Random Pictures

I am an artiste!
Did you know that we bought this easel for John's birthday....not last year, but the year before.
Yeah, and we just gave it to him for Christmas this past year.
Does this make us bad parents?
First time using the fireplace in 4 years.

John loves helping in the kitchen

pudding face

screaming pudding face
Although lately, everything is "screaming"....

Playdough Riley
So thanks Auntie Two. Every time we play with playdough
we need to make Riley and Riley's dishes.
Oh no!
And every time, his head falls off.
Lemon Coconut Cake (fyi: this is the cake that I was trying to give away!!!)
It's a pretty good cake, just probably not a wise decision to
make a cake when you're trying to lose weight.
Steven's version of the Philly Cheese Steak
Close-up, can you feel your arteries hardening?


Check me out!

John can spell. Are you impressed? I am very impressed.New Boots. I love second-hand stores, bought these boots and they still had the tag on!

You will listen to me. You will do my bidding.
You are my slave.

Now go get me a treat.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Since last Wednesday I have:

exercised 4 times
worked late 3 times in the past 5 days
drank my water
drank too much soda
lost weight

I still need to work on not snacking. I also need to work on having better snacks.

My goal this week is to work on my sleeping habits. There's no reason why I am going to bed so late every night. I also need to work on not working late so much. I need to have a better work/life balance.

I didn't measure this week. I have decided to measure every two weeks.

Playdate

Over the Christmas break, Lashanna & Nevaeh came over for a playdate.

Riley was a big hit. He loves babies. He feels that he is the protector of all babies.

He also knows that babies are constantly dropping food.

John, such a host. He gave tissues to everyone and felt that Nevaeh needed to blow her nose.

My lady, your carriage awaits.

I should probably cut down on taking photos of myself & John. As a result, he put Nevaeh in a headlock and tried to take a photo with his spiderman camera.

Coloring in the coloring book.

Coloring Riley.

I don't even think that Riley could get closer if he tried.

I love this picture.

Fishing game.

Dinner for two....and chaperone.

Look how cute they are.

Milk, Does A Body Good

Since turning decrepit, I mean turning 40, I have been concerned about my bones. In my quest to be healthier I have been drinking milk every day.

So here's the thing. I am lactose intolerant and usually I can drink skim milk without the adverse affects. This past week, I was on my way to work and could only find 1% milk. I thought to myself, "1%, meh how bad can it be?"

It can be bad. Very very bad.

So then I finished my 1% milk and bought myself some skim milk.

Wow, guess what, can't really drink skim milk either now.

Dear Family, Co-workers and random strangers standing down-wind of me:

I am sorry. So very sorry for subjecting you to my lack of lactose tolerance. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I'm going to stop drinking my milk but I am going to try my best to not fart in public.

TRY MY BEST. No guarantees.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Since Last Wednesday:

I have:
exercised 5 times
drank my water
drank less soda
eaten well

I have also:
lost weight
lost inches

I have also started running again.

New York Part III

Grand Central Station, I never knew how amazing it was. The pictures do not do it justice. This building is absolutely amazing, a work of art.
When you walk in, it is almost overwhelming. I'm glad that we went on a Sunday so that it was really quiet.

We were on our way to FAO Schwarz. Do you know how dorky we are? So we get off the subway and it's starting to rain. I'm trying to read my map and orient myself to the neighborhood. We walk. It's quiet, we're not too far away. Then Steven sees a crowd of people in the distance. We get excited. Maybe we'll see a celebrity. And then we turn the corner and lo and behold, it was a crowd of people waiting for FAO Schwarz to open. Didn't even dawn on me that the store would open later on a Sunday. DUH!

Don't you love it?

SQUEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Do you know how many kids I pushed out of the way to get here?
Just kidding...sort of.

But we didn't go into the store. No time. :(

Even though Steven had already seen it, we went to Rockefeller Centre. I have to say that it's not exactly what I thought it was.

Wishing. Hoping. Realizing that I'm way too cheap to buy a purse that expensive.

I am the one who saw the building, not Steven.

He was more interested in this building across the street.

Back to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Very humbling experience.
We went on Sunday during mass. Yup, that's right... mass.
Worship my holiness.

Elevators in the hotel.

Central Park, I love tourist stuff. Again, if I ever go back, this is definitely worth at least 2 days. I can't believe that such a large section of the city is green space. It just seems so luxurious. You couldn't even hear the traffic when you were in the park. You could lose yourself. And after looking at the maps, I've come to the conclusion that I probably would lose myself.

I wish that we had the top down on the carriage. It made it really difficult to see anything but it was a great ride.



After the carriage ride, we walked around the park. I wish that we had more time.

Right in the middle of the city.

Fifth Avenue

Last day. The walk back to the hotel from lunch in Hells Kitchen.

Airport. Going Home.

I Heart You

My mom had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Bet you didn't know that, huh?

She actually didn't get diagnosed until after she retired. After reading up on this condition, it's surprising that she actually didn't have a heart attack when she was younger. She worked so hard. Always so hard.

Since this is a genetic condition, the immediate familiy needs to be screened every few years. In my case I need to be screened every 5 years. So off I trot to get an echocardiogram. (ultrasound and hooked up to wires) I got my results today and my heart is okay. And I also found out something new.

I was under the impression that after being screened the first time (this was not my first time) and getting an all-clear, I thought that I didn't have this disease. But did I question why I still needed to get screened, why no I did not. Like a sheep, I blindly accepted that every few years I had an appointment and duly showed up at the clinic to be hooked up and checked out. Only this year did I think to question the sentences in her email.... "Just received your echo report today. Everything looks fine. There is no evidence of HCM at this point..." Did you catch that? at this point. How did I fail to acknowledge this before?

And then I found out: "Yes, it can show up at any time....Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to prevent it....If you have the abnormal gene from your mom it may show up at some point by a change in your echo despite anything you do."

And then I read: "HCM is frequently asymptomatic until sudden cardiac death, and for this reason some suggest routinely screening certain populations for this disease." "Once HCM has been identified in a family, it is advisable to have all immediate family members tested as soon as possible. Children often do not show signs of HCM and the first sign many children display is that of sudden cardiac arrest."

WTF?

If my weight gain alone hasn't provided an incentive to get healthier maybe this will be the shot in my ass to stay committed.

Remember that February is Heart and Stroke month. Get involved.