Christmas 2012

Christmas was a very busy day, yet again.  Shane and I got up first and waited (not so) patiently for little missy to wake up and tear into her gifts.  Once she woke up, we walked her out to the living room where we had her new little table and chairs set up. She didn't know what to think, but we could tell she was happy.  She sat down at her new pink table while her sweet feet dangled and she started drawing on the dry erase table top.  It was adorable.  Then she moved on to her new play grocery cart filled with play groceries.  She loves pushing around her little stroller so we knew she would love her own pink grocery cart, I mean who wouldn't? After that she opened another one of her favorites, a new baby doll.    We also got her a new pair of crocs', a puppy dog purse, a play laptop and a few other things.  After she had breakfast we all got ready and headed over to my parents house for a lovely Christmas brunch. I made a copycat version of Cracker Barrels hash brown casserole, yum!! My parents put on the full spread, it was all delicious!  My aunt and Grandpa even stopped by, which was a nice surprise.  We talked, laughed, ate, had a couple Mimosa's and opened gifts.  A good time had by all.  Savannah made out pretty darn good, too many gifts to even remember.  My sister and grandma shipped their gifts down from Michigan so she had all of those to open as well.

From there we headed over to Shane's parents, it was a very nice time.  Shane's dad is very sick and we are just trying to enjoy our time with him.  I don't want to go into details right now.  Savannah was in rare form by the time our visit was wrapping up, she was so hyper!  This day was full of excitement for her so she was flying around!

We were all so tired by the time we got home that we just crashed.  It was a very good day, and in some ways a very sad day.  Kind of a roller coaster.   But we did our best to make it special for Savannah and I believe we succeeded.  It was so fun watching her open her gifts, I can't wait for next year, I know it will be even better for her since she will understand all of it a little more :)

 Christmas always starts with 24 hours of A Christmas Story

 Break for Breakfast

Off to Gam & Poppa Bill's (Cheeeeezzz)

 First gift from Gam (it's a singing Barney......oh boy)

 DreamLites!

 Now, Onto Mimi & Papa's

Just Pictures - Christmas Edition

Going to the gym, working, and preparing for Christmas... That about wraps up our week!

 Our small, but sweet Christmas Tree.

Some of my Favorite ornaments....

2005

 2006

 2007

 2008

 2009

2011

 2011

2012

Christmas hat camera fun....

SkinnyCandi - Perma-Grin

"Perma-Grin" is the perfect title for my SkinnyCandi update post..... beeeeecause that's what I had yesterday when I weighed myself; I lost -7 lbs since last Monday!! Let me say that again..  I lost 7 lbs in less than 2 weeks!! That's the kind of loss Ive been waiting and hoping for, finally all this hard work is showing on that damn scale.  I can't tell you how good it feels.  It is so motivating, I just want to do more, keep going and keep losing.

Yay!!

So for this week; the scale is my new best friend.....

{Total Loss: 13 lbs.}

The SkinnyCandi Plan

So Ive been putting off blogging about the "SkinnyCandi" plan for a few weeks now, not really sure why exactly.  Im probably scared to talk about it for fear of jinxing it.  But Im just going to go for it....

So Im going on week 7 and Im doing fantastic! The last time I checked I was down 7 lbs but that was 2 weeks ago.  Im really trying my best to STAY OFF THE SCALE..  Im sure most woman can relate to the fact that if you don't get what you want or are hoping for from the scale it can completely kill your motivation.  After the first few weeks and I started noticing small changes in the way my clothes fit, I was weighing myself every other day and it was a bit ridiculous.  I was having 2-3 lb fluctuations and it was literally killing my spirit.  So Im really trying to stick with only weighing every 2 weeks.  The problem is, when you're working out as much as I am, 5-6 days a week for 1-2 hours a day you WANT to get on that scale and see that all the hard work you're putting in is actually doing something.  But for me, I just don't lose weight quickly, I. just. don't.  Although.....my goal was to lose 8 lbs in a month (2 lbs a week) and I lost 7.  That's not bad at all....I'm very happy with that.

