It was a Great Week!

We started off with surprising our C and M by bringing our niece back with us... which was huge as she is 8 but terrified to be away from her mom for even a few minutes.  She came with us and we had a great time.  Monday was an awesome day at the sprinkler park and swimming pool and Tuesday was a fun day at the park and hanging out playing at home.  Then Tuesday night hit and my niece needed to go home, so the kids and I drove 2 hours to take her home... at 9 at night!  We slept over my parents and then I took the kids to a kiddie park Wednesday before coming home, then we got root beer floats and all in all had a fun day besides the kids disappointment in leaving their cousin behind.  Thursday we went back to the pool and sprinkler park and K met us there after work.  Friday was the zoo.  Then my parents came to visit and fix some stuff around the house for us and visit on Friday evening until Saturday.  Sunday we did a local kiddie park and I must say the week was pretty great!

Only a Few More Weeks of Summer...

I can't believe school is starting later this month!  This week is our last true week of a summer with all kinds of time on our hands and no real schedule that we have to stick to... so we are going to make the most of it.  We are going to spend some time at the pool, sprinkler park and huge sandbox.  We're going to go to a kiddie park with rides for both the kids and us parents, like bumper boats and race cars.  We're going to go to the zoo.  What else???  I'm not sure, definitely some trips for ice cream.  Oh... and hubby has an all day thing on Wednesday and the A&W by us is giving away free rootbeer floats from 2pm til close... so we'll be there for fun that day... especially to break up the long day without Daddy!

The next week Little C has a morning theater summer camp!  Then the next week is find your classroom and meet the teacher stuff.  Then the next week Kindergarten starts!!!!  Crazy!  Hopefully I will be somewhat on time on posting pictures of the first day of school for C and then first day for M the next week!

Hopefully Pregnant Soon...

As I may or may not have mentioned before... I so LOVE being pregnant and want to be pregnant again!  Yes, Hubby and I are happy with our 2 wild, high-energy children and do not want anymore, but I want to be pregnant again.  I want to help a couple that cannot have a child on their own by being a surrogate and having their child for them.  Hubby and I thought about working with an agency, and I actually signed up with an agency almost a year ago, but things didn't work out as I had hoped... so here we are again starting over.

We decided it would be so much better to be able to work with a local couple through a local fertility clinic instead of having to fly for testing and transfer and worry about time off work, child care and everything else that travel involves.  And of course, because we already went through that phase before, and even though the mini-trips were fun, we know how hard it was to have to plan NYC trips and arrange for the kids to be taken care of at the drop of a hat... and we never really like leaving the kids.

So, a wonderful mom at our amazing preschool had mentioned to me a few months back that she knew an attorney who had a couple that was looking for a surrogate.  I called him and filled out a profile and a few weeks ago Hubby and I met with this lovely local couple and we decided to work together.  They were just great and we talked like we were old friends... and I truly am so happy to be able to help them have their dream come true.  The contract is in the process of being drawn up and I am hoping it will get finalized within the next week or so as I am sure they are just as anxious to get started.

Weight Loss Journey

I always hated that almost every woman I knew would always say "lose weight" when asked if there was anything they wanted to change about themselves... I hated that weight had such an impact on how females thought of themselves... and then it happened... someone asked me what I would change about myself if I could... and I said "lose a few pounds"!  I couldn't believe my ears... did I just say that!?!  I was never incredibly skinny, but I was happy with my "normal, average" build and weight... but apparently I wasn't anymore.

Then a few weeks later I saw a mom from preschool and she looked AMAZING!  I definitely never thought she looked bad before this, but she really did look INCREDIBLE now.  She told me she lost 20 pounds doing Weight Watchers and I immediately thought... wow, only 20 pounds, that made a huge difference!  She did it for me... because of her I decided to really try to lose some weight.  I wasn't heavy but had been feeling lately like I didn't look the way I wanted to.  Of course most people put on a little weight here and there over the years so I felt normal... but I wasn't happy with it.

Well, I looked into Weight Watchers and I am just too darn cheap to pay for that... so I did a search on the iPad for weight loss apps and found Lose It!  I installed it and signed up, for free :)  It was the last week of May and I set my current weight of 143.5 and my goal weight of 120.  23.5 pounds seemed unrealistic to me, but I was determined to try.  I started documenting everything I ate, which was actually kind-of fun as I am weird and LOVE tracking things.  I stopped nibbling on junk food and I was watching my calorie intake very closely.  I didn't feel like I had extra time to incorporate "actual" exercise, granted I played at the park, rode bikes and went on walks with the kids, but I wasn't wanting to take time away from the kids or hubby to go on speed walks or to do the elliptical, so I was focusing solely on calorie intake.

