Hi! Yes, I'm still out here.

It is a very late Sunday night and I have been inspired to do some photo editing and such.  You get to see some of the results right here!  The heading of this blog is my new favorite photo.  I explored some things in photoshop elements that I had never tried before and "wha-la", here you go.  Nothing terribly difficult, I just hadn't taken the time and I'm just not that familiar with the program.  Someone that uses it all the time could do this VERY quickly.

Paxton is growing up quite nicely.  She is almost 3 now!  We have nearly conquered potty training.  We haven't had any "accidents" in quite some time (hopefully not jinxing myself) but sleeping through the night will take longer.  Sometimes she wakes up dry, sometimes she doesn't.  For you parents out there, you know this is BIG DEAL and understand our joy in not buying diapers anymore.

There has been much drama as of late, but that will be another post at a much earlier time in the day.
Good night!

An Update on my "Old Friend"

Well, my old friend has been good to me.  Today I have officially lost 20 lbs. since rejoining Weight Watchers.  Ok, technically since I'm a lifetime member, I can't ever quit.  So let's say I've lost the weight since returning to the weight watchers meetings.  Really loving the new Points Plus plan.  No, they don't pay me anything to say that.  I have to say, again, that I absolutely could not come this far this quickly without the amazing support of Jeremy.  He continues to weigh and measure for me when he cooks or gently remind me to check how many points that Thin Mint girl scout cookie is before I eat it.  (By the way, they are 1 point per cookie!)  He also continues to support my exercise efforts.  The treadmill and I have remained close, but I think it's time to expand the relationship to include some weights.   Here are some things that are now really fun to do.
1. Have the dilemma of figuring out what to wear now that most of my clothes are too big.  Thank goodness I saved a couple of things.
2. Plan my shopping trip with Siu Yan (my awesome friend and WW buddy too!)
3. Wear the Nike shorts that I thought would never ever fit again, but thankfully I didn't give away.
4. Look at the muscles in my legs
5. Enjoy a Skinny Cow chocolate truffle bar with absolutely no guilt because I had points left over
6. Run on the treadmill for 3.5 miles and only walk for a total of 2 1/2 minutes.

That's just a few things.  My journey is not quite over yet.  I still have 3.6 lbs to go until I am back to my official WW goal weight.  I truly hope I am setting (and continue to set) a good example for Paxton.  Really the biggest thing I've gotten from this whole process (other than the wonderful benefit of weight loss) is the change in eating habits to more healthy foods.  We go through crazy amounts of perishables in this house now.  I think that's a good problem to have.

Hello, old friend.

And that old friend would be Weight Watchers.  Yes, I'm back.  After seeing a picture taken of me on New Year's Eve, I'm so back.  The new points system has been working out well.  I think having to relearn a completely new way is good for me.  It forces me to not be lazy or think I know what I'm doing.  I have to go through it step by step, like I did, gosh, almost 10 years ago.  You forget a lot in 10 years.  Going to meeting and not having to run the meeting was FUN!  Plus my buddies Chris and Gretchen were there, so the whole team was back together.  And now I'm going to gloat about my husband.  He has been incredibly supportive.  Although I'm sure he is secretly so sick of hearing about points all of the time, he has gone far above and beyond what I would have ever expected.  When he cooks, he takes the time to measure my food for me and does his best to keep it healthy.  (Yes, I'm very spoiled by him)  Then there was today.  I came home from work, really tired, slight headache, really not feeling like getting on the treadmill.  When he got home (45 min later) I still had not even changed into my workout clothes.  We talked a bit, I told him how I was feeling, and he said "you have 5 min. to be in your workout clothes.  Go."  So I went.  And I was sooooo glad I went!  I was able to complete my run (which I totally had convinced myself I couldn't do) and stay on track!  He's been a great motivator!  He's patient with me too and I really appreciate that.  No pictures this time, but soon I'll discuss my progress.

Kujichagulia (Koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-ah)

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves

Jeremy is currently doing a show with his elementary students called "December Nights, December Lights".  It's a nice show that teaches about different ways people celebrate the holidays in December.  Long story short, one of the holidays they sing about is Kwanzaa.  There are 7 principles of Kwanzaa and Kujichagulia (Koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-ah) is one of them.  Lately around our house we've been using this word to describe Paxton and her antics.  People probably wonder what the heck we are talking about.  That's ok!  Keep 'em guessing.

Here is Paxton demonstrating a little Kujichagulia.

Chatty Cathy

Well, we are now fully immersed in "toddlerhood".  Paxton is 19 months old today, and seems to be adding words to her vocabulary at breakneck speed.  Virtually anything we say gets repeated back to us now, which has made for a couple of interesting moments.  I will definitely have to "filter" myself a little better, especially when I am driving with her in the car.  This may be tough.

Here are a couple of conversations that have taken place in our house recently.
Dad:  "Paxton, do you want to go take a bath?"
Pax: "babblebabbleyadayadaiddlediddle bath"
 (roughly translates into "I really don't feel like taking a bath")
Dad (trying again): "Paxton, it's time for your bath."
Pax: "iddlesidjflasdjkgajsdkfasewickwedief bath"
 (again, "I said I really don't feel like taking a bath")
Dad (3rd times a charm, right?): "Pax, let's go take a bath."
Pax: "No."
The End.  I guess he was told.

A very similar conversation took place later involving the potty.  She isn't trained on the potty at all yet, but we keep trying to get her to spend some time on it in hopes that something may happen.  I could type it all out, but if you just substitute the word "potty" for "bath" you get the idea.

Paxton is becoming QUITE the independent and opinionated one.  I have no idea where she gets it.  :-)

Dirty Girl

Paxton love to dig in the dirt!  Thankfully we seemed to have finally moved past tasting the dirt.  Here are a few shots of our girl in action today.  First she sits in the dirt and rubs her hands all around in it.

Next she moves it from "here" to "there".  This is the part where she grabs handfuls of dirt over and over and drops them.

Sometimes she puts the dirt in her hair....

....where it gets piled up on her cute little pink bow.  Such a lady!

And when the excitement finally wears off, she stands up and we get to see this.

The End.

My new favorite picture

In case you haven't seen this yet, here is my new favorite picture of Paxton.

The expression on her face is one of pure orneriness (is that a word?) and I love it!  Although a picture is worth a 1,000 words, here's a little more about that day.  Jeremy was outside shucking corn and Paxton was "helping".  Paxton LOVES corn on the cob and within a minute or so was happily munching away.  No, we had not cooked the corn yet, but she didn't care.  Here's a pic of her corn-eating face.

After she was done with the corn, I decided it was time for a small photo shoot.  The light was good and she was in a playful mood.  First she had to get into her chair.  This required a great deal of effort.

                                              

Next I fixed her hair and she posed nicely.  If I could post all of the pics from this setting, you would notice her right leg swinging back and forth.  This is a back shot, not a forth.  Just had to clarify.

The she got out of her chair and looked right into the lens.  I thought this picture was absolutely beautiful.  Her eyes look very big and thoughtful.  She also looks about 5 years old, but I don't want to think about that right now.

Right after this shot was taken, she started squealing with laughter and I got the picture that I posted at the beginning.  After that she took off and I captured one last moment of joy...