weight loss tip (especially good for pregnant folks)

there are so many seemingly great diets out there on the market. i hear about all of these fantastic south beach recipes and eating canadian bacon and eggs for breakfast with the results of pounds flying off. i've always had the philosophy that i'll eat pretty good and run a few times a week, and things are fine. we'll, i'm still able to run...rather jog, but after about a mile or two my bladder is full and starting to leak, and it throws off the whole thing (let alone i sneeze or laugh as you may have read about on previous posts). i do still eat pretty good, but i've abandoned eating my spinach salads for lunch, as pregnant ladies (at least this one) have enough problems with gas, that my poor afternoon patients would be in for way to much.

anyway...a friend of mine jen recently introduced me to a weight loss plan that i could actually participate in, while being pregnant. ...imagine that, weight loss while pregnant (and i'm not talking about the first trimester weight loss plan that involved eating saltines, and throwing up on a regular basis, as that weight loss plan pretty much sucked)...i'm talking about an actual healthy weight loss plan for pregnant folks (or anyone for that matter). the only problem with doing it now, is that i wont be able to join during the post baby period of trying to cut down the pounds. oh well...what the heck....i joined in yesterday...and my husband noticed right away (well acutally when i picked him up, he got in the car and it took him about 2-3 minutes to notice, but that's 'right away' for him...)

a morning in the life of a pregnant chic...

my day started about 4 am when i got up to get to the bathroom. jed was comfortably sleeping on the couch upstairs, and i didn't have the heart to make him get off, so i peed and made my way back to bed. after multiple hits of the snooze button i sifted through all of the many pillows that now live on our bed, and got up. the bathroom mirror never ceases to amaze me each morning of a reminder that 'oh my word am i looking big and pregnant' ...not that i forget, but just that im amazed i don't always fit in the mirror anymore.
on my way to work i get a call from 'leslie's boutique' telling me that my order for the cloth diapers can't be shipped b/c the zip code doesn't match. she thought maybe it was a typo, but actually i had somehow given her the totally wrong zip code...that of my parents in charlotte, nc. (no real idea why i gave that one, but just did--- maybe it was kind of like when i was giving someone my name the other day and they asked for the spelling, and i replied "j-u-l-i-e" ...first of all they were asking about my last name, and second of all i don't spell my first name that way---or maybe it was kind of like the waitress that asked me if i knew whether or not the baby was a boy or girl, and after i said "boy" i automatically asked her "what about yours" (she was NOT pregnant at all, and wasn't a bit amused, but my absentminded question).
anyway...so on my way to work, i was warming up with the heat, and then went to turn the radio down...about 60 sec later i realized i was getting cold and the radio was still loud. come to find out i turned the heat down to 'cool' and never adjusted the volume. it was 45 degrees out and i was driving to work with the a.c. on and the music blasting.
i sneezed a few times and piddled my pants.
i went to do an observation of an evaluation session. it was the set up where there was an observation room outside of the evaluation room with a mirror that you could see through from the observation room. a baby monitor was set up so that you could hear what was happening from the observation room. i turned on the monitor and couldn't believe how quite the sound was. so quite, that i had to put the receiver right up to my ear and sit close to the window so as to also read lips. this proceeded for about 10 minutes, until someone came into the observation room and suggested i turn up the volume. "...oh ...yeah...right...that's much better"
...
i know i've been accused of being a little ditsy in the past, but i really don't think it was this freakin' bad...or was it?!

the annual bdr in chicago last weekend was great. it was a little strange not having all 8 of us there, as we kept getting off on our head count and feeling like peps were left behind (tiff and marne we missed having you). the 2 babies were a new addition to the group and were just amazing. i'm in love, and i think lil' pearson was too. the girls threw me a surprise shower for the lil' guy with such fun decorations, cake, gifts and advice. my favorite was beaded chain they made, in which they each gave a bead and a piece of advice and wishes for strength through the birthing process, thoughts on parenting, and overall support.

it's amazing to have friends like this.

lil' sophia talking to her future husband lil' pearson...

i never thought much of arranged marriages until now. they are seeming like a pretty darn good idea if you ask me. sophia will be a year old in feb. for those of you who don't know, she's the daughter of my bff wendy, and a prime candidate for lil' pearson's future wife. wendy and i think it's a great idea, and from the looks of sophia, she seems like she could be easily persuaded (once he's born and grows up and stuff). we just need to pursuade wendy's husband that it's a good idea for sophia to get married...someday, as he's still in denial that his daughter will ever even date.

going to chicago with an earplug in each ear...

chad may be 'going to california with an achin' in his heart' (he's leaving his pregnant wife after all...for his conference in ca), but i'm 'headed to chicago with an earplug in each ear.' (think led zeplin for the tune that goes along).

anyway, this is our annual 'beaver dam reunion' in which the girls get together. it's mostly girls from college, and jolene who is an 'honary' beaver. we've been doing it in some capacity since 1999, and although we don't all make it every year, we do our best to get together somewhere. none of us have quite struck it rich yet, so we still try to do it on a tight budget, with the goal of getting together for the sake of being together regardless of what we do. this year we're going to emily's place in chicago.

1 bedroom apt

6 grownups (well...i don't know if we can call ourselves that yet)

2 babies + 2 pack and plays

and a dog (though poor lil' norman will go to grandmas and grandpas)

...the good thing is that we don't really care. we've all been used to packing it in and making it work & we actually have fun this way. as long as we have plenty of air mattresses, snack food, red wine (though i'll be out this yr) and toilet paper...we're good to go. this year, i decided that i'd bring everyone ear plugs as well.

jed on the bed

jed just knows something is up. he follows me like a shadow (given my poor balance and depth perception these days, i've almost tripped over him on multiple locations). whenever i look up from what i'm doing he's staring at me in the most intense and adoring manner. not sure that he really knows why, but something's definitely up. he even listens better. we were on a walk the other nite and his return rate when called was near 100%- never has it been this high. he seems to also know that i'm becoming a bit more of a push over. last nite when i got home from work to lay down for a little while, he just hopped up in bed with me, as if it wasn't a big deal. for those of you that don't know, jed doesn't get on furniture (at least not when we're around) and he NEVER sleeps with us (expcept on vacation, or at uncle carl and aunt sara's when he sleeps with my cousin kelly). ...so maybe 'never' is the wrong word, but it's really atypical that he'd just hope right up in bed. and then, late last nite i woke up to go to the bathroom, which has become a new ritual, and noticed he wasn't on his dog bed. i wandered a bit and found him sprawled out snoozing on our living room couch. what's up with this? i think maybe he does know that his ranking is soon to be challenged and he's trying to step it up a notch when i'm most vulnerable. maybe he's not quite the 'dumb jock' we've always thought...or maybe he is, and i'm just becoming more and more a push over.