Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Movie Reviews by a Mom

(Note, down another 2 pounds today, almost back to my pre-weekend weight).

I forgot to include this link yesterday in my talk about movies. I can't remember how I stumbled upon it, might have heard her on the radio. But her website is great, she reviews movies not for their technical grades, but how the movie fits as pertains to families. Some G rated movies don't have any good morals to tell at all, etc. She gives letter grades to movies, and will note if there is cursing, nudity, etc. which if you haven't seen a movie you may not know. And may not want to see movies twice.

Media Mom by Nell Minow

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Quick picture from the aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo. We were in a walk through tunnel. One of my favorites.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Updates and Cups and Boobies and Violence

I mean, how can this title not make everyone want to read this? :)

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Diet updated: I'm starting week three. My total weight loss so far:

*For the first 2 weeks, between 16 and 19 pounds.
*Add one weekend trip to St. Michaels and the wine fest (Becca's Bach thing), plus 5.5 pounds.
*Subtract another 2 pounds this morning, back on the diet, and purging all of the salt my body held onto from the weekend.

All in all, not too bad. I'm still following the Medifast recommendations. It really is making me realize the things I eat. Even when I was not on the diet this weekend, I actively skipped a lot of empty calorie things (some rolls, etc) because they didn't look that great. And why waste calories after all the work unless it was something I would really enjoy?

So I'm down a total of about 15 pounds and I'm happy with that. I'm going to St. Mary's this weekend so I'll be able to try on my dress again and make sure it still fits. :) It was tight before, so this should be good.
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A proud family moment:



Evan's first visit with the Stanley Cup that the players hoist above their heads.

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Also, since I was gone for two full days this weekend, I picked that time to finally wean Evan. Once and for all. Phew. I miss it already, I'm not lying. But I really wanted to get this taken care of before the wedding. Needless to say we have had some rough mornings. Evan goes to sleep like an angel now (I'll post about that another time) but still wakes up early almost every day. This is exacerbated by the fact that the other adults in the house start getting up and getting ready for their day at 4 am.

So now, he wakes up, and he knows he's not very happy, but he can't figure out why. It usually takes a while before he starts going "Bah Bah's??" and then he cries. Like everything else with young toddlers, this too shall pass in a few days. But it already has me thinking about the next one. Even though our life is too busy to breathe sometimes, I can't wait for another newborn. I mean, who else will rub my belly with their super-soft teeny weeny hand? One of the great benefits of nursing for sure.

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Evan at Easter, hunting plastic eggs with Catherine, they all had cherry tomatoes inside. He loved it.



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Now for the talk about boobies and violence. (Disclosure: My child is less than 2 so I don't know how I will feel as he gets older). I seem to run into this more and more, people have no problem letting their kids watch semi/violent movies at what seems like a younger age. And maybe for some kids it's no big deal. I know even stuff on regular tv really bothered me as a kid. But if said shows/movies have any mention of sex or nakedness it's a no no. If it shows boobies? Forget it. I'm not talking about showing people doing it or anything. It just seems to me that this is strange. I mean, murder is illegal, sex is not. The naked body is not inappropriate. Not sure if I explained this very well, but I gave it a shot. I'm sure I'll revisit the issue as our boy gets older. Maybe then I will see it from a different perspective.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Malarkey, Medifast, and me

I've started a diet. I know, I know, that word usually makes the people I live with run screaming for the hills. I tend to get a *little* grumpy when deprived of the things I love. I mean, I love food. Not because I get depressed, don't know what else to do, or all of those other stupid things they show on TV. I love it. Steak is yummy. Lobster, mmmm. Pasta, please I could live on mac n cheese for the rest of my life.

But there are many reasons I need to lose weight. And I feel if I throw them out there it will help motivate me more.

- Better health all around
- I want to have another baby and I would have a better chance of doing it au naturale if I am in better shape
- I just don't look hot in a bikini right now. You're shocked right?
- Want to start riding horses again, and right now it's just not fair to those poor things
- Play better ice hockey. (okay I know it's possible I'm just as crappy with a skinnier body but I should at least have better stamina)
- Becca's wedding is in a month, and I'd rather not be the heaviest I've ever been in a bazillion pictures

So I started on Medifast Sunday. I figured something that doctors support and helped Coach Freidgen (Maryland Football gigantor) lose 100 pounds was worth a shot. The first 3 days were MISERABLE as my body transferred from burning all the carbs I usually eat to burning fat. I faltered the second day, we went to softball and the hot dogs and nachos were too much. But I threw half the nachos away, so that's a bonus.

So I'm still going (day 6 already). I'm going to say my starting weight is X. I didn't weight myself until Tuesday but I figure I couldn't really have lost much since Sunday (uh nacho disaster?) As of last night, I was down 10 pounds. But I'll give that a +/- 3 pounds cause everyone's weight fluctuates a bunch during the day.

But oh cheese and crackers I do miss you so................

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

E-man and his Vacuum

We already know the boy likes to clean. Brooms, mops, swiffers, now he's into washing dishes with you, etc. But he especially loves the vacuum...

(Back story: Evan was born on a Tuesday morning. That evening I sent Matt out shopping at Kohl's because I had a 30% off coupon. We needed a new vacuum and the coupon expired that day. I mean, we saved like $80! His mom called to see how the new baby was, and he says "Fine I guess, I'm in line to buy a vacuum". So this makes me think hard about what household thing we should buy on the day our next child is born. It seems to make a large impact.)

...and our vacuum is big and heavy and he's always trying to pull it down on his head. So we finally bought the miniature one. It's a Dirt Devil, makes noise, has the foot release, a front light, and actually sucks up some dirt too. He played with it the entire first day. Here we are vacuuming together.