Picture Perfect

This week's weight loss was not as dramatic as last week's, but I did lose a respectable .5 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 17 pounds, with 23 more to go by my 40th birthday on August 15th.

As I mentioned in last week's post, Mother's Day was also our son's 10th birthday. It was a really nice day from beginning to end, starting with me getting to sleep in until around 10 a.m., followed by Will opening his birthday gifts and me opening my Mother's Day Gifts. Piper gave me a beautiful framed painting.

Will wrote me a poem, that I just have to share:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

They are pretty...

But not as pretty as you.

Sunflowers are yellow

Shamrocks are green

They are easy to find...

But not as easy as you.

I had to restrain myself from laughing too hard at the ending's double entendre, but how darned sweet is that?

One of the most unexpected surprises of the day for me was actually being happy with the pictures that my husband took of me with the kids that day. Honestly, I can't even think of the last time I took a picture with my kids that I liked. Granted, I'm still 23 pounds away from my goal, but I've taken enough weight off already to see a real visible difference.

I don't have any photos out in the house right now featuring me, well except for our wedding pictures on the wall and the framed picture of me in the sixth grade in my Dodgers softball uniform and my Farrah Fawcett hair with my ball cap strategically placed so as to not disrupt my hair's perfect feathering (a gift my husband gave to me one Christmas because he thinks the picture is hilarious).

So to literally like the pictures from that day was really refreshing for me. I mean really refreshing.

Will and me on Mother's Day/his birthday

We decided to take the kids bowling, something Will thought would be fun for his big day, and something we have never done as a family since Piper was born more than three years ago. We had a blast, even though in the first of the two rounds we played, I came in last place. Yes, even my 3-year-old daughter beat me! And to my friends and family who have known me the longest, yes, I did attribute my defeat  to my crooked right arm.

17 pounds ago, I would have never shown this butt shot

(For those of you who don't know, my crooked right arm is the result of a swingset mishap in the '70s that resulted in a dislocation and four breaks in the growth area near my elbow that very well could have resulted in me having the arm the size of a 7-year-old for the rest of my life. Fortunately it didn't, but it did mess up my form at horse camp as a kid, as I was the only one who couldn't straighten both arms for the acrobatic horse performances. If my childhood friend and horse camp partner-in-crime Barbara is reading this, she's laughing right now and I actually think I can hear her all the way down in San Diego. She loved hearing me have to explain every year to the horse camp instructors why I can't straighten my right arm.)

But, never fear, by the second round of bowling, I redeemed myself.

Note the crooked right arm.

And while my husband thinks this photo of me is hilarious, I'd say judging by this scoreboard, I definitely got the last laugh (just to reinforce the point, J stands for Jennifer and C stands for Christian).

The day ended with a wonderful dinner at Benihana, something I worked out extra for all week and saved my 35 weekly Weight Watchers bonus points for so I could enjoy it without guilt. Benihana is a favorite birthday venue for the Whittys because, after all, nothing beats the "birthday drum" and an onion volcano to celebrate a big day.

Note the enthusiasm of the guy with the birthday drum.

Happy Birthday Will!

Here's hoping I drum up some great weight loss results this coming week!

Losing Weight is a Real Mother

I don't ever want to revisit the 70's.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the 1970's, the period up until I turned 10 when life revolved around chasing after the ice cream truck, collecting stickers and playing baseball with the boys down the street. 

But the 70's -- as in the period from 170 pounds to 179 pounds -- I plan to never ever visit again.  As you know from last week's blog, I had a frustrating few weeks, seemingly unable to get below 170 pounds. My body was so used to consuming a six pack of diet soda a day and sitting on the couch every night crocheting blankets for my etsy shop (http://www.luluandcharlie.etsy.com/), I think it kind of panicked when I replaced diet soda with water and began working out four days a week.

This week, the metabolism gods were definitely with me...I lost 4.5 pounds, bringing my total weight loss to 16.5 pounds! Here's this week's pic:

So, while I've had a great week of weight loss, another loss has been weighing on my mind in recent days.  This Sunday will be the first Mother's Day without my own mom, who died nearly four months ago after a decade-long battle with dementia. She was such a classy and talented woman. She was a published writer, an impeccable knitter and needlepointer, a devoted Kindergarten teacher, a wonderful listener, and supportive voice that always encouraged me to follow my dreams. She was the one who suggested that I  "give a nice boy a try" during a phone conversation we had when I was in college and was telling her I thought this new boy I just started dating was "too nice."  That boy is now my husband of nearly 14 years.

She's not heavy, she's my daughter: Mom and me in the 70's.

This Sunday is also my son's 10th birthday, so Mother's Day will definitely be a bittersweet day for me.  But it will be mostly sweet as we will be celebrating my son hitting the double-digits, plus I just ordered the most delectable chocolate cake smothered in a rich chocolate ganache for his big day. Will is a sucker for chocolate cake; the richer the better.

Will up to bat during his last baseball game of his single-digit years

In anticipation of Mother's Day and my son's 10th birthday, I decided to create a list of the Top 10 things I love about being a mom. In Dave Letterman style, I'll start with number 10.

10. I love how a knuckle punch and a pep talk from me can turn my son Will's stike outs into a powerful hit into the outfield.

9. I love that when our 3-year-old daughter Piper comes into our room at 4 a.m. to sleep with us, she always comes to my side of the bed.

8. I love the "teachable moments" that make me feel like Mike Brady from the Brady Bunch, without the bad perm.

7. I love that Piper loves Hello Kitty, just like I did as a little girl.

6. I love that for Will's birthday celebration he only wanted to invite two friends, Lucas and Anders, to go to Scandia and have a sleepover because, as he says, "If I invited more, I wouldn't be able to spend as much time talking to Lucas and Anders. Plus some of the other kids at school that I play with say bad words." How's that for making you feel like you're doing something right?

5. I love how soft my daughter's hair feels when she cuddles up to me and tucks her head under my chin.

4. I love when Piper sits on Will's lap with her favorite blankie and sucks her thumb.

3. I love how when my kids argue that it reminds me of when mom used to yell to my brother and me, "Someday I hope you have children just like you!" And that I understand now how she felt.

2. I love that I have never uttered the words, "Someday I hope you have children just like you!" to my own children when they bicker.

1. I love to hear "Mommeeeeeeee" when I come in the front door.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! Yes, losing weight is a real mother, but I'm determined to lose the remaining 23.5 pounds I have left on my journey to loose 40 pounds by my 40th birthday on August 15th.