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Monday, August 30, 2010

McFatty Monday Week #7 Results

Jason is totally beating me in the challenge. I'm really proud of him, but I've got to get going!! 

My 2 major faults this week:
1. I haven't been planning my school lunches and guess what?!?! A school cafeteria is not very Atkins friendly. 

2. I had to eat carb-rich food at the Byrnes football game this Saturday... then I proceded to feel as sick as a dog. You should never eat nothing but carbs after abstaining for so long.... 

Weight loss results for this week:

Jason- 1.8- 14.8 pounds... YALL... I'm SO going to lose!!
Alicia- +1 pound- 11.2 pounds

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Pottery Barn is TOO cute!!

Okay... I'm addicted to Pottery Barn Kids. 

For Easter, I bought Grayster this super-cute Easter basket:


So, when I saw these Halloween treat bags, guess who just had to have one???




What I love the most is that they will embroider Grayson's name on the back!

Maybe once Halloween rolls around this year he'll have a cooler costume than this....


One day he is going to be super mad at me for that last photo.... 





Friday, August 27, 2010

Photos from the Week



Now that it is Friday, and I can FINALLY take a break for a minute, I'll post the fun pictures from this week!!

I took a nice picture of the boys...

Then Grayson decided enough was enough with the picture taking.

Grayson convinced me that he needed some blocks...


These blocks look pretty good as a hat. 

OMG...  this Mama LOVES that little smile!


Just playing tonight!!







51 Weeks

The Bump Dot Com just sent me an email that said "Today your baby is 51 weeks old!". I CANNOT be the mother of a 51 week old baby. Not me. Haha....

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

My Husband Is a Nut

Tonight I came home from band practice and sat down to eat with Jason and Grayson. Jason had a scheduled day off from work today, so at dinner I asked him what he did today. I thought he was joking when he responded, "I made a video". Umm... apparently he DID make a video, and posted it on YouTube!!!

Jason loves to collect guns... weird, but everyone has their own thing... this is his thing. Anyway, here is Jason talking about some specific gun he has... haha....




Monday, August 23, 2010

McFatty Monday Week #6 Results

For this edition of McFatty Monday, I have some stories of all the diets that I have tried (and failed).

1. When I was in 9th grade I decided to cut out my night time snack of Oreos and Milk. I promptly lost 15 pounds. Honestly... this was the easiest diet EVER. Unfortunately, my metabolism doesn't work like that anymore, and I don't have oreos and milk every single night.



2. I tried the Atkins diet (low carb) when I became drum major at USC. It was really important to me to have a bottom that wouldn't be the size of the jumbotron during football games. I did this along with running for over 3 months, loved it, lost around 20 pounds... and then gradually added carbs back until I had gained almost everything back....

3. When I was a senior in college I joined Jenny Craig during their 20 pounds for $20 special. It was so expensive!!! I spent over $100 a week on their food (for just me!), and maybe lost 7 pounds. I guess it would work if you could afford to be on the diet for a long time, and if you actually ate the food instead of made excuses as to why it was okay if you quit.

4. I tried Weight Watchers a few summers ago. I liked the points thing, but it made me think about how many points I could eat all day long. Consequently, my obsession with food grew... I think I lost about 6 pounds.

5. I began Healthy Weigh the summer of 2008. It was a program where you go for weekly weigh ins, they give you some food for lunch, and you provide your own breakfast and dinner. I didn't lose a thing. I wanted to succeed so I would go to the sauna at the gym an hour and a half before my weigh in and stay there until I couldn't take it any longer just so I could see some weight loss on the scale.

SO--- now we're back on Atkins, and I'm feeling great. Maybe one day I'll talk about this lifestyle more, but for right now, I'm just really happy to have found something that makes me feel so much better.

Weight loss results for this week:

Jason- 1 pound- 13 pounds
Alicia- 2 pounds- 12.2 pounds

We're getting really close to 15 pounds now!!! 

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Our Trip to Indianapolis

Last weekend Jason and I traveled up to Indianapolis to meet my Mom and Dad to see KELSEY march with Carolina Crown Drum Corps in the Drum Corps International World Championships.

It was an amazing experience. One that I will NEVER forget.

Friday night was semi-finals. We were excited to be there. We were kind of on the 2nd level, 15 yard line area. It was a fun place to be. After Kelsey's corps performed, she and her friend came to sit with us to watch the Blue Devils (the corps that ultimately won the championship).

I have a drop dead gorgeous sister... and that night I was SO proud of her! I think I could have told the entire stadium about her!

The next morning we met Kelsey at Avon HS to see her group rehearse. Drum Corps is like professional marching band and it is amazing to see these people work.

They even put their bookbags and water bottles in a line.... amazing.


Guard people.


A close up from the Blackberry.... not very good, but you see Kelsey with a flag.


Love my family!


The most horrible smell you could ever imagine resided in this gym where the corps slept. I mean honestly... these people really stink. Kelsey says the problem isn't with the people, it is in the fact that when they get in from rehearsal their clothes are wet, and they just never have time to dry before they are on the road again. 
Friday afternoon we headed back to the city. Mom, Dad, Jason and I ate a nice dinner at a restaurant/ micro-brewery downtown and then walked to the stadium. Our seats for finals were INCREDIBLE. 

That's right. Fifty yard line. Second Row. Loudness Heaven.

These corps are made up of young adults who really put all of their heart into the activity. They begin rehearsing at weekend long camps in November (usually once or twice a month) and then move in full time with the corps in May. Once that begins, they rehearse all day long every single day for a few weeks before hitting the road to go on tour. Once on tour, they travel on charter buses all over the country, sleeping on gym floors for a few hours at a time if given the opportunity and then spending every day in the heat rehearsing, and later performing at a local stadium for fans. It is really quite amazing.

