That was a strange sensation...

This was the scene in our household this evening. These two really do make quite a pair, don't they? Nobody makes Angelica laugh like Daddy can (even though I've been known to have her belt out a belly laugh every now and again)!

Take note of the outfit she's wearing before I continue with the following story.

Shortly after this picture was taken, Scott, Angelica and I were all laying on our stomachs on the floor coloring in her Dora coloring book, when she suddenly gets up, and runs into the kitchen...which was directly behind me and out of my line of view.

We hear her rustling around with the pictures we have in magnetic frames on the fridge, which include a couple of our engagement photos, a wedding photo, and multiple photos of her as an infant. We continue coloring (yes, we both just love coloring that much) while listening to her say "Mommy! Daddy! A-ca-ca!" as she rotates through the pictures.

Suddenly, I feel something literally leap onto my back. Wild laughter ensues as she delights in the fact that she has totally startled me and has tackled me in such a way that I can not only not see her, but I can't grab her and can't get up. All of a sudden, Scott laughs and says "Oh my goodness!" over and over again. I panic, thinking something's wrong, and reach back and...

I grab a naked leg.

If you'll notice in the picture above, she's wearing full overalls and a t-shirt! Somehow while in the kitchen she was able to completely remove her overalls all by herself, all without making a peep about it. She's been doing that with pants for a long time, but not with more complicated clothes (like overalls).

We laughed. Our little girl is growing up! (She is officially 20 months old now, after all!)

This is the song, la la la la, Elmo's song...

Tonight we decided to get out of the house and brave a restaurant with our (almost) 20 month old. This is something we don't do frequently. I think I've figured out the trick to getting through dinner without Angelica screaming, asking to get up, running around the restaurant, or otherwise making a scene:



I pull out my BlackBerry, and as soon as Angelica sees it, she starts yelling "Elmo SHONG, Elmo SHONG!" So I have that video bookmarked and pull it up in the browser (and cross my fingers that we're not in a black hole for cell phone reception).

So that held her over for about twenty minutes, and then she started asking for Cookie Monster (which sounds more like "Kooky mon-sher!"), which means that she wants to watch C is for Cookie:



Funny thing about this...I was visiting my sister and her kids yesterday, and she had asked for "kooky mon-sher" and I didn't have enough cell phone reception to get the video to play. Well, my sister started singing it a little while later (while giving the kids cookies...go ahead, judge me!) and Angelica shot her a death stare, as if to say "How did you know that song! That's MY song!"

Anyway, if it keeps her looking as happy as she does in this picture (taken on a completely different place and time), I don't mind her borrowing my phone to call her favorite Sesame Street characters...

Operation Lose the Baby Weight Week 3 Wrap Up

Lost 1.2 pounds.

I shouldn't complain. I'm trying to be rational and tell myself that it's a completely normal weight loss, and not to be sad that it wasn't the two pounds I was striving for. After all, again, I sat on my butt and skipped out on exercise this week. I also made a pact to NOT drink soda (even diet) and I did well! I made it three days drinking just one cup of coffee and then water the rest of the day. Then I got sick and well...I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story.

Here's how the month has gone so far:
January 7 weigh-in: -4.6 lbs
January 14 weigh-in: -1.2 lbs
January 21 weigh-in: -1.2 lbs
Total weight lost: 7 pounds.

Okay, so that looks much better! Seven pounds! Yippee!! I am also now exactly 11 pounds from the weight I was at the day that I got pregnant with Angelica, so that also makes me happy.

I also looked back at the weight chart I still had stored on my computer from my resolution last year, and I have lost a grand total of 16 pounds since then. So that's pretty cool.

Anyway, I don't want this blog to become all about weight loss, so very soon I will post something non-weight loss related!

Operation Lose the Baby Weight: Week 2 Wrap-Up

Each Friday is my weigh in day. Since I didn't post anything for Week 1, I'll summarize:
Keeping in mind that I have a goal of losing 2 pounds/week:
January 7 weigh-in: -4.6 lbs
January 14 weigh-in: -1.2 lbs
Total weight lost: 5.8 pounds.

I'm still 1.8 pounds ahead of my goal, so that's pretty good! Having said that, I am shocked that I lost anything at all this week since I could not motivate myself to get my ass up off the couch and do anything. I also "splurged" and ate a few things that I knew were bad for me. The good thing about that is that I was mindful of it, so for example, I only ate a few extra chips instead of, oh, I don't know, the ENTIRE BAG.

This week I really want to focus on drinking more water. I think it's a bad sign that I drink way too much soda (even if it's diet soda!) when my almost 20 month old daughter can not only say "soda" but requests it on a regular basis. (She doesn't actually GET any, but boy oh boy does she want it!)

