We had some really warm weather in the beginning of April.  We had the windows open, fans blowing and I think there was a day or so that I had to put the air on.  Then BAM! it got cold again.  The last week or so has been pretty cold.  I mean I thought I was going to need a Nascar jacket or something.  My sweatshirt just wasn’t cutting it.  But happily I report that it is going to be in the mid-high 80′s this weekend.  Hopefully for the sake of our garden the weather will stay nice.

Where is the time going?  It’s already Thursday, it’s already the end of April.  I go home to visit my family in like 6 weeks.  I have such mixed feelings, I am nervous and excited.  It’s been so long. 

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since Nicki and Tony’s birthday.  I can’t believe Max will be 5 months on the 7th of May…..oh I could do this all day…there is so much that I just can’t believe.

Well last weekend we were able to make it to our towns Do-Dah Day.  It would seem the town of Winchester really celebrates once a year.  I guess starting with Do-Dah Day and going to about a week in to Apple Blossom there is just a ton of stuff to do.  Wine tasting, Circus, carnival, car shows, craft fair….I just don’t even know what all is going on.  Well we were able to make it to Do-Dah Day Children’s Festival even though it was cold and gloomy.  Rained on and off last Saturday. 

We made it there for about an hour and a half before they started closing down.  They had bounce houses and pony rides, games, face painting.  Lil Tony had a blast, surprisingly Nicki did too.  Isabel was just a bit too young to enjoy most of it.  We got some good pics.  Once we get Tony’s online backup and running I will upload the pics.  We have several computers in the house connected with a router, blah blah blah and his computer always seems to be the one messed up.  I don’t know much about that crap. 

This weekend is Apple Blossom but as people in the town call it, it is a low key Mardi Gras…..I am not sure I want to take the 3 lil ones out in the crowds.  I would love to go to the Circus but not sure they will enjoy it.  We will more than likely be in this town next year so we will take them.  Nicki did make it to the carnival last night.  She said she had a good time.  Oh and they have parades.  This shindig is so big that Nicki had early release today and has off from school tomorrow.  Crazy, I know. 

Stay tuned in a day or so for pics of the kids.

We are going on about 3 months since we got rid of our cable.  When I am home I don’t watch any TV other than kid movies.  We have Netflix and rent movies all the time.  Kinda funny, lil Tony fell asleep watching The Cars movie like he has every night for months now and I was able to recite parts of the movie but I have never watched that movie all the way through.  Since all we have is movies it seems some of them I watch a little more often than I would like.  LOL!

It seems weird when I am at the gym and I get to watch TV because I feel so far behind on news and TV shows and such.  I will say that I so don’t miss the infomercials.  Ones that talk about wrinkle creams that really work and the best blender and workout equipment and diet pills and….oh I could go on and on. 

I think that is why I enjoy Netflix so much.  NO COMMERCIALS!!  LOL, Tony and I have been getting Netflix for over a year now and we still comment on that almost every time we watch TV shows off Netflix. 

I really don’t miss TV all that much.  I do occasionally miss Ellen but not enough to pay $60 a month.

LOL!  Seriously running out of blog titles.  So this week was an interesting week.  We had Nicki and Tony’s birthday and so we ate a little bit more than normal.  Friday night we went to a Mexican restaurant, oh it was delish.  Then on Saturday Tony made a lasagna dinner.  I bought him a pasta roller/cutter for his birthday so he made lasagna with homemade pasta.  It was so scrum-didly.  I made a double chocolate cake for dessert.  Let’s just say we didn’t count calories either of those days. 

When I weighed in my weight was up 2 pounds which reflected in my water weight but I lost 2.5 pounds of fat and gained like 3 pounds of lean.  So other than my weight being up a bit I had an awesome week.  I keep thinking about it and what I ate and can’t believe I lost weight. 

I am starting to feel real great too.  I don’t feel like such a blob.  I can keep up with my kids.  What’s great about it is I feel so good now and I still have about 45 pounds to lose.  Not only will I feel like a million bucks but Tony may need to check out some enzyte reviews and get some pills in order to keep up with me.  LOL, yeah I know too much info.  If you don’t know what that is I won’t tell ya. 

I really have been doing well and feeling great.  I am going home to visit my family in about 8 weeks and I can’t wait.  I hope I lose more weight before then. 

Going back to November of last year, we had a meeting with a speech therapist and an educator.  The came to our house to evaluate Lil Tony.  At the time he was just over 2 and NOT talking.  He used no form of communication what so ever except screaming and throwing fits. 

So with that meeting it was determined we qualified for weekly speech therapy.  A speech therapist was to come to our house once a week and spend about an hour with him.  Well the first few months were very sporadic.  With the holidays and the horrible winter storms and the birth of baby Max we just didn’t see much of the therapist.  After the first of the year we got a little more consistent.  She came more often.  She decided to teach Lil Tony sign language.  She started with teaching him the sign for “more”.  Basically (for those like me who don’t know sign language) it is taking the tips of your fingers and putting them together.

