I'm down to 170!! That's 30 pounds lost!!! I've walked 20 miles this week. No bike rides though.
Thanks for all the nice comments on previous post :o)

We went to Marketfest last night with Rob, Barb, Brooke & Dylan. They came over beforehand and we hung out for a bit and grilled some steaks. We had some pretty good chow at Marketfest too! We split a gyro, some cookies and I had some cotton candy! Jack wouldn't even try the cotton candy :/ Jack did conquer one of his many fears though! He's only been in one of those bounce house type things once and he didn't stay in long and hasn't gone in one since. It was probably a year ago when he was in one. Whenever we see one he says he wants to go in but once we pay and get his shoes off he changes his mind. There were 4 of them at Marketfest last night. The first one we paid for him to get in and took his shoes off and he went in but came right back out :/ It was one of those really big slide things. Then a bit later he saw Brooke go in this princess castle type bouncer and he definitely wanted to go in and jump with her. We paid for him to get in and took his shoes off and......he went in and loved it!! He even started to get pissy when it was time to come out....ha! Right next to that one was another one but it was more like an adventure course type bouncy thing if that makes sense. You just kind of work your way through all these different blow up pieces. He didn't like that one as much but he went through it. Then he really wanted to go on the big blow up pirate ship next to that. That had a slide in it too and he climbed up and went down the slide a few times and was really having fun! It was cool to see him finally get in and have fun in those things :o)



Brooke and Keira had fun playing with Jack's baby stroller:



Keira has been taking like 4 and 5 steps regularly. She could totally walk but she drops to her knees if you stop holding her hand.
She likes walking to her brother :



She's also been in a booster seat for a few weeks now so no more highchair!!!

Yay I'm back down to 172!!
I've been meaning to post some comparison pics but I don't have very good examples so these will have to do:

( 28 pounds lighter! )

We had lots of fun at my uncle John's cabin. I wish it had been just a bit warmer but that's ok. We left Thursday at around noon and had hoped the kids would both nap the majority of the way there. Keira was out right away but Jack was too excited. He was just starting to doze off about an hour into our drive when we came upon some stand still traffic. That woke them both up :/ They were fine for about an hour or so but Keira was down right pissed off about still being in the car for the last bit of our drive. It didn't help that we missed a turn and added an hour onto our trip!

Once we got there Jack had lots of fun running all over and sitting on the dock and throwing rocks in. He was pretty anxious for Rob, Barb, Brooke & Dylan to get there. We hung out for a bit and then I started making shish kabobs. John was out biking when we arrived but got back shortly after. My mom, and Rob, Barb, Brooke & Dylan all arrived a couple of hour after us. Jack and Brooke had fun running around and wearing each other out.

We had planned on Jack and Brooke sleeping in the tent but it didn't pan out. They just kept each other awake long after they were both tired. Brooke kept yelling for Barb and we all ended up taking turns going out there and trying to get them to sleep. Eventually they just moved Brooke inside since Jack was already asleep. Keira slept pretty good for a while but once she did wake up it took a while to get her back to sleep. I think it was just because she wasn't used to sleeping in the pop up crib. She ended up sleeping with Jared and I. She's not used to that anymore either so it was a while before she finally got back to sleep :/

Friday morning my mom, Jared, Rob and John went golfing. Barb and I took the kids on a walk and then came back and had lunch and put the babies down for naps. Jack got to skip his nap that day but was pretty crabby in the evening so he for sure napped on Saturday. Jack, Brooke and I decided to go swimming but the water was pretty chilly. Jack was not interested in staying in the water for long but Brooke had fun.

That night we didn't even try to get the kids to sleep together. We put Jack in my bed and Jared moved out to the tent. Keira slept good until the neighbors started lighting off fireworks. She got back to sleep a little bit easier that night. Saturday was even better. I think it just took her a bit to get used to sleeping in the pop up crib and in a room she wasn't used to.

Saturday morning my mom, Barb and I went kayaking. It was really nice but I got a little sunburnt. It's been years since I went kayaking so my arms were a bit sore the next day. I saw a huge frog and some turtles!

