Weight

Today I woke up with a little challenge, I'm not feeling so hot, it's not that I feel horrible but I lost my voice completely which has resulted in exhaustion here at work trying to answer questions. I didn't want to miss work though so I figured I would tough my way through it. Not only is is pay processing week following a major storm but it is also the first day of the my new weight watchers session.

I thought I was going to start this session with an even number but it didn't work out that way and I'm okay with that. I lost another 2 pounds this week bringing my total weight loss to 29 pounds. I'm only supposed to lose no more than 2 pounds a week so I was right on track but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really hoping this week was going to be my 30. Oh well it gives me something to shoot for this week. Even more important to me than the 30 pound loss is I'm almost back to my lowest point in my pregnancy weight. With Jakub I lost weight, about 10 pounds to be exact and I had seen a number I hadn't seen in a long time, which we all know that was only for the short term, no I'll be seeing numbers that I don't believe I have seen since moving to Pennsylvania.

These past 3 and a half years I have given up most everything I have wanted to give to Jakub and I always had the Mom guilt of having to work and raise my child but recently I have decided that this is about me right now so I might be more selfish right now sneaking off to the gym but I also know this will make for a longer life for myself and easier to do a lot of stuff I may not have been able to do if I didn't get rid of the extra weight.

Snow

I must say it was so excited to actually get snow today!!

I woke up when my alarm (aka Jakub) went off and looked outside and only saw rain, I thought well typical Pennsylvania, say we'll get snow and it looks like we'll just be getting more rain so I got ready and headed to the gym. Half way through my work out I looked outside and there was the much anticipated snow! I was so excited. I actually had to use my bare hand to scrape off the snow from the back window before leaving the gym.

I had a few errands to run before heading home but one of my stops included Target to my surprise the bread wasn't completely taken off the shelves although I gave in and purchased a loaf myself. I truly didn't have any bread though.

When I got home it was pretty much time for Jakub's nap so I put him down and got some much needed catch up time with my bestie, an hour and a half later, little man was up and I wasn't completely done talking but my family told me otherwise.

The power was an issue all afternoon, it would go off frequently for a few seconds at a time so it literally took 3 hours to dry one load of laundry. It seems like everything is back on track though and hopefully I can get a few more loads done before bed. I also got caught up on cleaning out a cupboard. I must say that felt pretty good.

Shanon took Jakub outside while I was working on the kitchen and it got my thinking, what the heck am I doing, I'm going outside to play outside with the boys. We had a huge snowball fight and it was so much fun, I even got tackled in the snow which was equally fun, we all had a good laugh before heading in to warm up.

Shanon and I decided it seems like a perfect night for pizza so I said I would order online, I noticed Papa John's only charged $2 for delivery so we decided that was a deal, it meant we didn't have to clean off the car or worry about the roads. An hour later the pizza was here.

After dinner I said to Jakub do you want to go back outside to play, he said yes so we headed back out for another half hour.

It sure has been a great day.

Catching Up

This past Monday ended my first session of weight watchers and I'm over the moon happy with a total weight loss of 27 pounds. With the weight loss I am now down one more point for food so now I can eat a total of 34 points a day. The good news is this is easier then ever right now! I had a really hard time going from 36 to 35 points so I was dreading losing another point but so far so good it's not even a challenge I'm hoping it continues because it's only Thursday! The next session starts on Halloween which is probably going to work out well with the added temptations. I'm finding that the gym or walking has been a huge help because I don't want to eat junk to mess that up. I have about 6 more pounds to go before I hit a major milestone for myself.

Halloween this year has been over the top exciting for Jakub. He is so excited about it. Today is his preschools Halloween parade and my supervisor was nice enough to let me come into work late so I can see it. I can hardly wait to see his smiling face beam in his costume. It's raining right now so we'll see about actual trick or treating tonight, it's not looking so good. Jakub said on Tuesday his preschool went through a corn maze in the cafeteria and he had to search for his pumpkin then he is telling me how much he wants to carve a jack o lantern to not to mention I would like to roast some pumpkin seeds, yummy!! Jakub and I went for a walk Tuesday evening and the entire time he wanted to talk about different things associated with Halloween like pumpkins, bats, witches, etc. It was cute.

In other news my my anticipated iPhone 4S should be arriving at my house today, I'm going to leave a note with FedEx to drop it at my neighbors house she said she would be happy to get that for me. I'm so thankful we have a good neighbor. Well the little man is stirring so I've got to wrap this up and hit the shower. Off to Jakub's Halloween Parade :) Pics to follow later.

Applefest

Today was an over the top great day!! We had such a nice family day I'm excited to share with all!