Each corps has their own traditions. One really cool tradition comes from Santa Clara Vanguard out of California. Their "age-outs" (members who will be too old to march next season... 22 years old) get to wear green feathers in their Aussies (hats). 

You can see the green if you click on this photo to enlarge.


When Carolina Crown came out we were so excited. We saw Kelsey, yelled for her, and because we were so close, she was able to hear us and mouth "Hush!".

A photo of Kelsey's back.

Now... just so you can kind of experience what it was like to be there... here is a recording (from my camera) of Carolina Crown during finals. It isn't very big... but if you turn up your volume... it is VERY loud!! It was even cooler in real life.



I do have to tell you a bad story of Carolina Crown's finals run. Right at the very end of the show, one hornline member fell down. Apparently he had been nursing a stress fracture in his leg all summer long, and while he was marching the bone just broke into two pieces... it was super scary to see him fall, then try to get up and hop off... a ton of staff members ran onto the field to help get him to the sideline, and they ended up bringing in a stretcher to take him off the field. The day after the performance, he had surgery to insert a metal rod into his leg to repair the broken bone. So scary.

Anyway... I have tons of photos... but I'll only post a few more :).

See... we were really there!!

And... last but not least, Kelsey!!










Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Since You Only Live Once

Sometimes Mommy says it's okay to pull out all the tissues one by one from a Kleenex box.






Monday, August 16, 2010

McFatty Monday Week #5 Results

This week Jason and I continued to lose weight, but we didn't lose a ton simply because we couldn't be perfectly on our diet this past weekend. Whatever. Losing weight is hard and it is a choice we have to make every. single. day. To us, it is worth it to feel better, have more energy, and to fit into our clothes better.

Every day that I stay on the diet is a day that I do it for my family. I know that Grayson may not ever know that his mommy and daddy wanted to be lose weight so that they could have all the energy in the world to play with him, but he is why it is so easy for me to make the right choices when it comes to what I eat. I think about the best thing I could possibly eat and then spending time with Grayson.... I choose Grayson.

So... the results:

Jason- 1 pound- 12 pounds total
Alicia- 0.8 pound- 10.2 pounds total

Can I just mention that I am really, really excited to say that I weigh less now (and I have for a few weeks) than I did when I first found out I was pregnant with Grayson??

Sunday, August 15, 2010

We Missed This Boy!!

I'm working on a post about this past weekend's trip to Indy to see the Kelsey perform in the Drum Corps International World Championship, but for now here are a few photos of who we came home to see!

Grayson decided to crawl into his downstairs toy bin tonight...

Who can't love that goofy grin??


This is my sweet boy. I love him.



Monday, August 9, 2010

Furlough Day #1

No one likes furlough days, but Grayson and I made the best of my first of five. We played and played in his room this morning, and then he kept an eye on the neighborhood from his window for a bit.






Grayson wasn't quite ready for his morning nap when the time came this morning... so we went school supply shopping! YAY!! 

Yes, I do have lot of Kleenex in my trunk... I can't stand having snotty kids in my class!

When we made it back home, Grayson decided that he did need to take that morning nap. I decided to throw throw some things we had in the refridgerator into the crock pot for dinner... we'll see how it turns out tonight!



Oh!! One more thing! Grayson has decided that he likes his walker thing now! He is getting really good at using it too!







And one more, just for cuteness...




McFatty Monday Week #4 Results

Weight loss has picked up again!! Both Jason and I had a really good week weight loss wise.

Jason- 4 pounds- 11 pounds total
Alicia- 2.4 pounds- 9.4 pounds total

I am amazed that in four weeks time, I have lost the equivalent of Grayson as a newborn plus one pound! Jason has lost the equivalent of Grayson as a 2 month old!

Anyway, we definitely want to make it to 15 pounds now... we're getting closer every day!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

ELEVEN MONTHS OLD!!


Grayson is eleven months old now!! 

I can hardly believe it! Here are a few things he is doing right now:

* Loves to play with his toys and big people things

* Stands up by pulling on anything!

* Can FINALLY go from crawling to sitting

* Talks non-stop... His words are mostly all made up, but he can say Mama, Dada, Gordo, JuJu, Bye Bye, Hey, Uh-Oh, and Up.

* He waves, points up, claps (loves to clap), signs "more"

*Smiles and hugs Jerome (his stuffed monkey) anytime he sees him

* Eats ANYTHING

* Is gradually getting better with a sippy cup, but still drinks mostly from his bottle

Friday, August 6, 2010

Band Camp Means No Blog Updates

Our air conditioning broke again on Wednesday evening. It is working now (thanks to our great repairman) but Thursday after morning band practice Grayson and I went to my parents to hang out. Here are a couple of pictures:




Kaci and I went shopping after band camp today to Switcharoos!! I consigned a lot of Grayson's baby clothes and equipment there earlier in the week, and I'm hoping everything sells! Today I picked up these awesome things:

I must have been in a "red" mood today!

"New" toys for a sweet boy!



Monday, August 2, 2010

McFatty Monday Week #3 Results

Well... we just aren't losing weight all that fast!!!

Jason and I are still going strong on this diet, but the weight loss just didn't happen for us this week.

What we've decided to do this week:
1. Drink More Water
2. Cut out Atkins bars for a bit (sometimes these can stall weight loss even though they are okay)
3. Don't stress... hey, we're still better off than we were 3 weeks ago!!

The results:

Alicia- 1 pound- 7 pounds total weight loss
Jason- 0 pounds- 7 pounds total weight loss

SO-- now we are on even ground to get to 15 pounds... keep checking in on Mondays to find out who loses the last 8 pounds first!!