What?! I got an award!!

My very first blogger award ever! I am tickled! My girl Tara over at Many Sleepless Nights thinks that my blog has substance other than just some random crap! Can you believe it? And here I was thinking all I was writing about was the stuff rattling around in my noggin in-between the cob-webs.

Like all bloggie awards, this one has rules.
1-Thank the giver!
**Tara- Thank you so much! First and foremost, a huge thank you for being a long-time reader (she has been with me from the get-go!!) and having faith in my little dude, and always motivating me forward!! You are always positive and your journey has helped in my own! Second, thanks for my first award ::blushes::

2-Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation & experience using 5 words..
Yikes, this one is hard! I am throwing the 5 word rule out the window.
**Honesty
**I blog because I know how important the blogs I follow are to me! Especially the weight loss blogs, seeing some of these girls press on every week is such a HUGE motivator! We are never alone!
**Prematurity and the life that comes with it. I am trying to debunk that 24week safety net, spread hope and educate. Differences are never a problem, something wrong, or something to be scared of!
**Random things that make me smile, mostly my boy

3-Pass it on to 10 other blogs that you know have real substance!
**Every Day Matters
**Jenny
**Tear and Mend
**When Hello Means Goodbye
**The Andersons
**Journey 2 Baby Peek
**Ruby Family
**Mama Laughlin
**Jen's little space
**And as always, I love me some Blair

Thanks again for reading, and for all the positive vibes whether they were prematurity or weight related. I LOVE and APPRECIATE my readers and all of the awesome support I have seen from the beginning. You guys are awesome!

Mcfatty Monday-8/30

I have changed my weigh-in days from Monday to Friday. It is just what works for me, I guess I indulge a little to much over the weekend and Sunday's are our typical "family dinner days". Call me vain, but I need to see the numbers!! I will still try and remember to post on Mondays though.

(Friday, 8/27/10 196.3lbs ~ Total loss 17.7lbs)

This bloggie-friends, is my bestie. my bff. my homeslice. my girl. LOL
We have been friends for 16 years (oh.mah.gah.) and been through the mud and back. This girl, this girl knows me better than most (short of dh and the parentals...and maybe even more than them) and loves me anyway. She did a very selfless thing and enlisted last November and has been gone for 5 MONTHS! I haven't been away from her that long since I was 9. For serious. Last week she came home for a month long visit between basic/AIT and reporting to her actual post. One month of crazy, giggly, gilmore-girls filled evenings. I love this girl to pieces!!

Whoops, this is Mcfatty Monday, not pour-your-heart-out-to-the-internets Monday. This was Friday night, for her coming-home party. I am not to sure why I chose this picture, but I feel like I can see so much change in myself here. My jaw and cheeks are defined, I don't look puffy. For the first time in a long time, I like this picture of me.

Last week, I also completed 2 5ks. Granted, they were just practice and both took me over 45mins, but I still finished. There is a park near my house that is trails that are all mapped out and such, and my cousin and I have been running the 5k trail. We hit the woods again tomorrow.I also got on the dreadmill yesterday and ran over 6mins before I looked down and realized that I had gone over the time limit on my run interval and was able to walk now...thats quite an accomplishment for me. Usually I am counting down the entire last minute in my head...45...44...43...

Still struggling a bit with the calorie counting, but again it is still only on days that I am working out, so I am taking it that my body is trying to tell me something and trying not to beat myself up over it.

Anyone out there still reading this? Why quotes help move you? What keeps you going? Or who?

Yum corn!

Dawson still isn't so crazy about expanding his palette to table foods just yet (he has texture issues, which he gets from his mama whoops!) But he is getting more curious about the crazy things we are eating. He can't wait to gwt his hands on everything and check it out!

IMG00066-20100819-1105.jpg

ABR hearing test! This measures your brain stem's response to tones through the ears, in different pitches and volumes. 100% PASS! Wahoo!

Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

Mcfatty Monday 8/16/10

Sorry guys, I goofed! I saved yesterdays post as a draft instead of publishing it! Whoopsies! This on top of last week's MIA post, man I am on a roll downhill aren't I?!

Things are going well here in the mitten, I still struggle with keepig in my calorie range for the day ( I LOVE to snack) but I have been keeping up with the work outs about 5 days a week. This is really helping.

I also ordered a Heart-Rate monitor (Polar FT4) online and have been wearing it to the gym. I have been under-estimating myself! Which is always nice to see, turns out I burn about 500calories per workout. YES! Anyway, to the photo's- Please excuse my horrible hair, it has been in the 90's with two-thousand percent humidity here the last few weeks.

Dawson and I at a family reunion on Sunday.



And the 3 of us...Not a great picture of me, but I love Dawson's smile!

Weigh in 8/16- 199.6!! (Total loss to date-15.2)
I'm really starting to be able to see the difference in my face, chin and neck! I have a neck! YAY! I also had to dig out my 14's this weekend =D

I have also committed to some new goals. I would like to be in the 180's by Christmas. 19lbs to go!

I have also signed up for 2 5k's in October, the first is Cruisin for a Cure (benefit's the Relay for Life/ACS in my hometown) and is on October 9th. The second is Junior Acheivement's Halloween 5K on October 23rd. I don't think I will run in costume but have toyed with the idea of running in a TuTu to match one of the thousand pairs of funky socks I have!

Keep moving forward...

McFatty Monday- 08/02/10

August 2nd- 201.8 with clothes [work scale] 198 without (which I did at home, not at work)but the work one with clothes is the one that matters. A little pat on my own back though? That dress is a size 12 and I bought it for a wedding in 2006. My fake-Spanx are WORKING it today. I got the new Assets knockoffs (made by the creator of Spanx, without the $40 price tag) from Target for $18. I love them! I also need to find a better photo system that works for me. This one is 100% frightening. Boo.

I am so happy with my progress thus far. I am proud of myself for sticking with it! I went running on Saturday after our family golf outing, and it was my first time on the track and playing around with speed intervals. Usually I try to pay mind to my pace so that I can last through my whole C25k program, but with the track it is a little easier to track I thought. I did lots of, what I call Balls out-classy, I know- running Saturday night. I would get to a certain line and run as fast and hard as I could. I did a few of those intervals and I tried some stadiums on the smaller set of bleachers. Man am I uncoordinated. The entire time I was afraid of biffing it, this does not make for a great stadium session. Oh well, I will try it again.

I also tried Spinning again for the first time in about 3-4 years on Sunday. Man, my ass is killing me. Who decided those seats were a good idea? but it was a good workout, the instructor was nice, motivating and strong. She was a great leader. I will be trying that one again as well.

Zumba tonight!! YAY!

I am still counting all of my calories using my Crackberry, I use the FatSecret app. for the most part I make good decisions, but I still slip sometimes. I also struggle getting in all of my fruits and veggies in a day. Gotta work on that one. Thats my goal for August. MORE FRUITS. MORE VEGGIES. MORE FRUITS! MORE VEGGIES!