The Barton Experience

OK, here is the deal. I have always been a lucky girl. For most of my life I haven't really had to fight with my weight, not that I thought I was perfect (far from it) but I was blessed with stuff I could live with...until baby #3...Oh how I love that boy, but I guess that he was the key to my undoing!
(Let's not mention that I am getting //shudder// older or anything)
Anyhooo, for the past several years my weight has gradually been creeping up and up... I can't really blame my pregnancies, because I certainly could have worked and excercised and watched what I ate before, during, and afterwards I was prego. But I didn't. There is the exception when Josh coming home from Iraq and I hadn't seen him in over 14months...I worked my butt off (literally) I did my pilates, and Billy Blanks and his Tae Bo helped me get into my favorite size 10 jeans...ahhh, bliss! But unfortunately I stopped after Josh got home!
*sigh*

But the time has come.

I have started using the Weight Watchers point system to help me watch what I eat. I am not doing the 'program', geez if I wanted to pay $16 a week to weigh in, and then talk about it I would pay Josh- we aren't exactly swimming in excess funds you know. Part of the reason I do love Weight Watchers is that you can still have normal food, even a few guilty pleasures- just in moderation! It is so easy to find stuff to eat, and I have discovered some really yummy snacks, treats, meals that are healthy...imagine that! I didn't post about it earlier because I wanted to make sure that it would work for me. I know that every 'diet' isn't for everyone, but after trying this one on...I LIKE IT!

I am actually only on like week #5 I think, and I am down 22.3 pounds as of this morning!!!

*pausing for your applause*

Yeah, I know, I rock!!! :D I was going to join a gym, and I will probably still do that- but my two youngest (and the two I would take to the very nice childcare at the gym) are going through this separation anxiety/stranger freak-out phase! So no gym at this time...instead my lovely sister Marie and I decided to get a great DVD workout program to start doing together....of course the day after we ordered it I had the brilliant idea to break my toe.

(see previous post for my amazing physical abilities...um...I mean tragedies)

So we are waiting to start 'sweatin' to the oldies' (psst, no we are not excercising to Richard Simmons....geez I was jokin' silly!) until I am cleared by my Doctor...oh, um I mean by my husband! ;o) It is quite amazing how painful a broken toe is, and surprisingly enough it seems to take FOREVER for a broken bone to mend...imagine THAT! ;o)

So there you have it. Just following WW has helped me lose over 20 pounds...amazing huh? I knew I didn't watch my eating very well, I just didn't realize that it would make that big of a difference so quickly! :D I am actually really excited to start excercising, maybe not excited about having to get up early enough to do it, but heck, I don't get enough sleep anyway- I might as well use some of that time to get back in shape!!! HA HA HA!!

So, please help me help myself!!! I could use some encouragement, and of course by posting my intentions I expect you all to keep me honest and 'on the wagon'.

I certainly do want to look good, (actually I really want my sexy back! ;) but I am also doing this so that I FEEL better!
I want to be healthy!
I want to have the energy to play with my kids more!
I want to chase them, and maybe even sometimes catch 'em! :D
I want to be an example of a healthy woman to my girls!
I want to teach them that it is important to be healthy not skinny.
I want them to have good attitudes about diet and excercise.
Oh, and...
I WANT INTO THOSE FREAKIN' SIZE 10 JEANS!
I don't know if a size 8 is in my future...I haven't worn that since Freshman Year at BYU, but being a "10" will be juuuuuuuuuust fine by me! LOL

So if any of you are thinking that you want to jump on the wagon with me, or you are already riding in that silly wagon, please let me know! This kind of thing is ALWAYS easier when you do it with friends! :D

So together lets encourage each other, and in the not so distant future our hubbies will walk in at dinnertime and start drooling...and NOT over the meatloaf. ;)

