Weekly Update

I have lost exactly 9 pounds, but the scale is not the best measurement of my progress. My body is changing. Even on the days when the scale doesn't move, or worse, it goes up...my pants still fit better. My plan is to continue with NutriSystem for 1 more month and then start Weight Watchers. I feel like I'm in a better place now and can keep track of points and plan my meals better. Maybe next week I'll have passed the 10 pound mark! That would be awesome.

Pre-School

Tuesday was Rainey's first day of pre-school. She's holding her favorite kitty for show-and-tell.

We have a small group, but I love that. The kids did great and seemed to love every second of school.

My Progress

As of this morning, I've lost 7.2 pounds (in 2 weeks). Lately, my weight loss has been 2 steps forward, 1 step back. In other words, I was lighter yesterday than I was today, but tomorrow I'll be lighter than I was on Sunday. Follow me??

My half marathon training has been pretty rough...to say the least! I was supposed to run 5 miles on Saturday, but could only run 4 and then walked home. I waited too long to start running and the sun was high. So I blame the sun and the fact that I'm not consuming enough calories, which will change today. This morning I ran 4 miles and it was brutal! I was extremely slow. I'm hoping that as I eat all the calories I'm supposed to, the running will get easier.

Our little Trouble-Maker

I recieved the following email from Larkins' nursery leader this morning. Jim and I had a good laugh:

Hi Lindsey,
I talked to your husband for a minute after Nursery today and I just wanted to pass the info. on to you. I'm wondering if you could "practice" the nursery lesson for next week with Larkin sometime before Sunday. We'll be doing lesson 5 in the nursery manual (it's online).
Larkin does great during the play time and usually during singing time, but we're having a hard time during the lesson keeping her still. She has a little group that follows her (so popular, especially with the boys:-), so I'm hoping if Larkin is a bit calmer during the lesson, then maybe the class will be a little calmer.
My hope is that with a little "practice" this week, she'll be familiar with the lesson and excited to be a reverent helper. I'm also happy to come to your house and do a practice lesson with her if you think that would be more helpful.
Thank you!

Larkin is the youngest and has definitely gotten away with murder. It's been so easy for us to say, 'well she's just a baby.' I guess we need to make her sit at the table, sit still for FHE, etc.

Larkin Update

The doctor has had Larkin on 2 teaspoons of Miralax per day. The goal is that she have 1 good bowel movement a day that empties her bowel. She's not doing that. She has 5-6 little ones per day. The doctor told me to increase her dosage of Miralax and see what happens over the weekend. If she has not improved, then he's going to send her to a specialist. Of course, on top of her 'issues' she has had a diaper rash for over a month. It's not a big deal except that she's uncomfortable and it makes changing her diaper (5-6 times a day) really difficult. We've got a Rx for her bum and she should be feeling better soon.

Larkin did something new and disturbing on Monday that we are now keeping our eye on. As the kids and I sat down at Target's food court to eat lunch, I looked over at Larkin and noticed that she was shaking like a leaf. She was also going to town on her pizza. It's obvious that she was super hungry and maybe her blood sugars were low. She's never done that before even though she has the typical 2-year-old diet of milk and juice and crackers. The doctor said to bring her in the next time she does it and we'll test her blood sugars. Sometimes I feel like we're in an episode of 'Mystery Diagnosis'. I just hope that this is nothing but a little big of 'backed up bowel' and Larkin will be fine after we up her Miralax. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon!

Pretty Toes

I woke up today in a horrible mood. The kids miss their daddy and were really acting out yesterday. I decided that I needed some alone time. Luckily, I've got one of the most wonderful friends a girl could ask for. I called her and asked if I could dump my kids on her for a couple hours. Then, I hit the spa. I giggled all the way there. It was wonderful! The best message I've ever had! Then I got my toes done. I used to hate pedicures because my feet are so sensitive, but because I like pretty toes I was able to get used to them and now I'm hooked. Who can resist pretty toes with a beautiful flower...don't forget the tiny jewel! Thanks again, Amy! You're the Best!

My Progress

I was very excited to hop onto my scale this morning to see my progress. I have lost 5.6 lbs in 6 days.....and with almost NO exercising,but that is going to change. I've signed up for another half marathon that I'll run on October 17th (Larkin's birthday). It's too late to do a full 12 week training schedule so I'll start on week 4 on Monday. It will be hard, but doable. Here's my running schedule this coming week:

Monday: 3.5 miles
Wednesday: 2 miles
Thursday: 3.5 miles
Saturday: 5 miles

I haven't ran more than 3 miles since my last half marathon in April! My only concern with all this running is that my appetite will increase for sure! I already struggle with the munchies, but I realize they are only habits and that I'm not truly hungry. Thanks for all the supportive comments. I'll continue to post my progress!