Another big change this week is what I have for dessert each night. Angelica really, really loves "schtoberries!" (strawberries) so I keep them on hand. One night, I cut them up and sprinkled with sugar (could also use Splenda) and it was really great. It was the perfect little sweet treat to have after dinner.

If you're on a mission to lose last of your baby weight, don't forget you can join my SparkTeam on Sparkpeople.com! See the post before this one for a link!

Operation Lose the Baby Weight: 2010 Edition!

It's a new year, and every year so many of us make "resolutions". This year, I'm not. Instead, I'm setting goals, and my biggest one is to ditch this ridiculous baby weight! (Okay...and the 75 extra pounds I already had before getting pregnant!)

It's easy to let money get in the way of weight loss, so that's why this year I am spending no money on weight loss. None. I'm not joining Weight Watchers (even though I think they have a fantastic program). I don't go to a gym. I won't hire a personal trainer. I am simply going to work with what I already had on my house at the end of 2009.

This consists of:

• A computer, with which I will use Sparkpeople, a free healthy living website, to track my progress.
• Fitness DVDs (I have several TaeBo and Biggest Loser/Jillian Michaels DVDs in my arsenal)
• The Spark, a book by the founder of Sparkpeople that I purchased at the end of last year (Want to check it out? Download a free chapter of The Spark.)
• Handweights of several sizes (3, 5, 8, and 10 pounds)
• Resistance Bands
• Stability Ball

The only thing I will spend any money on is new workout clothes/shoes as they become necessary.

I officially started my efforts back on January 1st. I have a goal of losing 2 pounds a week every week for this year. Having lost over five pounds since the 1st, I'm already ahead of the curve.

Having been in a "battle of the bulge" for several years now, I know it takes support to be successful. That's why I've created an Operation Lose the Baby Weight SparkTeam! Feel free to join if you're interested!

Not a member of Sparkpeople? See the link below to join:



Good luck to each and every one of you on accomplishing your goals!

Here's my inspiration; Angelica at 19 months old:


Disclaimer: I am not a representative of Sparkpeople, nor am I compensated by them for posting this review. The links provided may earn "SparkPoints" for me, which have no cash value. I simply believe in the service, the book, and have found it effective in the past so I wanted to share!

Long Time No See!

So, my last post was in November. We've been through an entire holiday season in that time! Suffice it to say, it was a very busy few months in our household, and sadly this blog was neglected as a result.

In the interest of catching up, here's some of the excitement that's gone on since my last post!

• I finished my master's program!: I spent the months of November and December working extremely hard on my final capstone project, and on December 18, I graduated, having earned a Master's degree in Internet Marketing. And, to add a cherry on top, I was the salutatorian of my graduating class. I accomplished this while being a full time work-outside-the-home mom, and I think I can safely say that if I can do it, anyone can do it!
• I had surgery on my wrist!: On December 21, I had outpatient surgery on my wrist to correct the Dequervain's tenosynovitis that has been bothering me for oh...two years. I was first treated for it with a steroid shot when I was five months pregnant with Angelica. Since then, I had two more shots. And then it came back again, and the doctor said that having another shot of the cortisone would not fix the problem, so it was time to operate. It was a quick surgery. I was done in about 15 minutes, not even fully put under (they numbed my arm and used a drug to relax me instead). I then had my forearm in a half-cast for a week, used a splint for a week, and now my hand is free. It's still a little sore...the doctor said it could take about a month to be fully pain-free, so I'm optimistic. Since I know there are other moms out there who have Dequervains, if you have any questions about the surgery, let me know!
• We had the holidays!: This was Angelica's second Christmas, and it was great. Unfortunately due to my surgery, we had to cancel our travel plans, but we still had a great Christmas! Angelica got tons of Dora the Explorer items, including a Dora the Explorer kitchen that I got at a kids resale store for $30!
• We replaced a transmission: On Jan. 3rd, around 5:30 p.m., Scott's car finally gave up. The transmission died. We finally got the car back last night, so I'm thankful to have two working cars again (even if it resulted in a much smaller bank balance).
• Angelica turned a year and a half old!: My baby girl is growing up so fast! She'll actually be 20 months old in a few days. She continues to amaze us on a regular basis. She talks nonstop now, and not just baby talk either. There's a lot of "Thank you, Mommy and Daddy" and "I want please!" and "I love you Mommy and Daddy" and "Please read Dora Kingdom book!" She's a chatterbox and I love it.

In 2010, expect to see a lot more updates, a lot more photos, and a lot more fun stuff on this blog!