The first week I felt so hungry... it was hard to only eat about 900 calories a day!  I was eating cereal for breakfast and trying to skip lunch so that I would have enough calories for dinner, but I was starving.  I starting eating a smaller breakfast and then a fruit or veggie for lunch and then a normal dinner and that was working so much better.

Weekends were by far the hardest.  During the week, I would do housework in the kitchen while the kids were eating lunch so that I wouldn't feel like munching on their lunches, but on the weekends, hubby wanted me to "sit with them" at the table and it is really hard to sit with people that are eating and not eat too.  Once I explained this to him, it helped and yes I miss out on sitting with the family during lunch, but we always sit and have dinner together so its okay.

So, today, about 10 weeks later, I am down 21 pounds!  I can't believe it!  I feel better and I feel like I look better... but I still have 2.5 pounds to go... but I am so close and so proud of myself!  Thank you to the mom at preschool that inspired me!  You have no idea the impact you had on me!

To have another baby... or not to???

Hubby and I agreed before we even got married that we would have 2 kids, ideally a boy and a girl... but if we had 2 boys or 2 girls we would try a 3rd, but that would be it.  With Little C we did not find out what we were having... and I totally recommend to any pregnant women out there to NOT find out!  It was so fun and exciting to wonder and dream and have it be an amazing surprise when that little one is born.  Hubby wanted to know but agreed to my wishes of neither of us knowing and to this day says he is so glad we didn't find out.  With Cookie M we did find out, mostly because I am such a planner and we needed to know if we needed to buy a new bedroom set (as C would be using the new set we got him) or if we could use my set from when I was a child (which has flowers all over it and could not be used for a boy).  If I had to do it all over again, I think I'd not want to find out and just use the girl set either way for a newborn... but as it was... we found out.

The minute they said "girl" in the ultrasound room I felt a mix of emotions.  Little C had said from day one that it was a baby sister and not a baby brother in my tummy, and he said that is what he wanted :)  I was so happy because I really wanted a little girl and had it been a second boy there of course was no guarantee that #3 would be a girl, so I was thrilled and relieved that I was having a girl.  But... I was a little sad too... and maybe even a little disappointed... I really wanted more than 2 kids... and now that we had a boy and a girl on the way, we were done, per our decision from years before.  Any time someone asked if we were stopping at 2 kids... I would think "how??? I want more!!!".  Our daughter was born happy and healthy, just like her brother and I didn't give baby #3 a thought, as we were very busy with a 2 year old and a newborn.

The older Little M got, the more content I felt with our family exactly the way it was.  I started feeling like things really were perfect for us the way they were.  Not that I would be disappointed or upset in any way if baby 3 happened, but we really are just so happy with the way the things are.  This feeling of being content and happy with 2 hasn't changed.  My hubby and I both feel confident in our decision to not have any more of our own children... but I will, hopefully, be pregnant again...

3 years old!

Cookie M turned 3 last month... and although she acts like 13 most times, she can also be a very sweet little girl.  She basically potty trained herself back in April, it was maybe 1 week of me wondering how much I should "help" to get the right balance of taking advantage of her wanting too and not pushing too hard, but really she did it all on her own!  She also threw away her last pacifier within a week of the snipping of the tip every morning.  We warned her that it was the only one she had left and if she threw it away she wouldn't have a paci anymore, she said "I know" and tossed it in the garbage and never asked for it again!  Both kiddos also had their car seats adjusted that day back in April last year and it was great, they were so excited to both be forward facing and it just got better as now they both even climb in and strap themselves in on their own!  Where did my babies go!  I know that last week of August is going to be so hard when Little C starts kindergarten and Cookie M starts preschool... this Mommy is going to be a basket case!  But at the same time, I am so excited for M to experience preschool just like she saw her big brother do.  I know she will LOVE it as much as he did.  We really belong to an awesome and incredible preschool and I am so lucky that we found it.  So many changes to come this year... although I could have said that (and probably did) about every other year in the past... and will probably say it about every year moving forward... how amazing life is!

WW - 5 and 3!