Lucy Goes To The Dentist

Wednesday morning Lucy went to the dentist. She was so excited to go, we talked about her going for several days. We talked about how it wasn't going to hurt, they are just going to brush your teeth. We talked about how you have to sit very still and open your mouth really wide. She said she was going to be a very good girl and she was really excited!

The day before her appointment we were eating breakfast and she said "do you know what tomorrow is?" I said "Wednesday and you are going to the dentist". She said "yep!I am going to be a really good girl and it is going to be a great day!"

JJ took her to the dentist and he said she did a very good job. She opened her mouth before the dentist even asked her to. She sat so still and let him look at her teeth and brush them all clean.

I am so excited that she was cavity free, not that I thought she had a cavity but I am just glad to know we are doing a good job brushing her teeth. She grinds her teeth really bad, we were also glad to hear that they don't show any signs of any worn spots. Hopefully she will grow out of that, I can't stand the sound of it.

She got a new snow white toothbrush and some new floss. She has been really into brushing and flossing her teeth ever since going. Which makes me happy! I love to hear of people being excited about good dental hygiene! I am glad she went to the Dentist. Ever since JJ and I went to the dentist a while ago she has been asking when she gets to go.

Here are some random pictures of Garrett, he has been playing with the train and has fun pushing/walking behind it while Lucy rides. It is hard because it is technically Lucy's train, she got it for her 1st birthday. So she says it is hers, which it is, but she is to big for it. So we are approaching the sharing conflict between children. Luckily Garrett could really care less but I did get the toy out of the attic for him to play with, not her.

Just a happy kid taking a bath with his new boats from the Easter Bunny.

My Goal

Before I got pregnant with Garrett I was in really good shape. I would say the best shape of my life. I then got pregnant with Garrett, I continued to workout 6 days a week. Even if I didn't feel well or had no energy I would push myself to go walking or do a 20 minute workout DVD. I thought for sure this would pay off for me after the baby came. The weight would just fall off and soon enough my body would return to the good shape it was in. Wrong. I went to my check up with the Dr and got the okay to resume exercise after having Garrett. I was excited to get back into the swing of working out and lose the weight. Months passed and I still had a good amount to lose. I was so confused, I wasn't eating bad and I was working my butt off working out. New Years I set a goal to finish the weight loss and get rid of the extra weight! I had 20 pounds to go. Seemed easy enough---I was still confused why I had the extra weight. I should add that it fell off quickly after Lucy, I thought with my working out more it would be the same or easier with Garrett. Well New Years I set the Goal and this week I reached it! I am back to the pre-pregnancy weight. I have worked very hard at this. I truly think that it helped that I was motivated and ready to do it. I knew I wanted to look the way I did before and I wanted my clothes to fit and I wanted to feel good about how I looked. It feels good to reach my goal and accomplish this for myself. I know by being healthy and doing good things for my body will help me be a healthy person for my family. I know that my family depends on me to be there for them and I can't be the best I know I can if I am not healthy and physically fit. I made the choice to eat healthy and exercises and I got results. Here are a few things that I did that helped me reach my goal.

1. I joined weight watchers. I know, kinda embarrassing but not really. I didn't tell anyone that I was doing this. I only told a couple of people and thank you to them for keeping it a secret and supporting me along the way. I really loved this program and I will continue to follow it and live the healthy life style I have taken on. I never felt restricted during this and I always felt I could eat what I wanted, just in a smaller portion and I had to make it fit into my daily allowance. I have learned a lot about the way I cook and the food I eat. I have really taken a good look at what I eat and how it affects my body. I have also looked at things we cook for dinner--none were terrible but there were a few I had to get rid of and a few that I made some adjustments to make them work. I also have learned to look at the portion amount, like Graham Crackers--you only get 2 and they aren't that good for you. I was proud of myself when I first started, I learned that all together I wasn't eating that bad. There were just some small changes that needed to me made. I would recommend this program to anyone, but you have to be ready to take the challenge . There are sacrifices in what you eat but they are all worth it! They will all lead to a healthy life style.

2. I continued to work out 6 days a week. Just taking it up another notch. I fit in 3 hour+ workouts a week and 3 at least 30 minute workouts. I was doing just the hour workout 3 times a week but the past month or so I have added it to a hour and a half. That really helped me with the last couple of pounds that seemed to linger a little longer. Plus I could tell that my physical fitness level just needed more. I needed a little more to truly exhaust myself. The other 3 workouts I still try to do cardio but 1 time a week I try to do a good toning workout with some weights. I have a good selection of home workout DVD's and I like the variety. I have found some really good ones that I love. I think enjoying the workout is key. You have to enjoy what you are doing. Also understanding that your body is capable of doing these things. Jillian who I really love all her workouts says it several times in her videos. People think that they aren't capable of doing things but you have no idea the potential you body could become. I really believe that and it helps me think to push myself a little more knowing that I can do it!