My Journey

After being well over-weight since Larkin was born, I've decided to do something that I consider dramatic. I've signed up for NutriSystem. The meals came to my door on Friday evening, but didn't start the diet until Sunday. It's been hard not to snack between meals..especially after dinner. However, I am motivated by the results that I have already seen. I have lost 4 lbs in 3 days. I haven't even been working out (although I'm fixin to hop on the treadmill right now). The meals aren't as bad as you'd think. Last night's dinner of Swedish meatballs was very good even though Jacob told me it looked like 'the bathroom'. Nice. My goal is to loose 35 lbs and that would bring me back to pre-Larkin weight. It's been extremely difficult being so over weight. It's a vicious cycle of eating poorly and feeling worthless. While I'm sure most of this is in my head, I do feel very judged by people for being so over weight. If I'm in public and I eat something healthy, I feel like people think I'm only eating it because people are looking and then if I eat something not healthy I feel like people are thinking 'should she really be eating that?' In my ward, I'm the organist and I absolutely HATE getting up and down from off the stand because I feel like people are looking at me and thinking, 'wow, she's pretty big.' I know that I shouldn't care about what people think, but it's human nature. Okay. Enough of that. I'm very excited about this process and I'll be posting weekly updates. This will also motivate me to do well.

Law-Hong Day

Today was very law-hong (long). We were excited to watch my brother's graduation up at Sam Houston State (not so excited about the 1 long trip both ways). It was great to watch him graduate and we are all very proud of him. However, graduation ceremonies were not designed with small children in mind. After dealing with a wiggly Larkin for 1 1/2 hours, Rainey had a melt down while we were trying to take pictures and it continued until we reached our car. Then we all went to Chili's for lunch. I've decided that I hate Chili's. We had to wait for 25 minutes for a table. The kids were literally rolling on the floors with boredom. AND, why is it that no matter which Chili's I go to, the service is always SUPER SLOW? What's with that? So anyway, after being at Chili's for 2 hours (I'm not kidding), we made the 1 hour drive home. My dad drove and I sat in the back with the kids. Jacob and Rainey fell asleep. I tried to close my eyes too, but Larkin had other ideas. Just as I would nod off, she'd poke me and ask if I could see the water tower. FYI, Larkin is obsessed with water towers....weird. We got finally got home and were able to change our clothes, pick up the house a little, and relax before we headed to mom and dad's for the graduation party. The party was fun...until.....SO, I forgot the kids' swim suits and they wanted to run in the sprinklers. I told Rainey that she could run around in her underwear. This was great and fine, but soon after she came inside she started crying and crying that she was itchy. I looked and her body and saw several, several nickel sized welts. Misquito Bites!! Mom had some After Bite that I rubbed on her bites, but she couldn't calm herself down. I decided it was time to go. I was on my way to CVS (with dad in my car) to get some benadryl for Rainey when she threw up all over my herself and my car. Jacob grabbed Larkin's head and and screamed 'Don't look!" So now Rainey is crying, Larkin is crying, and Jacob is complaining that he is thirsty. I turned the car back around and went back to mom and dad's house. My mom cleaned up my car while I cleaned up Rainey. The kids are asleep now (Rainey's sleep is a bit drug-induced). What was that you say? I should go to bed too? Yes well, because I didn't plan my lesson or finish the bracelets for Super Saturday earlier in the week, I have to stay up and do them now. I will never procrastinate again.

Larkin's Ultra Sound

After waiting and calling and waiting and calling, I finally got to talk to a nurse. She said that our doctor is not in today, but, "I can tell you that the ultra sound looks normal." While I am relieved that there was nothing horrible on the ultra sound, we're left wondering what in the world had her in so much pain?? She was in severe pain on Saturday, but come Sunday morning (and since then) she's totally back to normal. No pain at all and her color is back to normal. She is also acting normal. The doctor is supposed to call me tomorrow to further discuss the ultra sound, but I see no reason to pursue any more testing....unless/until she shows more symptoms. The next test is supposed to be more invasive and I see no reason to submit her to that if she's healthy. I imagine the doctor will probably feel the same way. Thank you for all the prayers and concern on Larkin's behalf. It was very scary and sad watching her in so much pain not knowing what was going on and not being to do anything for her. My personal opinion is that maybe she did have a UTI, but by the time I had her tested she was almost better.

In other news: Jim called me from work yesterday to give me a heads up that he may be traveling to Malaysia this month. He called me today and told me that he's leaving TOMORROW for 2 weeks. What can a girl do? 2 words folks: Retail Therapy.

Another Test

After speaking with Larkin's doctor again on Thursday, he decided that she needs a Renal Ultra Sound. From what I understand, this means that they inject dye into her to see what happens. They are checking for any kind of blockage. The ultra sound is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10:30 with an arrival time of 10:00. My good friend has volunteered to watch Jacob and Rainey for me. It was a huge relief to have her step in like that because I didn't know what I was going to do with them. Thanks Tiff! I owe you one!

Larkin's condition changes daily. One day she seems to feel fine and another she's miserable. While yesterday was a bad day with her being in a lot of pain, today is a good day and she doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. The ultra sound results are supposed to be back right away on Tuesday...we'll see.