Saturday, July 18, 2009

Challenge 2 Update

I haven't talked much about the second Weight Loss Challenge that I am part of, so I will now. It is the same as the 42 day challenge, except we are doing this challenge for 12 weeks.

While the LBS haven't been dropping as fast during this second challenge, I am seeing many inches disappear....which is fine by me.

So far, since starting the first challenge, i have lost a total of 16 pounds(12 in the first challenge and only 4lbs in the 2nd challenge so far). I didn't take my measurements for the first challenge, but I did take them before the second challenge started and in 6 weeks, I have lost over 7 inches!!

Now for the big news....I have gone down about 3 sizes!! I can now wear my old work clothes and suits!! To be honest, I didn't even know this until this week. My pre-Mateo clothes have been hanging in my closet (not being touched) since January. I knew I couldn't wear them(or anything even close to it), so why try them on, right? Well, before I went back to work in May, I went and bought new pants, some skirts, etc to wear for work and I have been wearing this stuff since I started back to work. The dress pants I bought were beginning to be a little bigger, but I thought they were just stretching out since I was wearing them so much. However, I went to a store this past week and tried on a new outfit in a size I couldn't even wear before I got pregnant with Mateo(it was cute and on clearance)......and it FIT!!! Now let me say, it is a skirt suit, so I am sure I got away with a smaller size because of that, but on Wednesday, I felt GREAT!

Thursday morning, I got up and decided to pull some pants out of the closet (gasp!). I got the larger size out (that I couldn't wear) and tried them on and they were ok, but a little baggy, so I pulled out the smaller size(DOUBLE GASP), put them on and wore a perma-smile the rest of the day!!

I still have several LBS and inches I need to lose, but seeing the progress is keeping me motivated!!

I also wanted to send a special shout out to Kristi. She is ROCKING this challenge! If you haven't seen her latest Challenge Update, you should go to it now. This challenge has been great for so many of us and I don't know what we will all do when it is over....hopefully KEEP GOING!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

PCB 2009

We are just returning from our 2009 Florida vacation. We had a great time! Here are LOTS and LOTS of pics from our week.

I will start with July 2nd. It was the last day for Mateo and Tatum to be at school, so they wore Red, White, and Blue for the 4th of July. Here is Mateo before school.

....Tatum wouldn't let me take her picture at first, but as soon as Mateo was getting all the attention, she jumped in a started posing.
Antonio and I decided that we would leave Friday and drive half way to Florida, spend the night and drive the rest of the way the next day. Here is Tatum on the drive down to Montgomery, AL.
....and this was the picture I got of Mateo.
We got a room with a king size bed and requested a crib. It was ready and waiting in the room when we arrived about 6pm. The kids were ready to stay up since they slept most of the ride in the car, so we let them stay up and play. We all finally went to bed around 9pm. Mateo was fast asleep in his crib and the rest of us were in the bed. Tatum was HORRIBLE to sleep with! She turned all around, kicked, threw her arms around, etc....I got several kicks to the face/head and a few bruises too. Mateo woke up at some point in the middle of the night and ended up in bed with us too. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Here is a picture of Tatum sleeping ACROSS the bed and Mateo is asleep beside her in the bed.


We got up and ate breakfast early the next morning, but we were in no rush to get on the road since we couldn't check in until 4pm and we only had 4 more hours to drive. So, I decided to take some pictures. Tatum was laying on his back with his legs up and Mateo was sitting on his stomach. Tatum wanted to sit with him and she got behind Mateo. It was cute and I grabbed the camera. As I was about to take the first picture, Mateo spit up ALL OVER Tatum's arms and she was pretty grossed out. I cleaned it up and tried to get her to pose again, but she refused. I finally bribed her with a snack and I got some cute pictures of them in more of their red, white and blue outfits.