Something about "this time" is different, I can in all honesty say that.  In the past 10 years I can't even tell you how many times Ive tried to lose weight, too many to count.  Many, many failed attempts that make me feel extremely ashamed.  Ashamed that I never took control of my life the way that I wanted to, the way I knew I needed to.  Ashamed that I never lasted longer than a month or two.  Even though,  in the year and half before I got married I did go to the gym regularly and I did lose about 25 lbs.  The most I had ever lost.  It paid off and I can look at my wedding pictures without cringing.  The weight loss also helped in me getting pregnant 6 months after getting married.  However, the pregnancy was an easy excuse not to stick with my workouts.  I tried until I was about 5-6 months pregnant, but after that I just gave up.

The reason I think this time is different is because Im 32 years old.  My (old) age forces me to look back at the past 10 years of feeling so unhappy about the way I look and feel, insecure about my body, hiding myself- physically, mentally and probably emotionally in ways. I don't want to do that for the next 10 years.

Im going into this weight loss adventure extremely clear headed and realistic.  Those were the two things missing from my past attempts.  Im not expecting miracles.  I know that it's going to take time and a lot of work and that Im the only one who can make it happen.

I know it's going to take time, however that being said I don't want it to take forever.  And thats why Im putting more into this than I ever have.  Instead of working out 3-4 days a week, Im going 5-6.  Im running and taking advantage of all the classes my gym offers.  Little things like that where I hope it makes a difference.  Im also keeping track of everything I eat, except for 1 day a week where we may eat out or have a couple drinks.  Im trying to stay within 1200-1500 calories per day.  So far it hasn't been hard because Im working out so much and burning so many calories in the gym.

One very good thing I have going for myself is that Ive always enjoyed working out.  Most people can't say that.  I love the feeling I get, I love pouring sweat from working my ass off,  I love pushing myself, and trying new things. I look forward to going and I love the way I feel when Im done.

I feel very IN CONTROL of my life.  It's a great thing.

Im taking it 10 lbs at a time....

I'll be checking in with my progress, wish me luck!

Hide & Seek PB&J

I don't usually let Savannah walk around with her sandwich, actually this was the first time. So I gave it to her and walked away for a minute, when I came back I noticed she didn't have it anymore. She's the slowest eater ever so I know she didn't finish it.

Hmmm... where could it be??

 Well, of course! Don't we all keep our sandwiches in a drawer? No? Just my kid? Oh ok.

So she went back to it, took a bite and......

...put it right back.

Kids are full time entertainment ;)

Just Pictures

 Little miss independent loves to feed HERself

 Kisses for the camera

 I can't believe how long her hair has gotten....

Oh yes and my life is still all about Barney.. jealous?

She was looking so cute that day 

 She was very focused on getting Mickey in the stroller then all her number puzzle pieces...

Now she's ready to go!

The Santa Claus Experience

Oh boy. Where do I begin.  Let's start with....

This was Savannah's first time meeting Santa Claus; we chose not to do it last year because honestly it wasn't a big deal to either of us. And clearly, at 8 months old, it wasn't a big deal to Savannah either.  I don't know what I was thinking when I came up with the idea to take her today. As if her now being (almost) 20 months old has made any difference at all on her feelings of a strange old man holding her while we snap away our cameras.  Anyway, initially when we saw the line it didn't look too bad, I thought probably a half hour to 45 minute wait.  Well, as we entered into the one hour mark and there were still about 15 kids in front of us I thought to myself "what the HELL are we doing?" We are waiting in this ridiculous long line, to get a picture of our little girl with a character who she knows nothing about and could care less about.  She's way past her nap time, cranky, and OH did I mention, she made a "stinky" and when I went to give Shane the diaper bag to change her....No. Diapers. Thankfully I was surrounded by mommies, prepared mommies, who were nice enough to help us out in our desperate time of need.  I never appreciated a Pamper so much.  So yes, I was thinking to myself, this is absolutely absurd.  All for a picture.  Because I don't have enough those right?  Sorry I hate to sound like the Grinch but c'mon,  Until it's something she wants to do, we will not be doing that again.  So we may get next year off but that's probably it for a long time.

The Scene

 Thank god there was a play area near by

waiting, waiting, waiting...

Poor thing, why do we put our kids through this?

She got better though

Better? Yes.  But there was no way we were getting a smile

However, Shane was very happy.  He got a new pair of kicks on our way out...