01-11-10

Two weeks ago today, Andy and I were surprised by a little bit of news.

After nearly 11 years of marriage,

A lot of hoping,

And 1,000 prayers (at least)...

We learned that a new life is growing inside of me, and should join us in January.

Mind you, this news came after 8 years of trying and 2 years of acceptance that it was not to be.

The day that we learned we were pregnant, we were already more than 10 weeks along.

I went from thinking I was crazy one night, to the next day seeing our baby on a monitor. This is what we saw...

A little body that had already developed fingers and toes.

A rapid heart beat, pumping away at 172 beats per minute.

And our very active baby that just wouldn't stop bouncing.

How can you be 10 weeks pregnant and not know? It takes a lot of denial. Yes, I even got sick and managed to come up with different rationalizations.

Because I honestly had given this dream up, and couldn't believe it to be true.

Especially not as a pure surprise.

But, I was wrong. Our baby is expected on 01/11/10. Andy says it is the perfect binary birthday because it is all 0's and 1's. (And yes, we know it will most likely be born on another day.)

So we've decided to call it the Little Bit until we can learn about it's gender. (We did receive an educated guess from our doctor, but we're keeping that to ourselves until we receive further proof.)

And today, two weeks after we got our first peek at Little Bit, we had our second ultrasound. Baby is still doing great, and has grown quite a bit! It's hands and feet are now very active.

Our scanner is on the fritz, so I couldn't upload the new pictures we received today - but here is a short clip from the ultrasound.

We are thrilled to have a baby on the way, and know that our friends and family will be as well. What a surprise for our little family!

Charlie is 3 1/2 Today

Today marks the halfway point between Charlie's 3rd and 4th birthdays. I know that it may seem a little silly to celebrate such a thing as a "half" birthday - but it is something that I like to do just for fun. When Lynnae turned 8 1/2 in January we made paper wreaths, a pie and let her have what she wanted for dinner. Today for Charlie we opened a new toy, made cookies, and are letting him have what he wants for dinner. (Taco Bell - he now, finally, likes burritos.) Am I setting really high expectations that I will regret in the next few years? Right now, I don't really care.

A couple of days ago I was doing some research on developmental milestones. I recently started watching my friend's almost 4-month-old baby 3 days a week... and I wanted to check into what she should be able to do, to see if I could help her along with her development. While I was at it, I checked into Charlie's development too.

Becoming a mom to a 2 year old and skipping all of the earlier stages is interesting. You don't really know what they should be able to do, and you don't know the history of how they have learned what they do know. All I know about Charlie's early life is contained in a 10-page "safety plan" that I was handed by the state. I know, certainly, that Charlie has made HUGE advances in the last 14 months we have known him. I know that his ability to read and write are rare. I know that he has some social and structure issues. (I also struggle with how to help him.)

But as I looked at the 3 year milestones I breathed a sigh of relief that every point was met. Then I decided to click on the 4-year milestones. I was shocked. I couldn't find one of them that he hasn't already met, or at least started. It made me so happy. We are talking about a boy who entered the foster care system at 14 months and could not crawl or stand. This boy 14 months ago would barely talk to people. He whispered to us for the first 6 weeks in one word sentences. He used to dissassociate regularly. Now he is telling us stories and making up songs for me as my "purprises".

Is he perfect? No. I really need to find a solution for this problem we have with not wanting to participate in or listen to coaches/teachers. (Not that I haven't already tried a bucket-full of tactics!) But in my eyes, I am so proud of him for the achievements he has made in the last 2 years of his life. I really, really wish that I had been there from the beginning... However, both of my kids show great signs of intelligence that are rare given their background and exposure in early life. We are all lucky.

Happy half-birthday to Charlie. And Lynnae turns 9 in 1 month and 4 days!

Results - Weeks 5, 6, and 7

Okay, here is my update on the last 3 weeks...


They've been really hard! At the end of Week 4 I quit my bp medicine, on doctor's advice of course. 4 days after I quit, my blood pressure spiked. Really high. And my sodium levels, water and stress level had been relatively in control that day. The conclusion? My blood pressure issue is most likely genetic (which we already knew - but didn't know if I could affect it with diet/exercise.) So back on the meds I went, that night. It was actually my first experience calling the on-call doctor after-hours (on advice from the nurses line when I told them about my fluctuation during the day from 105/60 to 150/95.) Oh well! Pooh-pooh for me, my body did not at all like the yo-yo from being on the medicine, off again, and back on. The two week period that I went through this was awful. Bloating, headaches, dizzyness, ugh! Honestly, I didn't really care about what or how I was eating. Although I did still track it - and I stayed within the boundaries I'd established (barely).


So in Week 5 I gained 1 pound. I was miffed. Okay, so I know that it is normal to go up and down. But I still really didn't like it.


In Week 6 I was starving. No matter what I ate, it wasn't enough. I still tracked everything that went into my mouth. I just didn't stay within the parameters I have been. At all. I ate fast food 3 times. I ate brownies almost every day. Some days I had a brownie, ice cream and candy. I just could not satisfy my sweet tooth or my hunger. I was shaky-hungry, even though I was consuming upwards of 1800 calories a day. I also cut back on my walking because I just didn't feel like it. I walked 4 out of the 7 days still, but I walked more slowly. I did start swimming. Magically, despite my horrible habits, I dropped 2.8 pounds! So I have decided that my body must have been in one of it's metabolic-problem stages... for me to pack on the food like I did, exercise less, and lose that much weight in one week? Confusing!


