Allllllllriiiiight....Just a few pictures

Ok, but that's it. Here are a couple of recent photos of my little ones.

Really? You're back?

Yeah, I'm back. And I'm really not sure why. I just happened to look at my "Favorites" and I saw my blog. "Wow, it's been a long time" I thought to myself. "Maybe I should take a look at it for a moment." So I did.

My last post was in April 2009. Wow, it's now November 2010. It really HAS been a long time. So, what have I been doing exactly?

- Being a Mom to two very active kids
- Working full time
- Playing on Facebook during my downtime
- Eating way too much

My kids are getting older right before my very eyes. My son is 3 and my daughter will be 2 in January. They can be the best of friends and they can be the most bitter of enemies. Usually they're very good, though. But, they're very active at this age and it's a lot of work to run around after them...even if they are very good playmates. I think my being 42 and not being as quick as I once was might have something to do with it.

The working thing is tough. I'm the sole breadwinner at the moment, waiting for Mike to FINALLY finish school and get a job as a nurse. But, I don't want to push. He's worked his ass off for over two years and even though he has just one more class to complete, he's pretty much burnt out. I will wait for the perfect moment to start really nagging him. Besides, I'm pretty sure we'll be going through a round of layoffs at work and I'm wondering if I'll be spared this one. If not, then Mike is REALLY going to have to step up to the plate!

Now, the FB thing NEEDS to stop. It's gotten out of control and I know this. I only wish that I could have come up with the idea so that I could be rich enough to move out of this dump and have more than one bathroom and more than one bedroom for my kids. But I digress...

Yeah, I'm eating too much. I know this. I know what I need to do to stop, but I haven't found the motivation to do anything about it. I don't really know what's going on in my head, but I know I need to stop. Oh, did I mention that I'm paying for Weight Watchers and two gym memberships? Yeah. It's true. I love to shovel money down the toilet. Maybe after the holidays I'll do something about this...

Well, I am pretty sure I won't be posting any time soon. Who knows. Maybe I'll get off Facebook and start blogging regularly again...

Nah...

Easter Fun

So I thought it might be fun to make Easter baskets for the kids. You know, buy some cheap-o little toys and a little bit of candy and those plastic eggs to put the candy in. Well, here's a rule that I know well, but must ignore when I get to the store. NEVER go shopping when you're hungry. You'll end up buying way too much crap and regretting what you bought. That's what happened to me tonight as I was making the kids' baskets.

A couple of weeks ago, Shannon and I went to my favorite store Target (see old post)and hit their Easter aisle. It would have been in my best interest to have one of those babies who had little tolerance for shopping; but I have the best baby in the world who loves to sleep when Mommy goes shopping. So, I went up and down the aisles and threw bags upon bags of candy in my cart. Tonight, as I was putting together the Easter baskets, I noticed that I bought the following:

2 @ 4-packs of Cadbury Creme Eggs
2 @ 4-packs of Reeses Chocolate & Peanut Butter bunnies
2 Hershey solid chocolate bunnies
4 bags of assorted jelly beans (Starburst, Lifesaver, Jelly Belly Coldstone Creamery flavor and Jelly Belly Kids Mix)
1 package of 8 Reeses Peanut Butter eggs
1 package of Mini bar variety pack (Snickers, Milky Way, Twix, 3 Musketeers)

I have 2 kids. One of which is only 10 weeks old and can not and should not eat Jelly Beans or Chocolate bunnies. The other one should not and could not eat a variety pack of mini bars and peanut butter eggs. Now, who do you think is going to eat the above? Bingo.

Mommy.

Mommy is supposed to be following Weight Watchers. Mommy is doing superbly on Weight Watchers. But, deep in the back of Mommy's mind, she knew what she was doing and Mommy bought what SHE likes. Mommy is not tracking her points this weekend. Absolutely not.

Now, looking at this pile of candy almost made me sick to my stomach. But, it didn't stop me from sampling each package. I'd put some jelly beans in the plastic eggs and put some jelly beans in my mouth. I'd put one chocolate and peanut butter bunny in Shannon's basket and put one chocolate and peanut butter bunny in my mouth. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

I feel like total and utter crap right now. AND, I still have a crapload of candy left. What will I do come Monday when I'm back to tracking my points? I hate throwing things away, but I seriously can't keep this candy in my house. It will taunt me. It will call my name. And I will cave. As usual. This is why I'm always on Weight Watchers.

WW update

So, I'm down another 2.8 pounds which brings me to 12.4. I'm 5 lbs. away from my prepregnancy weight and I should hopefully hit that before I return to work on April 27th. I've also started exercising again and did surprisingly well at my Step class on Monday night, considering I hadn't worked out since sometime in January. So, all in all, things are looking up. However, Easter is Sunday and I'm pretty sure I will not be following the WW plan much this weekend. Well, I know that I won't be following the plan since I bought a bunch of Easter candy for the "kids", which really means Me. I really can't justify giving my 21 month old son Cadbury Creme Eggs, Reeses Peanut Butter eggs and an assorted variety of jelly beans. I really shouldn't go to Target when I haven't eaten. Bad Kim. And, on top of that, I'm baking a cake for dessert on Sunday to bring over Nana Maureen's house. And me and cake are like black and white. We're inseparable. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy these delicious food items and come Monday, I'll go right back to the Plan. That's just the way my life will be until I hit my Lifetime goal...12 pounds down, 26 to go.

