Get it, don't or quit

This was my husbands boss' statement to her staff concerning the 45% increase in benefits cost for the coming year. It's all employee paid with no contribution from the company.

It was followed up with... "solve your problem, simply spend less".

Ya... this coming from someone married to a doctor and 'childfree'.

If this economy wasn't so sucky he'd be working somewhere else me thinks...

Can you tell?

That I'm a 'Mom-With-A-Camera' yet?

A rare capture...

You know what they say...

... moms spend so much time taking care of their kids they rarely take care of themselves.

I've been extremely neglectful of myself since early last summer really. I've been dieting since I knew what the word meant - always having more than a few pounds to lose. I was heaviest on my wedding day - tipping the scales at 222 lbs. Thank goodness I haven't seen 200+ in more than 6 years now. But I need to get the baby weight off now! I did all I was supposed to for 2 weeks and the scale didn't budge. I hate that! Unfortunately the only diet I've ever done well on was the Optifast diet which is an all liquid, doctor supervised, very expensive diet. Seeing as I'm a stay at home mom now I can't afford to do Optifast again, but would love to.

But I use pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I want. I know how to diet and I know how to lose weight and what to eat. I'm not pregnant anymore so why can't I eat what I'm supposed to eat to lose weight? I don't have junk food in my house and I'm breastfeeding so the weight should be falling off - but I know my portion sizes are way off and I'm sure there are lots of hidden calories in what I'm eating/drinking (like the hot cocoa I just had). But I'm not exercising - unless wrangling the kids counts.

When pregnant with Daria I had insulin dependent gestational diabetes. My dad has type II diabetes. I never went back to have my post-pregnancy blood tests. I haven't used my glucometer since Daria was born - I'm almost scared to. I'm not losing weight and I'm not abnormally thirsty (all of which are common signs of type II - both of which were my dad's biggest symptoms) so I know I don't have it but I'm at a huge risk for it. I need to get my butt in gear!

Don't get me started on seeing my cardiologist. I'm so incredibly stupid when it comes to my Long QT Syndrome/defibrillator. I haven't seen mine since July (he left the practice and went to another) and my defibrillator is on recall status. I made an appointment for 2/6 and feel like a fool for not seeing him sooner. I'm actually in the most vulnerable period for LQTS (post partum) so I should know better!

Like I was after Arianna was born, I'm sure I'll get fed up soon - only this time I'll have to do all the hard work myself. No special diet to save my butt this time...

5 months

Her beautiful chubby cheeks always make me smile - she's so amazing. At some point during her 4th month her demeanor started to change and I started to like her (*grin*) She was not as whiney anymore and definitely more interactive. I love this phase!

She weighed in at 16 lbs. even at her 4 month appointment... for reference Arianna weighed 17 lbs. at one YEAR.

Sweet Baby James

Early Thursday morning my cousin Kim's sweet baby boy James passed away - he was 2 weeks old.

Please keep them in your prayers - everyone is devastated.

For anyone that has gone through this please let me know if there is some 'gift' I can get them to acknowledge that he lived and was loved by his family. I'm really at a loss.

Picture Post

"Mom, I said stop taking my picture!"

Enjoying an 'adult' conversation after dinner - when did she get so big?

Prayers please...

Saturday night my cousin Kim gave birth to boy/girl twins at 27 weeks.

Her little girl was 2 lbs. even and the little boy was 2 lbs. 2 oz.

They're scared beyond words and I'm waiting to hear more about how everyone is doing.

Many of you who read here know what she is going through and prayers are definitely appreciated.

Thank you.

I need your help...

As I've mentioned before I'm starting a photography business this year. I want to enroll in an online business course geared toward photographers but seeing as I don't bring in an income anymore I don't have the money.

As luck would have it she is running a contest this month and asked us to submit a picture explaining why we deserve a spot in her contest. Can you help by voting for my picture?

My picture is #1, scroll to the bottom and vote for #1 please, pretty pretty please - with a cherry on top! :)

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