So last week, I tried to be in the middle. I was much more vigilent about what I was eating. I tried to stay within the boundaries a little better. I made sure to take my daily walk. Charlie can walk 2 miles easily along side me now - pretty good for a 3 year old! And Lynnae is usually sick of waiting for me to catch up - two months ago it was the other way around. We also got EA Active for the Wii last week and I am loving it ... daily workouts consisting of aerobic activity, and much more lower and upper body work than I am used to. Yet, I gained .8 pounds back in Week 7. I guess it's okay considering that still puts me down 1 pound from where I was in Week 4.


1 pound loss in 3 weeks is a bit frustrating - but considering the obvious weirdness that my body is going through, I will take it. I am down 78 pounds from where I started in October 2007. All I really want is a solid 5 more pounds. If it takes 15 weeks, I guess that's what it takes!

Results - Week 4

I did better this week! I decided to stay on my bp medication for one more week to give it a chance to level out, so I felt pretty normal. (Despite the fact that it was still low and I did get one reading at 83/60... yowsers!) I did go off the medication on Sunday, for the last two days of this week... so far, so good.

One thing I learned that disgusted me this week... I took the kids out for a random treat last Tuesday. We went to McDonald's and I got them chocolate dipped cones. I pretty much never do this, usually our treat is a Jamba Juice if we are having something. Watching Charlie try to eat that thing was quite amusing. I got myself an Oreo McFlurry. Yum. Then I went home and looked it up. That thing has 550 calories and cost me 12 points! Holy cow! I knew it wouldn't be healthy, but that is really, really NOT healthy. I only get 23 points in a whole day!!! Bye-bye McFlurry's (except for the rare occasion of course). I did find out that there are a couple of Dairy Queen blizzards that are 2 points better.

Here is what I accomplished:

• I actually did cut back on my candy consumption. I love candy and have had a bad daily habit for awhile now. I abstained from candy for two days back-back this week. (And promptly had Starbursts the following day.)
• I lost 1.5 pounds. I was hoping for 2 because I lost so little last week - but, 1.5 is not too shabby! I am now down a total of 7.6 for the first month. Really close to an average of 2 lbs per week!
• I did pay a lot more attention to calories. I averaged 1371 calories per day this past week. Sodium remained great at a daily average of 1598 mg. However, focusing more on calories than points seemed to have quite the negative effect on my fiber... I only averaged 11 g a day.
• Points-wise... I did better than any of the other weeks on saving my weekly 35-pt allowance. I still had 15 extra points at the end of the week!
• I really increased my activity. I took 2 days off of walking - one due to weather and one just because I didn't feel like it. But, I did add in an extra morning walk with Boone halfway through the week. Over the course of 5 days I walked 21.6 miles in 6.4 hours. I did also add running in two days of the week.
• I did rejoin the gym! (I had initially quit to save money, but now I've decided that is money well spent.) I went and rode the bikes and started using the resistance training as well. I also ordered a new swimming suit, because my old one is falling off of me, and it should arrive this week. I'm really excited to go swimming again.

Goals for next week:

• Add a fiber supplement. It's time.
• Lose 1.5 more pounds.
• Continue to walk Boone in the mornings to increase exercise to at least 2x on most days.

Homeschooling Update

Last week we finally got the approval to homeschool Lynnae, on Thursday.
Today I got the Notice of Intent filed with the district office and then withdrew Lynnae from her class. (First I had to search 4 bookshelves to find her 1 missing library book.)

We are now officially a homeschooling family... wish me luck!

Results - Week 3

This week was not as good as the first two...

Because my blood pressure was adjusting to a lower medication level, it was raising and lowering throughout the week. This made me feel alternately bloated, dizzy, shaky and generally weird for a good portion of the week. I also developed two huge blisters on my toes which prevented me from being able to walk for a couple of days.

But I did still make some accomplishments:

• I lost .4 pounds... 1.1 away from my goal for the week... but at least I didn't go up!
• I stayed within my weekly point allowance. I again had a huge appetite all week, and I caved more than I have for the past two weeks. On Mother's Day I ate what I wanted to - with a result of 1959 calories consumed... but I had saved up all week for this!
• My calories, sodium and fiber all were a tiny bit worse than the previous week... but not enough to make a huge difference. I averaged 1513, 1686mg and 14g respectively.
• I walked 14.48 miles in 4 hours. This is about the same distance as the previous week, but in twice the time. We took more leisurely walks this week because I was trying not to aggravate my blisters. However, I did introduce jogging for 1/4 of the last two walks of the week. On the two days I did not walk, I tried to do more activity at home... (like vigorous house cleaning.)

So, there are some clear things that I see here that I can change to have more success next week. With that in mind my goals are:

• Watch calories more closely instead of points. Try to average around 1450 for the week.
• Try to increase fiber through diet. If that doesn't work, consider adding a supplement.
• Go back to the gym and negotiate to see if I can get a membership at a better deal... It would have been nice to have had something else to do when my feet were blistered... like swimming or even riding a stationary bike.
• Lose 2 pounds next week... hoping for a better week since the loss was so small this time!

Hair Cut

Nearly one month ago to the day, I finally got my hair cut. I told myself that when I lost 50 pounds, I would treat myself to a nice new hair cut. Well, I believe that was in October... and I still hadn't gotten it done after several months.

Those of you that know me well know that I have a bad habit. I get my hair cut and then I let it grow and grow and grow and grow. In fact, I have donated my hair twice before because I had that much to cut off. Well, I finally realized that this time I had let it go waaaaaaaaaaaay too far. I was too embarrassed with the state of my hair to go get a really nice hair cut... so instead I called a pretty nice place and figured that I would do something simple.

Turns out that I really liked the salon and the person that helped me. I did go super-simple - just a straight cut. 10 inches gone... and here is what was left!