Friday night Shanon and I decided we were going to go to Biglerville for the annual Apple festival. I told Shanon that I wanted to get up, hit water aerobics then we can head to Applefest. He said well we should probably go early so with some complaint I agreed. We decided to let Jakub have a sleep over with us Friday night so of course Shanon and I didn't sleep and the lil man was up at 6! Needless to say I was tuckered out early today!

So we left for Applefest at 7 am and got there a few minutes after 8 when it opened. There isn't a whole lot to do there it's mostly vendors selling any kind of apple whatever you want and then it's a huge craft fair as well. We had fun eating our way and browsing at all the crafts. We took about 2 hours to go through it.

Coming back out the line of people waiting to get it was probably a good 50 people deep so we got there at the perfect time. We didn't have any traffic on the drive in either but on the way out it was miles and miles of cars backed up trying to get to the parking lot! It sure was a beautiful day though. Below are some pictures from Applefest.

 On the way to Applefest we saw a sign advertising a corn maize, I had told Shanon for years now that I wanted to do one so he said maybe on the way home we could do it so after applefest that is where we headed.

 Before entering the maze, we were told that the back of it is a little muddy. We said we should be fine but we have been having tons of rain the last month of so, so we figured it would be muddy, I must say we weren't prepared for how muddy it was!! Take a look at my shoes and pants below, Shanon's shoes above aren't much better!!

 It took us about 40 minutes to make our way through the maze so we were pretty proud of ourselves considering it takes most people an hour to an hour and a half. After the maze they had a corn box (instead of a sandbox) for kids to play in. I've got to say I liked it better than sand and Jakub had a lot of fun in there as well. They also had a hay ride which took us to a pumpkin patch where we could pick out pumpkins. On the hayride Jakub says to me Mommy, I have corn in my shoe can you get it out. It made me laugh, just like a sand box corn got in his shoe guess that was better then sand. Below is what Jakub picked out!! He really broke the bank with it too. The pumpkins were $.50 a pound Jakub's pumpkin ended up costing us all of $1.22, Shanon and I had a pretty good laugh about that.

 Jakub wasn't ready to leave though and they still had several other activities he wanted to do but he had a hair cut to get to so we figured we better call it a day. Shanon and I needed to get a shower, before his hair cut, because of all the mud! So we rushed home, took off all the muddy clothes shoes and socks and we each grabbed a quick shower. As soon as we were dressed we rushed out the door for Jakub's hair cut, below is a picture of the new cut!

We finished out the day with some Halloween decorating outside, blowing bubbles then we headed to Wegmans for some pizza and grocery shopping. Needless to say I'm beat!!!!!

Weight

For me my weight has always been a struggle. I have a sweet tooth, like most people but I've also learned that I am a stress eater. As a result I have hit my all time highest weight ever! I was starting to have medical issues including problems with my hip so I finally have started to do something about it. I joined weight watchers.

A couple of weeks ago we had a meeting that hit home and really has been a good reflection back for me. The question was posed why did you join weight watchers and you didn't have to give an answer you could just think of it too and one person said health issues, I had to shake my head yes for this, another person said pictures and I had to shake my head for this too but there are many other reasons why I joined as well.

I keep thinking about pictures being such a motivating factor. Earlier in the spring Shanon took some pictures of Jakub and I and I thought this can't be me, I'm not this large because I didn't see myself that large looking in the mirror but truly I was!! So in May I joined weight watchers and to date I have lost 25 plus pounds. Family and friends are starting to notice and I'm getting some great feedback, however, pictures are still an issue!!

Jakub and I went home for a week a few weeks ago and we went to the beach, my Dad took a picture of Jakub and I and I thought for once I'll be happy with the picture, so when I got home and looked at it I still can't help but be disappointed because I'm still not looking like I thought that I looked. Sure clothes are bigger and I can even move down a size but it's so shocking to see pictures and still not be happy!!

Another thing we talked about was the mind. People would complain oh weight watchers doesn't help because I've joined and only lost 20 pounds and can't loose any more. Well, I'm thankful that my mind is in the right place because I have a definite goal in mind and I'm not stopping until I lose everything I want to lose. This does go to prove how powerful the mind is though!!

I've been so fortunate to have such supportive people in my life and am getting itchy for the end of this road. I'm really close to my first major goal and once that happens nothing will hold me back!