So there you have it, mostly for my own journal purposes but I am proud of myself for doing this and teaching myself the tools to be healthy. I can tell the difference in my healthy choices by the way I feel and the amount of energy I have. This is something that is important to me and I make the time each day to make the changes in my life style to reach my goal. I took the time to make my meals healthy and fit in a good workout. Thank you to all my friends and family that knew about my goal, you were a great support to me. Thank you JJ for your great support, many compliments and pats on the back along the way. You were a great Cheerleader and I know you will love me no matter what I look like!

Before--Picture taken 12-30-09

After --Picture taken 4-3-10

The stats:

Total weight loss: 20 pounds

average weight loss per week 1.5 pounds

Inches off the waist: 3.5

Inches off hips: 1.75

All in just 13 weeks

Easter Day

Happy Easter! We woke up to find the Easter Bunny left us some fun things!

Here is Lucy with her basket.

Garrett with his basket

The Easter Bunny thought it would be fun to get some new outside toys since that is where we like to play these days. This nice weather is perfect, we can get out and use them right away.

Me and JJ before going to church

The girls

The boys

The Family all dressed ready for Church

While the kids were napping the bunny came and hid all the Easter eggs. We all had fun hunting for eggs.

Lucy and Garrett after the egg hunt .

Garrett loved all the plastic eggs.

We had a really nice Easter as a family spending time together. JJ made us a nice Easter dinner and after dinner we went for a nice family bike ride around the neighborhood. It is so fun to have a place to ride our bikes again. We then had a nice lesson on the real meaning of Easter and why we celebrate it. We finished the night with some home made ice cream sandwiches. I think we had enough sugar to last us for a while! Holidays are always more fun with kids and we sure had fun together this weekend!

Easter Eggstravaganza

Yesterday we decided to go to the Easter Eggstravaganza! It was a fun little family activity to hep celebrate Easter. We saw Elmo and the Easter Bunny--who Lucy did not want her picture taken with. She didn't even want to get close.

We saw some cute little puppies, Garrett loved that. He got really excited when we saw them.

Lucy jumped in the jump house--those things make me nervous! This was the first time she has done it.

Then we did the Easter Egg hunt. There wasn't much hunting to be done, they were just spread out in a field.

Gathering the eggs--we totally forgot to bring Lucy's basket, what were we thinking?

It was fun to get out and enjoy the nice weather and spend some nice time together as a family.

Tunica Riverwalk

Friday evening we went down to the Tunica River Walk. There is a short trail that goes right next to the Mississippi River. Part of the trail was closed because of some high water . It was fun and pretty with the leaves starting to come out and the sun on the water.

JJ and Lucy also had fun throwing some rocks in the river.

Preparing For Easter

This week we have had fun doing little Easter crafts at our house to help us get excited about Easter this weekend. Earlier this week we made Easter Bunny cards to mail to Grandparents and a few cousins. Lucy had fun getting a little messy doing this.

Here are the finished cards, you do a hand print only painting 2 fingers and then use the thumb for the nose. Then just draw on the face.
Thursday school had a fun Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Lucy was really excited about it! She had a fun time and came home with way too much candy.
This morning we did Easter Eggs with colored marshmallows. Lucy was supper excited about this, I think because she really wanted to eat them. This was another easy one that we really enjoyed.

Here we are with our finished marshmallow eggs--Lucy did a really good job! I think she ate as many as she used on her egg, every time I would look over she was eating the marshmallows.

She wanted to do a silly face--She says Dad always does it with her so I should too!

We are all ready for Easter at our house!

Lucy's Brown Mater

While we were in St. Louis for spring break JJ found a Brown Mater from the movie Cars. JJ has been looking all over for one and this was the first one he has seen anywhere. He decided to go ahead and get one for Lucy. She had just got the blue mater so I didn't think we should just give her the brown one right away. I thought she should wait a while. A couple weeks ago we found out that Lucy is having some struggles with being reverent in Primary. We thought the Brown Mater would be a good thing to work toward. We talked about being reverent at church and also working on a few other things she has been struggling on at home. We made a sticker chart with 10 spaces, she had to be good ALL day long for 10 days. Lucy does well with sticker charts and seems to enjoy the daily reward of a sticker and then the bigger reward after competing the whole chart. Each day at bedtime we would talk about the things we did that day and if there were any big troubles during the day and then together decide if she did earn a sticker. There were several days at first where there weren't stickers at the end of the day. That was sad and then she realized the things we needed her to work on. We have been very proud of her the last couple of days, she has done a really good job. Last night she put the final sticker on her chart and she got her Brown Mater!!

She was so excited and proud--so were we! She took him right to bed!

She got up this morning and after breakfast the first thing she wanted to do was play with her new Mater! She loves it!