If you watch the video it’s the boy in blue. The therapist taught him to do that. It took him a bit of time but now all the time he does that. For EVERYTHING he uses the sign “more”.  I mean it’s great that he learned something but he is still not even close to talking.  Well over the last week or so he is finally starting to do the sign for more as well as saying more.  I think it is great.  He is trying to repeat words more.  Now I am not sure if he has just decided he is ready to learn or if it has anything to do with Isabel and the fact that she is starting to talk.  She has a very small vocab but she is farther along than he is.  Isable uses words like baby, mommy, daddy, more, move, sshhh! and she uses them where appropriate. 

Well either way, we had a meeting about a month ago at a local elementary school.  It was to determine Lil Tony’s development.  Whether he would qualify to go to pre-school next year and get the help with communication. 

Finally I got the letter in the mail today saying we have another meeting on Monday April 26 to go over his eligibility.  Now it is too late to get him in school this year but I am hoping he is approved to go to pre-school next year.  It will be bitter sweet.  I would love for him to go to school, interact with other children and learn all at the same time but for him to get the week long help (instead of one day a week) he would need to take the bus.  They would pick him up and take him to half day pre-school.  I could really use that quiet, calm time but he will only be 3…..it will make me super sad to see him off on a bus.  Well I guess it wouldn’t be everyday of the week, probably just 3 days or so.  I just really think he needs to get out there and mingle with other kids and be in a learning atmosphere. 

So hopefully all will go well on Monday and my lil man will be in pre-school next year.  Oh boy I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it…..enough of that for now. 

I am so happy to be back to working out.  I am also happy that my kids sleep through the night.  Tony and I get to watch TV together, go to bed decently late and still get a decent nights sleep.  With this, I am able to spend nap time crafting.  Before working out and such when the kids would nap, I would too.  Now I get about 2-3 hours a day to spend at the craft table.  I make 1-2 cards a day.  I get some quiet me time. 

It’s awesome because not only can I have craft time but I don’t have to look for any natural sleep aids.  I would hate to have to take a pill or something just to sleep. 

I enjoy my time at the craft table, it keeps me peace and a sense of calm.  I never realized it before because I never really had much time to spend doing what I enjoy doing so much. 

Now if only I can start selling all the stuff I make as well as the stuff in my online store, and make a successful business out of it, everything would be going exactly as I want. 

This week’s progress update is nothing special.  I mean most of the numbers, weight, fat % and h2o % were close to the same as last week.  They were a little different which gave me some change.  I did lose actual weight but the fat and lean pounds sucked.  LOL!  I only worked out 2-3 days and I didn’t really keep track of my food and I think that is why the numbers weren’t better.  I still watched what I ate but I may have been off on how much I was eating.  Maybe way under, certainly not way over. 

I am still losing something every week and that is all that matters to me.  I still have a ways to go even though I have lost 48 pounds.  I would still like to lose another 45 or so.  I gained a lot with the 3 kids.

I am sure the fact that I am still not drinking soda or other sugary drinks is helping the weight loss and or maintaining the weight.  Plus drinking all the water that I do is making my face look healthier.  I certainly don’t need an acne treatment.  My skin doesn’t have any crazy break-outs.  I am starting to feel better about myself too.  I always walk down the clothes aisles when I go out and look at all the cute clothes, dresses, shirts, shorts…..all the things I would love to fit in to and look good wearing.  I know I am that much closer.  I am so tired of wearing stained, mis-matched big baggy clothes but I refuse to spend the money on new clothes when I am losing weight like I am.  I would probably grow out of it before it would have been worth what I spent on it.  I have a section in my closet filled with all these clothes I used to be able to wear just waiting for me to wear them again.  Really cute shirts and jeans and oh my I am getting excited.  Seriously, some of the shirts I still wear, the shoulder seam is like by my elbow.  Ya know what part of the shirt I am talking about.  I mean I got the shirt big and baggy to begin with because I was pregnant but now it is ridiculous. 

I just can’t wait to hit my goal.  I NEVER want to be fat again.  I would have said overweight but even MY goal weight is considered overweight by the standards. 

When I met Tony I was really confident and happy with the way I looked and I was 20 pounds over what my goal is this time.  So I feel pretty certain I will be happy.  Now if I happen to lose more weight after hitting my goal, that’s cool but I am going to eat and workout to “maintain” my weight.  Whereas now I am doing everything to lose weight. 

In 3 months I have lost 48 pounds.  Hopefully before the summer is over I will be at my goal and be able to enjoy some of the SUPER CUTE summer clothes they have out there.  LOL!  Oh and I tried a bra on the other day that hasn’t fit me since I met Tony and I am almost there.  I can close the straps but my boobs are still a little big and don’t fit in so nice.  I am sure with the added weight I plan on losing, my boobs will shrink a bit. 

*Dad, if you are reading this, I am sorry.  I know a little TMI!  LOL!*