We arrived in PCB a little early, but luckily we got to check in anyway.
We(my parents, brother and his wife, and sister and her fam) checked in on July 4th to our condo. That night, some of our family that lives down in the PCB area came over with dinner. It was all so yummy! Later that night, we sat on the deck or on the beach and watched about 2 hours of fireworks.
Mom and Mateo watching fireworks on the beach.
Tatum playing in the sand.
My niece, Mckayla, and Tatum
Mom and Mateo again.
Mom, me, Mateo, and Tatum
Tatum and Antonio
The next day, we went down to the beach. Here is my mom and dad...
Cyp, my bro in law
We even saw dolphins!!! Do you see it?
The people that stayed in the condo before us left this kiddie pool behind. We took it down to the beach and the girls all played in it. Here is Tatum in the pool...
Mateo chillin' at the beach.
Mya, my other niece, at the beach with her butterfly glasses. She and Tatum had the best time. They are just 6 weeks apart in age and I love seeing them together these days.
Antonio and Tatum flying a Dora kite
Mya flying her kite too....
This is how Mateo spent most of his time on the beach. My mom brought him this pool, we added 2 buckets of ocean water, and then Mateo just hung out....and slept most days.
The weather wasn't the best most days. One day, we went to the movies to see Ice Age in 3-D. THis was Tatum AND Mateo's first movie theater experience, so I had to snap a picture. Tatum is wearing her 3D glasses. Tatum enjoyed the movie (and LOVED the popcorn) and Mateo slept the WHOLE time! The movie was very good and kept my attention.
My sister bought all the girls these matching dresses and they wore them to the movies. This is outside after the movie.

Last year, our condo did not have any kind of internet connection and we didn't expect one this year either. However, when we found out there WAS a wireless connection, this was some quality family time one night...haha.. There are 4 computers in this picture, but I think there were a total of 6 computers out of 8 adults in the condo. Mateo had to get in on the computer action too!
Here is what most mornings looked like when we got up....I think Antonio, the kids, and I spent at least a few hours at the beach every day because it would clear up. And the last 2 days it was just beautiful!

Mateo napping at the beach again...

The girls LOVED playing in the waves. Tatum and Mya would go down and wait on the waves to come up....when the waves would come, they would run out of the water, and then go back again. This entertained them for a LONG time!

Tatum (waving to someone or someTHING) and Antonio...looks like they had been out hunting for seashells.
Here is a picture of our condo. We stay in the very middle.
Another day.....the same Mateo...

Tatum did LOTS of singing to the ocean. I am not really sure WHAT she was singing or why she was singing, but I got it on video to post sometime.
Gran, my grandmother, made Tatum and Mateo matching outfits, so I wanted to take them to FL with us and get some pictures. We ended up taking these like Wed night since the weather was so unpredictible. Here are a few of the best pictures...





One of my grandmother's sisters lives in Panama City with her husband. They came over to see us the first night we were there and came back later in the week and grilled out with us. It was clear and sunny when they got there, but started raining when the men began grilling. So, what do you do when it starts raining and you still want to grill????
....you grab your own umbrella and keep on grillin'!
My mom popped popcorn a couple of days so that the girls could feed the birds. The girls had a great time and the birds seemed to enjoy the popcorn too!

On Friday (our last full day in FL) we (I) was determined to stay out all day to soak up lots of sun. Well, it started raining a little, but since we had a big tent, we just put our chairs under it and planned to wait it out. The rain did let up a little, but about 5 minutes later it REALLY started raining. Laurie, her 2 girls, my mom, Mateo, and I all made a run for it. My dad decided he would wait it out....
...still waiting.... he finally gave up and made a run for it too....
Saturday morning(the morning we left), I took a few last pics of the beach...
I think this is the only family picture we took the whole week. We had planned on taking more beach pics, but just never did. So, here is our family pic....
and a pic of my parents....
Tatum and Mateo with my parents...
As you can see, we had a blast! Vacations always seem to fly by! It was nice spending time with all the family for the week.
I asked Tatum what she liked most about our vacation and she told me she liked everyone "staying with her at her house". As soon as her eyes would open in the morning she would ask to see Mya and Mckayla. It is fun to see her play with her cousins and also spending time with aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She gets lots of attention and spoiling for sure!