Visit to the Easter Bunny

I took Devin and Shannon to see the Easter Bunny on Thursday. I dressed them up in their Easter outfits and hoped and prayed that Devin would not scream his head off as I placed him on the Bunny's lap. It was a success. Once I get my new all in one printer/scanner/copier up and running, I'll scan the actual picture taken at the Mall, but here are a couple that I snapped on my own. And a couple of Shannon in her Easter dress.

Update

So, I haven't blogged in a while. I don't really have a reason, but I thought I should update you on what's been happening. In no particular order, here's what's been going on since I last posted:

1. We got a new laptop. It's an HP Pavillion and it ROCKS. We ordered directly from HP and we customized it to our liking. I ordered some crazy software and I hope to be able to create some amazing pictures with Photoshop. I got this other software called Adobe Elements which is for enhancing movies, so once I get up to speed on that, I'll post some videos (hopefully).

2. With the new laptop, I've been able to get onto iTunes. For those of you who know me, you must understand how difficult it's been to NOT be able to order new music. I was using my work laptop which wouldn't allow me to get onto iTunes and it's been a year or more since I've been able to update my iPod. Now, I have over 6000 songs on my iPod, so it hasn't been HORRIBLE, but it would have been nice to listen to something new once in a while. And now, I can happily say I can do that!! Last night I ordered a bunch of new stuff and I'm looking forward to getting some more!! YAY me!

3. I am in love with my son. Yes, it's true! :) In all seriousness, this maternity leave has enabled me to get closer to my 21 month old son. I am bonding with my daughter, but I'm also getting so much closer to Devin. I'm probably biased when I say this, but he is such a good kid. He's generally very happy and he's got my sense of humor. The kid cracks me up!! He's getting better and better with his vocabulary, although it's still a bit hard to understand him. He's improved by leaps and bounds, though. And he's so damn cute!!

4. My daughter is the best baby. Ever. I thought Devin was easy, but Shannon wins this hands down. She slept through the night basically from day one, but I would wake her up for feedings. Now I let her go through and she is fine. She doesn't really cry much either. She is smiling and cooing and it melts my heart. I love her so much, it makes me cry! I know I'm being emotional, but I can't help it.
She's just awesome. Enough said.

5. I've lost 9.6 lbs. since joining Weight Watchers 5 weeks ago. I'm down 25 lbs. from right before I had the baby. I'm also very close to my prepregnancy weight and hopefully will get there before I return to work in 3 weeks. (Ugh.) My goal is 30 lbs. away, but I'm not stressing that. I'm making small goals for myself and will get there eventually. Weight Watchers is my friend. HA! I plan on returning to the gym tomorrow and would have gone sooner if my knee hadn't been acting up. I'm hoping I don't have the same knees as my Dad who has had a knee replacement on one knee and is due for another one on the other knee. I am much more active than him, so I'm hoping it's just a fluke thing. Time will tell.

6. Having 2 kids is definitely challenging, but I'm getting better at it. At first, I was so afraid to leave the house with both of them, but I've overcome my fear. We got a double stroller and it's pretty cool. I try to get out of the house everyday and thanks to friends who have kids, I am able to attend playdates. (Thank you Deb!!) And in the next three weeks before I return to work, I'd like to go to more parks/playgrounds with Devijn to get him to run around and play. It's been too chilly/rainy for me, so I haven't done much of that. I'm hoping the weather will cooperate for me before I have to head back to work.

7. I'm finally nursing like a champ. It took me 6 weeks of sheer hell, but I got it down. I have to thank the LC's at the Breastfeeding Support Group at South Shore Hospital. They were amazing and worked with me each and everyday to get Shannon to latch on. Now we're good to go and it's been great. I may breastfeed for longer than I anticipated. I will play that by ear once I get back to work.

8. Work is the next thing on the agenda. I'm ready to go, but will miss my buddy Devin. He's a great kid and it's been so fun to spend time with him the past 2.5 months. But, we'll have our weekends and my "work at home Monday". I put that in quotes because "work" is the one that that doesn't get done on Mondays.

That's about it on the "what's been going on with you, Kim" front. Easter is next week and Shannon's Christening is the week after that. Devin's Christening was 5 months after he was born and I just barely made that. And I never seemed to lose that babyweight with him either. This time around, I've got Shannon's Christening within 3 months of her birth, I'm losing the weight and I'm handling things so much more effectively than before. I am so much more on the ball with Shannon than I was with Devin. It's so funny to think how difficult it was to get out of the house with one child. Now, that's cake! I am a pro! When it's just Shannon and me, I can do ANYTHING.

Ok, I think this post is done. It's way too long. I didn't think I had much to say, but I guess I was wrong!

Addendum to the "I'm Such an Idiot" Post

I thought I'd follow up with some additional information regarding my previous post.

1. I burned my right thumb the next day when I toasted an english muffin due to residual chocolate fudge topping that was stuck in the toaster.
2. I actually have 10 blisters on my left hand, not 7 as originally thought.
3. There's a setting on my toaster for "Pastry" that I never noticed before. I'm pretty sure that's why I burned myself so many times... This leads me to my final thought:
4. The title of my previous post "I'm such an idiot" is definitely apropos.