When we got back we had lunch and then Jack and Keira had a nap. John, Rob, Barb, Brooke, my mom and I took a sauna and played in the water for a bit. Once the kids woke up we got ready and Rob, Barb, Brooke, Jack and I all went into to town to go to the really cool candy shop and get some chocolate and taffy. It was 80 degrees on our way back so I figured it was a good time to try to get Keira in the water. I put her suit on and brought her floaty turtle down to the water. She was not a fan! Too chilly. Ah well.....we tried.

Saturday night we let the kids (Brooke & Jack) stay up late to see the fireworks but sadly.....the display from our side of the lake wasn't that great. Jack liked what he saw though so that was good.

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast and packed up. We got on the road around noon and this time the kids slept much longer and I even napped too so that's cool :o)



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I gained 2 pounds the week before we went to the cabin...I think from Jack's birthday weekend. Who knows....maybe I was never 172 in the first place. Actually that's more likely than me gaining 2 pounds. My scale is a piece of shit and pisses me off. I never get the same reading consecutively. So I was at 174 and hoped to not gain any at the cabin but knew that it was a possibility. I wouldn't be exercising as much as normal and wouldn't be eating as healthy as normal. I weighed myself yesterday and I was still at 174!! Whoo hooo!! I'm back on track now though. Went for a 4 mile walk yesterday morning and again this morning and have been eating good. I did have some taffy last night though. I need to refrain from eating anymore until the weekend. The weekend is when I let myself go a little off course. This coming weekend is the kids' birthday party!

Keira woke up crying last night at around 1 and woke Jack up. She's had a tooth just under the gums for a few weeks now so I knew that's what could be bothering her. After trying a bit to get her to sleep I decided to give her some Motrin. It still took about a half hour to get her to sleep since it took a while for the Motrin to kick in. Jack needed a potty break in there too. Sheesh! This morning she had a tooth poking through on the top now. Finally! Her 3rd tooth. She'll be 1 in about a week and a half and only has 3 teeth!! I think Jack had about 10 at this age.

Have an awesome 4th of July everyone!!! We're leaving shortly to go to my uncle John's cabin in Hayward, WI. Won't be back until Sunday :o)

Yesterday we had a nice visit with Carole and Shelby since they won't be able to make it to the kids' party on the 11th. We hung out inside for a bit and then had fun kicking a ball around the front yard and then blowing bubbles.



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This morning Jack woke up to a big bunch of balloons in his room. He was pretty happy about that. Then he got to go on a scavenger hunt to find his presents. He really had fun with that! We'll definitely have to do that again.



opening his 1st and one of his favorite gifts
Sheriff from Cars

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Jared made us breakfast and then we got ready to head out for a nice long walk to the park for some play time and a picnic.



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Oh ya know....just strollin my baby around in my Diego undies

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My little man is 3 today!!!! Happy Birthday Jack!! :o)

So I have to recap all the way back to Thursday of last week! Thursday night we went up to Marketfest. It was like 88 degrees out but I wore Keira in the Mei Tai for a bit at first. After walking around a bit we got some chow and found a spot to sit. Jack wanted to get out of the stroller and dance to the music so I put Keira in the stroller for a bit. We had to wait a bit for the mini petting zoo because it wasn't set up yet. Jack was having fun running around with a few kids while we waited. He was sweating like crazy. Once they started bringing the ponies out for the pony rides he got a bit scared of them. Last year they had a slew of animals for the petting zoo but this year they only had chickens, a goose and some turtles. WTF?!?! So that was kind of disappointing. The chickens kept scrapping with eachother too and that scared Jack.

Keira had a blast sitting in the stroller and batting at Jack's balloon.



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Friday night we went to the Manitou Days Parade. Last year this parade was not a very big hit with Jack since he's scared of everything. Loud noises, clowns, bands.....you name it. I thought this year would be better. It was not. Not only was he still scared of all those things but so was his sister. Good times! We got a sweet spot but ended up both standing about 20 feet back bouncing both kids and trying to calm them down for about the first half of the parade :/ There were about 10 fire trucks all making loud noises at the start so that kicked things off nicely. Seriously....why 10?? 2 fire trucks would have been plenty. Then there's about 6 marching bands throughout that play music a little too loud for my kids' taste. A loud, hot, fire blasting hot air balloon, regular clowns, scary clowns, various costumes and even a man firing off a rifle. I was close to saying screw it and leaving. Fortunately the 2nd half of the parade was much better and the rowdy things were spaced further apart. We were able to stand at least near our spots for the 2nd half. Keira was content once I put her in the Mei Tai and Jack was ok as long as Jared was ready to pick him up at the drop of a hat. Oy. They were tossing shit loads of candy but Jack wouldn't go near the street. Brooke was gathering quite a bit of it up and even bringing some back to Jack every once in a while. Barb and Brooke put together a bag of candy for Jack too. He was pretty happy about that. We left just before the end and that's about the time it started raining. We weren't parked too far away and so we didn't get too wet. Hopefully next year goes better ;) He did seem to enjoy himself at parts and was talking about it for days afterwards and about how he had fun O_o