I know that I am too old to go through a growth spurt...plus I have been being a good girl and am currently down 20lbs...but that is for another post! Yet I am so my-body-won't-work-right clutsy lately! UGH!! I was picking up the front room, which I only do about an even dozen times every day, and I went to kick a toy away from the edge of the couch...and I accidentally kicked the couch. Sounds dumb. Who cares if I kicked the couch? Well, I managed to kick the side with no padding and I broke my toe. Yes, I AM a genius. It hurt like a son-of-a-nutcracker, WOW!!! I have been limping around for a week and a half...so freakin' annoying!!!! I know exactly when it happened, because that night Josh and I went to go see Harry Potter #6 (which was AWESOME by the way) and I was limping in massive pain trekking through the parking garage! I was not about to let a little broken bone stop me from seeing Potter with my Mister! I broke my pinky toe once, and I remember that it sure hurt and was hard to walk on...this was way worse, and having to continue to chase the kids around and tromp...no...um...gimp up and down the stairs all day is SO HELPFUL in letting the dumb thing heal. So might be silly, but .....OWWWWWWIEEEEEE!And if THAT wasn't bad enough I am still trying to recover from...well, I don't even know what to call it! I was leaving the bank, and walking to my car. Yep walking. Not running, no snow, rain or flying space monkeys. I had Izzy on my hip and my other hand was holding Sam's hand. I stepped onto one of those plastic covers for the sprinkler system and it had some gravel and dirt on it...my foot flew out from underneath me and I fell...like a bomb. My right leg flew out and my left leg buckled underneath me and I landed on and slid on the outside of my lower left leg. Doesn't sound too bad right? Well, did I mention that I fell onto sharp hateful nasty gravel? I couldn't brace myself or try to catch myself because I was totally encumbered with the kids! And neither kiddo got as much as a scratch. Yes, yes, I sacrificed my leg for the twerps! Sam was just standing there as I sat in the rocks like: "Mom, why are you sitting down...here?" Izzy just looked at me like: "When do I eat?" (well, that is what she always 'says' ;) Wow, it was bruised and really painful for a long time! Total road rash...from WALKING...*sigh*!!! It is STILL healing, now it only looks like I am recovering from some horrible disease but at about 24 hours later it looked like this:

So sexy huh? This was taken like the next day, before the bruises really got colorful! The silly thing was that we had just gotten back from our trip, and I hadn't 'restocked' the Van. I didn't have my first aid kit. I know, I know, Me who is always TOO prepared was without the First Aid Kit!!! :D So I used baby wipes to clean off all the blood (it took 10 or so), and to dig out the imbedded rocks from my skin. WOW those sting on ripped up owies!!! I am glad that it was me that had to get cleaned up that way, better than one of the kids having to have thier owie hurt more from the stingy wipes!

So there is my oh-so-sad story! Both are healing nicely now, although after an especially busy day up on my feet doing my SAHM duties my foot swells and HURTS! Plus the kids keep stepping on my foot.....YYYEEEEEEEEEEEOUCH!

Poor poor pitiful me! ;)

You may call me Grace.

...and to think in High School I was Captain of the Dance Team...my, how the coordinated have fallen!!

...*snicker* 'fallen'....*snort*!

It is officially official. Izzy is walking. All delusions that I could keep my sanity and/or my house together are crushed. She started taking the first few tenative steps before plunking-down-on-her-ample-backside-to-crawl-instead a few weeks ago, but as of the last few days or so she is walking about 85% of the time!!

It looks so sweet, so innocent...doesn't it? ...But it is ALL a very convincing act! Trust me! ;D

(I do love how her little toes curl into the carpet like she is gripping the floor! So cute!)

My Amanda discovered the coolest thing in a tree out near the bus stop! :D

That, my friends, is a baby hummingbird! I didn't see the parent bird that Amanda did, but isn't it cute? (just try to ignore what I asssume to be humminbird poo all around the nest!) It is just about eye level in a tree that overhangs the sidewalk outside of our complex! I hope the kids at the bus stop leave it alone long enough for it to get strong enough to fly! :D Pretty neato huh?