60

FINALLY! So after a month of plateau, my good friend Dawn Facebooked me (who knew that could be a verb?) and said that after reading my blog, she wanted to let me know to eat more protein. And holy god, was she ever right. So I ate more protein. For 2 days. And dropped 5 pounds in those two days. After that it's been steadily downhill, and I've lost another 10 pounds in about a week. I'm thinking my body was just waiting to get a little more nourishment before it could let go of the pounds it was holding on to. The last couple of days it has slowed down considerably, so I'm thinking I just needed that jumpstart to get back on track.

In other news, I went to a bachelorette party on Saturday night. Wow, was that fun - not only the party itself (drunken debauchery - including a scavenger hunt that involved us being required to catcall at every guy we drove by on the street - is not something I get to partake in very often). But the most fun part was shopping for new clothes, getting dressed, putting on makeup, and LIKING the way I looked! No, let's be honest here - after probably 5+ years of not feeling at all attractive, I LOVED the way I looked. And after I finish baking my friend's wedding cake over the next couple of days, I'm going to be totally narcissistic and post an entry of nothing but pictures of ME. Because I've actually LIKED pictures of me lately! (You have no idea how excited I am about this.)

And in a last bit of news - about 5 minutes ago I read on BOTH Facebook and Myspace that my sister-in-law Alyssia (and of course her hubby, my buddy and bro-in-law Ryan) is pregnant. Now, unfortunately, she has pulled the "I'm pregnant!" crap with us several times - one time she even posted an ultrasound pic to HER blog that she STOLE from MY blog. So even though I saw her in a pic WITH the actual pee stick, I really don't think I can get all excited about this one. In fact, since they just left here for Japan a few weeks ago (which means she probably conceived this child while they were here, ew) and won't be back for TWO YEARS, I'm really just gonna sit back and wait until I see actual belly pics. OR a kid. You hear that Alyssia? You've ruined me. You have managed to make the one person who gets all excited about EVERYONE getting pregnant NOT excited for you. You happy now? You suck. And if it's a girl, you better at least have an M in it's name somewhere, for all the heartache you've caused me.

(I'm kidding, I'm kidding...I'm jumping up and down right now. Inside. Where no one can see it.)

Never thought I'd agree with a celebrity...

Most of the crap I read coming out of celeb's mouths is usually just that - and I usually am pretty meh about it, knowing that most of it is taken out of context and twisted however the magazines or writers want it to sound.

But when Brad Pitt said this, I couldn't help but smile a little inside. I mean, the guy is one of the hottest things on earth, and he actually has something intelligent to say (which goes against the original opinion I had of him). And I agree with it 100%.

On when he’ll marry Angelina Jolie: “I have love in my life, a soul mate–absolutely. When someone asked me why Angie and I don’t get married, I replied, ‘Maybe we’ll get married when it’s legal for everyone else.’ I stand by that, although I took a lot of flak for saying it–hate mail from religious groups. I believe everyone should have the same rights. They say gay marriage ruins families and hurts kids. Well, I’ve had the privilege of seeing my gay friends being parents and watching their kids grow up in a loving environment.”

On the right to love: “It’s ridiculous that Prop 8 took away gay people’s right to marry! I have no understanding of that kind of hatred. Maybe it’s fear of difference or of the unknown. If you feel belittled, maybe you need someone else to belittle to feel powerful. It’s the only way I know how to explain it. You’ve got religion telling you what to think about homosexuality, about marriage. They say homosexuality is a choice, a lifestyle, something you can be cured of, and that isn’t true. But if you’re tucked away and have no friends who are gay, you’ll believe what the preachers say. Just think of it in terms of being in love–how would you feel if someone told you that you couldn’t be with the person you loved?”

On wanting the best for his children: “Would it bother me if a child of mine turns out to be gay? No, not one bit. Listen, I want my kids to live the lives they want to live. I want them to be fulfilled. I hope I teach my kids to be who they really are.”

Go Brad!

Yum.

Just thought I'd share.

(That's Ryan Reynolds, in case you were wondering. You really should see The Proposal. Not his best - they didn't let him use his razor wit like they should have - but ohmigod the abs. The ABS.)

*swoon*

Love This!

You know you're in love when you begin mirroring your 10-month-old's wiggly, smiley, floppy-hand shrieking noises because you JUST CAN'T HELP IT, SHE IS SO DAMNED A-FREAKING-DORABLE.

I'm in awe.

I really am. I was watching Emma play with my hair as she nursed this morning and all I could think about was, "I don't think I've documented this on my blog yet - I hope I never forget what this feels like."

It's amazing - she's so gentle when she plays with the strands of my hair, and she ALWAYS has to play with it. The first thing she does after latching on is reach out for my hair. Occasionally she'll tug a little too hard, but a "No" or "Nice touches" usually does the trick and she goes back to just gently running her fingers through it. If my hair isn't available, she'll grab her own and pull on it, but she prefers mine. It's one of those moments that you wish you could capture and freeze forever.