Flood

It seems as if the "Great Flood of 2011" has been consuming our lives for the past 48 hours. It started this week with a little bit of rain by mid week we had a LOT of rain. By Wednesday meetings were called in my office and it was time to plan in case the flood happened. Thursday morning we woke up and didn't get word that Harrisburg was closed so Shanon and I showered as usual, got our lunches together, got Jakub out of bed and got ready to go, I got the phone call about 6:20 that all Non Essential State employees were authorized not to report to work. By midday Thursday we also got word that the office would be shut down today as well. I was so relieved it has been nice to be home with the family the last two days glued to the TV in between Jakub's shows trying to find out when the river was going to crest.

Now you may be wondering how we are doing through all of this, we are doing GREAT!! My area wasn't hit very hard at all, we got the rain but we sure didn't get the flooding like Harrisburg and Hershey got. I would say the extent to water accumulating was on the golf course. We overlook a golf course which has a sand trap, the sand trap is now a water hole but even that was has been receding and probably by the end of the weekend it should be a sand trap again.

Poor Hershey though, it was hit so hard that the park is unable to open this weekend, the roads surrounding the park remain closed and I've never seen anything like it to put things in perspective here is a picture from inside the park:



I feel so fortunate that we have made it through this without any problems.

A good friend of mine wasn't so lucky though. She got a call at work on Wednesday with the news that her basement was rapidly filling with water so she rushed home to save what she could but it was too late it was already 8 inches deep. I ran into her this evening and she shared some of her basement pictures and was shocked at how much she lost, she lost her girls toys (they are 8), her washer and dryer, Christmas decorations and the list goes on and on. She also found out rather quickly yesterday that the mess wasn't just the rain water is was actually raw sewage that backed up into her house. Thankfully she has flood insurance and a company is coming Sunday to do the cleaning. She even had a puddle of water in her dryer!! I couldn't imagine.

On brighter news I'll be heading to Oceanside on Wednesday and can hardly wait. Jakub and  I will be traveling alone so I hope for smooth sailing but I'm anxious to get home to see my parents and my grandpa. He recently suffered a fall and broke his pelvis, he is doing pretty well with his recovery but it could be a long process, he isn't getting any younger, in fact he is 97!!

Garden

This weekend was the weekend, Jakub and I finally got our garden planted.

We started our plot looking like this:

With some fun in between:

 and some hard work:

 Of course we couldn't forget the water:

It was a really hot day, so it was fun spraying Jakub with the hose! He enjoyed himself as well. We planted corn, zucchini, carrots, lettuce and green beans! With a little bit of luck I'm hoping we get some nice vegetables!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day

Sunday I woke up to a cute little boy that was standing in front of my with the sweetest smile and so I picked him up and put him in bed and Shanon said to him, tell Mommy Happy Mother's Day so he did and then ran to the living room to get my present. Jakub got me a necklace for my Troll Beads and a new bead. He loves looking through the beads at the store so I know he took the time to pick something special out.

Then the boys ran and got me a hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich which was just enough time to read the Sunday ads and when the got home and after we ate we decided to better get a move on because we had lunch reservations at PF Changs. I must say that is one of my favorite restaurants! After lunch we decided to take a stroll around the mall because PF Changs is about an hour away for us so we did some shopping and headed home.

On the way out of the mall we got rear ended, thankfully no one was hurt and it didn't do any damage so we just headed on our way.

Sunday night we picked up a pizza and took it over to my mother in laws house and spent a little bit of time there before heading back home. I can't say the day was overly eventful but it was a nice day!

Ice Skating

Well last night at ice skating it happened. Jakub is in the very first beginners class and so his class was particularly small yesterday, the class consisted of 4 kids and me and two other mothers because our kids won't skate without us so we were about to start class and I was talking to the two other Mom's and Jakub's teacher said we can go, we don't have to be on the ice, they will be fine without you so we all looked at each other and headed off the ice! Jakub did FANTASTIC!!!!! I think he skates better without me! I told his teacher that I think I'm done with skating lessons which is fine with me because in all honesty, I know how to skate so it's somewhat boring for me standing around waiting for Jakub to skate wherever he wants to go. I always try to get a game of tag going with him but he doesn't seem to have the interest and it's hard because he can't keep up. I was so proud of how he excelled! He loved skating on his own he even practiced the entire extra half hour so next Monday I guess I will not be lacing up the skates!

The weekend

Jakub’s new session of ice skating started last night. We had decided to move him from the Saturday morning classes to the Monday evening classes because we thought the little girl he likes may night take Monday night classes which would mean Jakub would focus and so would the little girl. Turns out I was wrong she takes both Saturday and Monday lessons. I have to say last night was a pretty good night though, his teach said that he has really improved since even Saturday. I have to say that I do attribute it to this little girl he likes. He loves to chase her around and she likes to chase him too! I think things worked out for the better though because Shanon was feeling pretty bad that we were taking Jakub away from his new friend so now he doesn’t feel bad at all because she is there! By the way he now has two girls chasing after him!! I’m in such trouble!

