time.

Today for lunch was grilled cheese with brownie. Have I mentioned how chewy gooey yummy this brownie is? Reverting to my hoarding tendencies, I had a slice of the brownie and put the rest up. Spread the joy! Just need to put it out of sight so I don't spread the joy to the rest of the household. I'm needing my chocolate this week. I'll show them I love them another way.

Economics at the grocery store

Food pickup today! I love unpacking the bags. Particularly this week. I know I've mentioned before how much I LOVE this pickup. Chicken pesto sandwich, grilled cheese and BROWNIE, mac & cheese. Yummmmmm.

So here's a happenstance that's saving me money. I still go to the grocery store for milk, food for Nicky, fruits and vegetables. With the three kids, it's a bit of a trial. I have to bring in our stroller which is 5 feet long (that is not an exaggeration) and then have to manage a cart as well. So I've started going first thing in the morning on Saturday when John can stay home with the kids. Now, we happen to be military so I take advantage of going to the commissary. I don't know how many of you have been to a commissary before but they basically have one line for all the checkouts, like Toys R Us does now. Anyway, I went at about 2:00 one Saturday afternoon. The line was four aisles long. Really. Down and up, down and up, and heading down again. I should have been worries when there were no carts outside. So I decided to pare down my list to the bare bones, figuring express has got to be shorter. After getting what I considered to be my 20 essential items, I hurried to the express line. Where I was third in line! Wow. Talk about positive reinforcement.

So now, every Saturday when I go to the grocery store, I limit myself to 20 items. It's amazing how quick the trip is and how much money I save by not buying the non-essentials. I'm not filling my cabinets and freezers with food that Nicky might like. When I have extra "room" on my list I get one or two new things. I recommend giving express line buying a try for a few weeks. DTG makes it very easy to do!

It's a Beautiful Day!

What a beautiful weekend! We spent most of it outside, of course. We all walked to the playground on Saturday. Although I think Nicky would be happy with a huge pile of wood chips in his backyard. He usually ends up sitting on the ground, playing construction site. We stopped by McD for dinner on the way back. We only do 6 days so we have a lunch and dinner on the weekend to do for ourselves in case we're out and about. I had the grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo. And only a couple of fries. Then it was time for the walk back home up The Hill. John was pushing the stroller though and Nicky wanted to hold Mommy's hand. I discovered that The Hill isn't as hard when you aren't pushing 70 pounds of stroller. Of course, when your 3 year old walks over a mile. you can't really whine about the trek. Stubborn tired kid didn't want to ride. So I had to keep coming up with distractions to keep him happy.

Yesterday was even more beautiful so we went to the Maryland Zoo. Nicky hadn't been there. He was a big fan of the giant tree slide and the rocket ride. The penguins were his favorite. Gotta take him to St Louis zoo. I've never seen a better penguin aquarium. You stand at the edge of the tank which is about waist high. You could touch them if you don't mind losing a finger.

Anyway, so we spent two days outside walking around. What I really liked, however, was riding on a ride with Nicky. When we first moved out here five years ago, we went to Six Flags. On one of the rides, it was very, very hard to get the seat belt on. I was sitting in one of those spinning ride seats with John and having to suck in to get it buckled. That was not fun. So yesterday, I was a little worried when Nicky wanted me to go on a ride with him. It was a kid's ride! But I climbed in the little plane and Nicky climbed in next to me. I loosened the seat belt and it buckled over both of us! And I wasn't even sitting flat. There wasn't room for my legs so I was kind of sitting on my hip. But there was still enough room for us both. Wow.

We should have brought lunch to the zoo. I am amazed by the zoos out here and their lack of adequate concessions. Standing in line for a pretzel (Nicky), nachos (John) and a grilled chicken sandwich (me) served in a tent which cost more than I'm willing to admit I spent. We had a lunch to fill, though, so I really didn't have anything at home to bring.

So a weekend with somewhat healthy eating and lots of walking should hopefully get rid of the gain from last week. I'm anticipating a challenge next month, however. We'll be going to VA Beach in a couple weeks. And like my fellow blogger, Bo, I do love my seafood. He would probably be disappointed in the quality of seafood served at the countless buffets there but a midwesterner like myself doesn't have the experience of fresh like he does. I'm not picky. We'll see if I can resist.

I want a Mulligan

Well, I went ahead and did it. I weighed myself today. Sigh. At least the gain was less than a pound. Bad, bad chocolate and ice cream. I am SO very glad this week is almost over.

Luckily, I just got a little sore throat. The girls faired better than the boys. Nicky was unhappy. If you were to ask him, he'd probably say he was miserable. And boy, has it made his eczema flare. Poor kid. Jason wasn't happy either. He got up to 101.7 and spent a whole lot of time sleeping. Unfortunately, he wouldn't sleep unless I held him. This is unusual for him because obviously I don't have the luxury of time to sit and snuggle with one baby. (I really miss that). And if I put him down too early, he'd wake up and start screaming. I'm not used to my mellow zen-baby screaming. (He's my zen-baby because if I need some outside emotional stability, holding such a calm baby for just a few minutes is very relaxing)

Once again, I am thankful I don't have to worry about fixing meals. We currently receive our meals locally here in DC. Now, I'm wondering if, after we move to NC in June, whether I should continue to get the meals by mail order. Also, while I normally complain about daylight saving time, I took advantage of it this evening. There was time after Nicky went to bed and John came home to go for a short walk. Alone. By myself. Solitary. Wacky.