This has been such a big week for our little girl. She started crawling, pulling up, signing "please" and repeating our sounds when we make them to her. She does "So big!" now, on cue. She also would play with her Noah's Ark and shapesorter barn for HOURS if we let her. She gives kisses without being asked. And her little toes - have I mentioned I love baby toes? - are perpetually pointed like a little ballerina. bn vgv bh bnj bh b u u b f v bvhg vbghv

(She just typed that. I had to leave it in.)

She has also made the transition from fussing only when she needs something to fussing when she doesn't get something she WANTS. And...so it begins. The discipline thing. This week I've said, "You're fine" a LOT. Over the past month or so I started getting worried that I wasn't going to be as much of a hardass with her as I was with Alex, but that one was answered for me this week - yeah, still the hardass. If there's one thing I will NOT tolerate, it's my own whiny children. (I can't tolerate other people's whiny children either, but at least MY kids won't be the ones annoying THEM.) She is just now getting old enough that if it takes me more than 2 seconds to get the spoon to her mouth, and she starts that annoying "Waaah," I pull the spoon back and tell her, "Chill. It's still here, you're going to get it, you aren't going to starve." And she gets it when she stops "Waaah"-ing. She's learning to deal.

In other news, I go in to get the results of the MRI tomorrow. Obviously there's something wrong (duh, the insane amounts of PAIN PAIN PAIN OW that I've been in should have clued me in) because the nurse didn't just say, "The MRI was normal, you'll be fine." She said, "Let's get you in here as soon as possible so we can go over the results and discuss TREATMENT OPTIONS." So I don't know what's going on yet, but I apparently have TREATMENT OPTIONS. If I could be jumping right now, I would be. 'Cause I'm so excited about my OPTIONS. For treating...well...whatever the hell is wrong with me.

I mean, seriously, is it really that hard to tell me what's going on? Stupid lawyers and their stupid lawsuits that say I can't even know what's going on with MY OWN BODY if the stupid DOCTOR doesn't tell me. Stupids.

I have now had 5 and a half days total that I've missed work (the last three have been half days) because of this pain thing. I'm hoping that they either give me some serious drugs so I can get back to work normally or shoot me up with something that cures it. I don't care at this point, I just want the pain to GO AWAY.

Alex had another three sticker night at TKD, AND he got his first stripe on his orange belt (he has to get three by the next testing).

More info on the MRI tomorrow.

Love This!

I really can't believe the kinds of things people will do to food. It almost makes me not want to eat cake.

Almost.

Cake Wrecks

Love This!

"I don't hate Valentines Day, I would just rather someone got me a present because it was a Thursday or its rainy out. My perfect guy would often say things like "Hey I was at the store and I bought you Hot Pockets and a stuffed monkey. Wanna watch a horror movie?"."

Love This!

I seriously LOST MY SHIT. hehehe...

The Armstrong Returning of the Garbage Disposal Disaster

Love This!

Turn off your alarm, come back to bed, and snuggle for another hour and a half.

Then go do a puzzle with our son.

All before 7:30 a.m.

God, I love that man.

Love This!

Occasionally I'll check etsy.com for adorable handmade items for Emma or my friends. I found the two below and my brain went "SQUEE!"

Trinity's Tutus Kristy, Jazlyn's getting one of these for her birthday. And it may come early. ;-)

Ladybug Dress

Love This!

HAHAHAHA! I actually laughed out loud at this -

So I signed up for the Google ad thingy, which is cool 'cause if people click the ads on your page you get paid (although that sentence is NOT asking you to click, because according to the "terms of contract" I'm not allowed to ASK anyone to click).

So apparently what they do is the Google program "crawls" your site and looks for keywords. And then they post ads that match those keywords. Hence the breastfeeding ads that were in abundance.

Until just now, when I saw this, and I couldn't freakin' resist: www.kathyscatcaskets.com

Who in her right mind would make a living out of selling CAT CASKETS? Why, Kathy, that's who!

Love This!

Me(to myself, Alex is in the backseat): So Alex has make-up classes all next week. Monday and Tuesday are Tae Kwon Do, Monday and Thursday are Gymnastics, Thursday and Friday are dance...

Alex: But I don't like to put makeup on my lips.

Me: ...wha...?

Alex: I don't want to go to a makeup class! I don't like putting makeup on my lips!

Love This!

Everytime I see this little ad pop up on one of my daily websites, my heart skips a beat. Go ahead and click that link. I dare you.

SHOES

OMG, aren't they BEAUTIFUL?

Not that I would actually wear them, but OMG, I could so be a shoe hoarder if I didn't think it was ridiculous to pay more than 30 bucks for a pair of shoes.

Love This!

In a nod to my favorite blogger's genius, I decided I'm going to do a few short blurby posts every once in awhile titled: "Pondering," "Piss Me Off, Why Don't You," and "Love This!" (imagine it said in a squeaky, high pitched tone). I fully admit that I'm ripping off Dooce here, but I love her and would kiss her feet for all the laughs she's given me since Scott introduced me to her a couple of years ago. So go to her site. She actually makes a living doing this bloggy thing.