The weekend was also very exciting! We had two Hershey Bears hockey games so Saturday night was ham shoot night, all fans in attendance were invited down on the ice after the game to shoot the puck at a cut out board and if you get the puck through the hole you win a ham. Jakub won a ham! He was so excited. Shanon and I decided that is what we would have for lunch on Sunday so I cooked that up and as we were finishing our lunch Jakub says “Mommy, thank you for making this dinner, it was the best dinner I’ve ever had!” Let me just say I was Mommy mush after that!! Then we all laid down for a nap, after we woke up it was time to head to the hockey game so back to Hershey we went. It was fan appreciation night that night and they handed us a scratch off as we walked in the door. Jakub’s scratch off won us a $25 gift card to Isaac’s, a local restaurant. Then after the game each player signed a stick and passed it out to people in the crowd, Jakub got a stick! He was soooooo excited, it just made his evening!

After we got home it was time to call my parents for my weekly chat. Jakub wanted to chat so he would chat then give the phone back on and off during the course of the conversation the last time he talked to my mom he was so sweet and said “Mammy (my mom), My Mommy has the prettiest blue eyes!” Once again I was Mommy mush!

I feel so blessed to have Jakub as my little boy every day is such an exciting day with him and I love watching him grow up and develop into such a polite and well behaved (most of the time) young man! I must say his father and I fall more and more in love with him as the days go on!

P.s. I believe I forgot to mention that Jakub was full of himself Saturday night and yes that's a pull up on his head, which was his idea!!


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Exciting Day!!

Today we finally got some good news! Shanon got a promotion!!! It is looking like April 25th will be a day of new beginnings! I start my new job that day and Shanon is shooting for that date as his effective date. As time ticks on I’m getting more and more excited about going to back the Liquor Control Board! Now we need to keep our fingers crossed that the Governor isn’t successful in selling off that state agency. One of the major advantages is we will get off work at 4!! It will be so nice to be home with our peanut earlier in the day and we’ll be able to feel like we have an evening with him, not to mention, home an hour earlier means we get to play an hour earlier!!







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Still Trying to Recover...

For those of you who don’t know, on August 15, 2010 our neighbor, whom we are attached to, started accidently started a fire! He came home drunk from a bar down the street, smoked a cigarette and flicked it onto his deck into a Styrofoam ice cream container. At 3:30 in the morning we were awoken by our neighbors pounding on the door, ringer our door bell, yelling for us to get out of our house, grab the baby, your house is on fire! Without thinking I grabbed Jakub, his booboo (blanket) and we stormed out of the house. We didn’t even grab our shoes, car keys or wallets. Thankfully, everyone in the building, including pets, made it out alright, unfortunately we are still dealing with the aftermath.
Before moving back home we painted and had some areas painted of the house, recently I noticed in the kitchen around the light fixture a new water spot and I also have one around a light switch in the laundry room. I am hoping this gets squared away soon but with such high ceilings in the kitchen it’s going to be a challenge to repaint that part of the kitchen.

Every 45 days we get a letter from his insurance company telling us the status of the claim and it basically says “To make a final decision, we are waiting on all parties’ property damage estimates before being able to assess each of the party’s losses” so I finally decided I have no idea what that means. Since we paid for everything out of pocket I called my insurance agent and he said to give them a call. I called the guys insurance company and they told me that the insured is under insured (which we knew) but they had sent an adjustor out to the house back in August and he estimated our damages to be $2200 but then was told we more than likely won’t get close to that money because of him being under insured. We have put far more into the house then $2200 so we are very disappointed to find out we probably won’t even be getting that back! Especially since we were displaced until Christmas Eve!

Moving past this has been such a struggle for me, I have new fears that I have never had before and sometimes falling asleep at night is a challenge not to mention I’m so jumpy but I can honestly say it is getting easier and easier to be at home. Going to bed isn’t such a struggle although I wake up with the slightest noise and it will get the heart pounding a little but I’m choosing not to live in fear anymore!

Ice Skating

This morning was supposed to be another ice skating lesson and we went although Jakub didn't have much of a lesson. There is a little girl that takes lessons at the same time we do, however, she is in a higher level of lessons so she has a different coach, we'll this seemed to be a problem for my little man. It seems like he has a little crush going because he spent most of the lesson watching her class instead of practicing what he needed to practice! This little girl is adorable though, she tries to help Jakub learn to skate before lessons and will usually come back and see him after lessons too so it's not like it's a girl he found out of no where. After class Jakub's coach said to me that we are in big trouble! If he is girl crazy now she can only imagine what's going to happen when he gets older. She said he knows he is cute too! Next session we are changing our time to Monday night! I'm sure her parents will be happy about our move!