Saturday night we had Rob, Barb, Brooke & Dylan over for dinner. Rob grilled BBQ chicken on the grill. It was pretty tasty. We had originally planned on having Brooke sleep in Jack and Keira's room with them but it didn't really pan out. Keira was having a rough time getting to sleep and I think Brooke got a little scared by all her crying. She ended up sleeping downstairs with Barb and Dylan while Rob slept on the couch. Jack was so excited to have her sleep in his room so I think he was a little bummed when it didn't pan out. Maybe next time.

Sunday morning I strapped Keira in the Mei Tai and took Jack and Brooke for a walk. We stopped at my mom's so they could wish Papa Warren a Happy Father's Day. My mom took Rob golfing and once they got back we took my Mom and Warren out for brunch at Decoy's. Oh man did I eat a ton!! It was pretty tasty though. After brunch my mom and I went for about a 5 mile bike ride and then I went for another 5 miles by myself.

Jared got a cute video of Jack yesterday talking about the cars he wants for his Birthday. He's going to be 3 on Sunday!!!





they love hugging :o)

I've lost 5 pounds so far this week!!! That's 25 pounds in 7 weeks!!
I'm finally at a healthy BMI and only 6 pounds overweight and 15 pounds from my goal :o)
I'm really really liking that my clothes are getting baggier and baggier every day. I bought some new shorts a month ago or so and I can't wear them without a belt now.

I even had a cheeseburger, fries and mini donuts at Marketfest last night!

Jack and Keira and I went to a garge sale a bit ago. I got Keira a cute little pink rocking horse thing and Jack a "baby station". It's got a crib, bath tub and little high chair on the end of it. It makes noises too although I may take the batteries out ;)



Having fun taking care of 3 babies!



( giddyup )

I got Jack to go on the big potty without his little seat twice today! Yay for progress!! We went for a little bike ride with my mom this morning since I needed to get tabs for the car. We stopped at her house for a bit afterwards and Jack wouldn't use the potty there so he went in his pull-up :/ Hopefully he'll be willing to once he goes on ours without the little seat a few more times.

I've already walked over 8 miles this week! I walked 3.5 yesterday morning and Sunday morning and then last night we went for another walk that was just a little over a mile. I might take the kids for another bike ride this afternoon if it's nice out. I weighed myself this morning and have already lost a pound this week. Whooo hoooo!! I didn't do so good last week. I didn't lose any weight and didn't really get any exercise. It was rainy most of the week so we never left the house. The rest of this week is supposed to be scattered thunderstorms but hopefully I can get in some exercise here and there. The first 21 pounds were easy to lose without exercise but I think I need to step it up to lose these last 19. It'd be nice to be down to my goal weight by my Birthday which is the end of August.

Jack is going to be 3 in less than 2 weeks!!! He's getting excited for his Birthday. I still don't know what we're going to get him. We went to the dollar store yesterday and got some new Cars stickers for his potty charts, some floaty noodles, Clifford travel tooth brush and a Nemo floaty ring for our trip to the cabin next month. Then we went to Savers and I got him a bunch of clothes, some water shoes, myself some shorts, Chutes & Ladders and a Bob The Builder sleeping bag for the cabin trip. The other day Jack and I went to a 20+ neighborhood garage sale and scored lots of good stuff. Lets see if I can remember it all......a huge Mater (from Cars movie) that makes noises, Candy Land (Pooh version), a Thomas board game, a matching puzzle type game, some lace up boards, some clothes, a fishing game, some shoes for Keira, santa themed potato head and a grocery cart. I think that's it. He's been having lots of fun with all his new stuff. Especially Mater.