Jakub has also had a few good lines lately. One of my favorites came the other night at dinner when he told us in the olden days! Haha! I'm not sure what he knows about the olden days but that was pretty funny. The other one he uses on a regular basis "when I was a baby" fill in the blank because you know, he is so old now!

Sunday and Monday

Sunday:

Sunday started off to be a great morning. We had decided to skip church this week (bad decision) in order to spend some time working on the house. I was just finishing up the dishes when I realized Jakub hasn't made a peep in about 3 to 5 minutes so I decided I better go check on him. I checked his bedroom he wasn't there, checked his bathroom, not there, checked our bathroom, not there checked the other side of our bed and there he is with a bottle of spray wood cleaner that is now all over our room. He had sprayed the wall, blinds, computer, printer, TV, bed and a few pairs of Shanon's pants it was such a mess and so hard to clean up. Needless to say Jakub got in major trouble! He lost his hockey sticks, gloves and helmet for the entire day and then he also wouldn't let him wear anything hockey related. He was a stinker about that too. After Shanon put in him his polo shirt he went into his room and found moon dough and smeared it all over his shirt in hopes that he wouldn't have to continue to wear the shirt, needless to say we wiped the moon dough off and he still wore the shirt. At the end of the day he got his hockey stuff back and he was a happy camper!

Monday:

We had a much better day but when we got to his Nana's house he realized that the tag had fallen off of boo boo (his blanket) so he was a little disappointed about that. After work we headed to Olly's for kids and went shoe shopping. This is one of the neatest places for children! They have a choo choo train where the kids stand on and it digitally measures his foot, that way it is an accurate measurement of his foot and then they fit him with the shoes. Jakub found 2 pairs he really liked and sandles, he will be set for a while! The biggest surprise to us is he is already a size 9! He is growning way too fast! When we got home I found the tag to his boo boo and I was able to sew it back on and send our little man off to bed!

Ice Skating

As you know Jakub LOVES hockey!! So the first logical step to his future hockey career (if he chooses) is to learn how to ice skate! This week was week 4 of his skating lessons and he is doing so well. I am on the ice with him trying to help him along since he is only a little over 3 and he is doing so well! He can now get up off the ice on his own, skate and do little jumps! His teacher is so good with him she came over and was talking to me at the end of class and asked me again how old is he, I told her that he just turned 3 in January and she said she knew he was one of the youngest but he is doing so well. She said he is finally starting to get it and is able to move his feet, she said one of these lessons it's just going to click with him and he'll take off! She then started talking to someone else and a few minutes later I saw her talking to Shanon and basically told him the same thing, I was so impressed that she took the time to not only talk to me but to get talk to Shanon who isn't even on the ice! It is so exciting to see him in sort of the second phase of his passion, the first phase has been him continuously playing hockey where ever we go! He gets comments every time we go out because he won't leave the house without his hockey stick and hockey gloves. After he gets a little better on the ice he is able to take a learn to play hockey class!

It's been a long time....

Once again, it has been a long time since I've posted. I'm going to do my best to keep this up to date. Jakub is growing and growing, it's hard to believe he is 3 already! Shanon and I are so in love with our little boy and are enjoying every moment with him. Every day he has us laughing at the things he comes up with. He has such a passon for hockey it's amazing and I hope he continues with this passon because we have been enjoying the stages that come with it. Currently he is in his 3 week of learn to skate. The kids are adorable that are also taking lessons, Monday night he had a make up class and this little boy was a really good skater and he decided he was going to help teach Jakub how to skate, this little boy is 4 and was decked all out in hockey gear! At this skating lesson his Nana (Shanon's Mom) came to watch and Jakub was enjoying showing her how well he can skate on his own and he even was doing little jumps, he's growing too fast!

Yesterday turned into a crazy day for me, I haven't been feeling well since Shanon's grandmothers funeral last week so I had a doctor appointment and it turns out that I had conguntivis in both eyes and a sinus infection. Sinus infections have been happening more and more every year so the doctor sent me for a CT Scan after my appointment. I'm waiting for those results but if I had to guess my sinus cavities are fine I think I probably need to go to an allergist to get to the bottom of what all I'm now allergic to. I never had problems with my sinuses in California, it's only since we've moved to Pennsylvania that I've had a problem.

I'm hoping to get some pictures up and I'm going to do my best to keep this up to date!