Anyone else watching Cake Boss? I'm obsessed with cake shows lately. Amazing Wedding Cakes being the other one I watch. Last night's episode of Cake Boss had a total biatch of a bride who came in to see her cake and then threw a tantrum because she didn't like it even though it's exactly what they discussed. Then she proceeded to squirt colored frosting all over it when he left the room to see if they had time to make her another one in time. He really didn't want to but did and she was unbelievably rude when he delivered it. She wouldn't even come out and look at it and say thank you. Good luck to the dude that married her!

I also checked out that new show about sextuplets. Hopefully they won't end up like John & Kate!

We had fun at Teddy Bear Park on Friday. It was a really nice day. My mom met us there and we had a picnic. Jack was having so much fun he didn't even want to stop playing to eat.

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Today was really hot so I filled up the kid's pool.




Keira was not a fan at first

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Jack has been saying "or what?" lately. As in, "are you gonna read this book to me or what?"

He's been using the big potty since yesterday. I'm pretty excited about this. It's actually one of those little seats that sits on the big potty. I'm hoping he'll be using public big potties soon! He finished his 2nd potty chart so we're going to Teddy Bear Park on Friday as a reward. I upped the sticker reward to entice him to use the big potty and it worked! I told him 5 stickers to pee on the big potty and 8 to poop! Well by noon yesterday he was about 1/3 of the way through his 3rd party chart so we had to scale back on the stickers. Now it's 3 for pee and 5 for poop. I haven't decided what we're going to do when he finishes this one yet. Maybe the Children's Museum or the Zoo. I'm just so glad that he's not scared of it anymore. He's even been all about taking his own pants and undies off and putting them back on. Last night I was putting Keira to bed and he got the stool out, put the little seat on the potty, went potty and then got dressed before I came back down! He had his undies on inside out but whatever. I was helping him yesterday morning and Keira must have been looking for us.......when we came out she was 1/3 of the way up the stairs! Yikes!! Time to start using that baby gate I guess.

Her favorite thing to do these days is tackle Jack. Sometimes he gets a little too rough and I have to separate them but she doesn't much care for that and cotinually goes after him. Usually I have a barracade set up to keep her in the living room but yesterday Jack had his train table out and all she wanted to do was come over and take the bridge off. When she wants to do something...there's no deterring her. So I had to set up a different barracade to keep her on one side of the living room and Jack and his train table on the other. She could peek over the train table cover and watch him but she couldn't reach anything and piss him off.



Eventually she got bored and went off to play with some toys :o)



Excited for bath time last night

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We've all been sick for about 2 weeks now. I'm so sick of it!! Enough already! We've gone through about 30 boxes of kleenex.
This marathon cold needs to wrap it up.

It's been rainy and dreary the last few days and I'm sick of it. We haven't left the house :( I think the rest of the week is supposed to be nice though.

I watched that new show Nurse Jackie last night. I dug it.
The first episode of Weeds was pretty good.
I'm excited for True Blood to start back up!
Rescue Me is bananas this season! Man I love that show.

I got cut by 2 people on lj in the last week. I'm not really all that surprised. I'm a crappy lj friend lately. Not really much I can do about it.

Keira is such a little booty shaker. She shakes her booty whenever she hears music. It's so cute. Yesterday she was really getting down to Poker Face. It was pretty funny. Jack is watching Dora and she keeps dancing whenever the music starts up. Jack's potty chart is made up of a bunch of circles and then like every 10 or so it's a square. Whenever he reaches a square he gets to watch a 1/2 hour show. I think this is a big part of why potty training has been going so well. Other than when he reaches a square...he doesn't watch much tv so it's a real treat. I need to put the squares further apart on his next potty chart now that I'm giving him more sickers per trip to the potty.


Whenever Keira is done eating and gets all cleaned up she's super happy just sitting in her highchair.



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Jeannie bikini

I tried the kids' swimsuits on them yesterday to make sure they fit before we go to the cabin in a few weeks.
Keira looked so cute in her little pink bikini!

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I need some new icons with my kids. I don't even recall the last time I had any made. Keira looks pretty young in all of them. I think this pic would make a good one. It's so hard to get good pics of the two of them!



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We stopped at a garage sale the other day and got Goldilocks and the Three Bears/Adventure Cottage and Little People Farm and Jack and Keira have been having so much fun with them! I really want to get the Busy Day Home for Keira for her birthday but I'm not sure yet what we're going to get her. We went shopping this weekend to get some ideas for both the kids for their upcoming birthdays. I got a pretty good size list of things for both of them. Just need to decide now what to get.
We decided their joint party will be July 11th. Keira will be getting a free cake from Kowalski's and Jack will be getting a Cars cake. We also decided there's so much bbqing in the summer...July especially...that grilling burgers/brats is out so we're going to do pizza instead. Not much else has been planned. We're not doing a theme or anything. Probably just hang out in the backyard.

I'm getting excited for the weekend of the 4th! We're going to my uncle John's cabin for a few days. We need to get a baby float thing for Keira. Jared even bought swim trunks! He hasn't been swimming as long as I've known him!

I lost 3 more pounds in the last week!
That's a total of 20 pounds in the last 5 weeks!!!
Whoooo hooooo!!!
And I had Cup 'N Cone and a piece of deliciously high calorie chocolate pie last night! Thank goodness I walked for 3.5 miles yesterday ;)


We're going to Brooke's Birthday party today. We need to leave in an hour. Ack! Gotta get ready!!

Alright....my update is long overdue.
Amy & Simon arrived late Wednesday the 20th. The kids had fun playing on the porch Thursday morning before Amy & Simon headed out to Teddy Bear Park with Erik's fam.



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Friday the 21st we went to the zoo and met Rob, Barb, Brooke and Dylan there.
We had lots of fun. I especially liked this baby orangutan.



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Saturday we went to a park and met Rob, Barb, Brooke & Dylan again. We also met up with my Aunt Cathy, my cousin's sons John and Will, my Uncle Gerry and Aunt Lisa and their kids Lucia, Liisa, Liv and Leif! We had lots of fun but I only got 1 pic :/



Saturday evening was Nan & Pop's 60th Wedding Anniversary party. We looked pretty nice all dressed up but I didn't get any pics :/ I was kind of a slacker with the photos at times. The party was in a banquet room at Jimmy's and then afterwards we all went back to Nan & Pop's for cake. Jack had so much fun playing with all the kids. We went back to Nan & Pop's on Sunday so he could play with them even more. My cousins Lucia, Liisa, Liv and Leif were all staying at Nan & Pop's for the weekend. Sunday they played and then all went to the park while Keira napped. Her first time napping in the pop-up crib! She went down easily.

Monday we went to Choo Choo Bob's since Jack filled up his potty chart!



Playing with Aunty Cathy

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Tuesday morning we went to the park and then Amy & Simon had to head to the airport :(
We'll see them again in August.
Jack would ask if they were here every time he woke up in the morning or from naps for a few days after they left.

My mom babysat for us Saturday night and took the kid out for a bike ride.
Keira's first bike ride! She wasn't too sure about it :P



Yesterday I took the kids to the beach and then DQ and then we stopped at my mom's for a quick visit.
She has this dancing flower pot thing that plays music. The kids love it and Keira shakes her booty to it :o)





The kids have had snotty noses the last few days. I'm so sick of wiping their noses! Fortunately they've both been sleeping well during this business.
Jack's doing awesome with potty training. He's in underwear whenever we're at home, pull-ups when we go out, and diapers at night. Unfortunately he only likes to use his little potty so he won't use big potties when we're out and about so he has to go in his pull-up :/
He did use the big potty once though and it was at Jimmy's at Nan & Pop's party! I was so proud of him!

Keira is so close to walking! She's been walking with her walker toy a bunch. I can't believe she will be 1 in a month and a half and Jack will be 3 in under a month!!

Phew! I think that about covers it! This post took forever.

I lost 4 more pounds in the last week.
That's 17 pounds in the last month!!!!!
My clothes have been falling off me =)

Hopefully at some point today I will do a proper update and upload the pics from our visit with Amy & Simon.

We went garage sale-ing yesterday morning and scored some good loot. 1 thing being a bigger toy organizer which launched me into an organizing frenzy. I even ended up organizing the kitchen cupboards!

Lucky me.
My period is back after a lovely 20 months without it. I guess that explains why I've been so tired and crabby.
Both kids have runny noses.