18 month check-up

I took the boys to their 18 month well check Tuesday. "Nanna" (MJ - the women who takes care of the boys once a week for me) went with me. It was absolutely crazy when we first got there.

As soon as I set Alex out of his stroller seat onto the ground in the exam room he started screaming. The other two fed off him and started crying too. I had to strip them down to their diapers to be weighed and measured, so we set to doing that. They screamed and screamed, cried and cried. I am starting to think that they know that the drs office is a "bad" place and you get poked every time you go there.

Anyway, we got the boys weighed. At 18 months old...
Alex weighs 23lbs 8oz
Grant is 23lbs 11oz (he lost weight)
Ethan is 18lbs 10oz (he gained, but only 10oz since Dec 19)

Alex is really doing the best over all. We only need him to be eating better (texture issues remember?) and then he will be GREAT!

Grant has an ear infection. His eczema is also flaring up and he has some infected sores. Poor guy. He has to take an antibiotic for the next 10 days then I have to take him back in. I hope he is all cleared up by then. He doesn't really act like he has an ear infection, so I don't think it is bothering him much.

We also have to take him in to get a renal ultrasound to make sure that one of his tubes from his kidneys to his bladder isn't enlarged anymore. It was slightly enlarged after birth and once they got out of the hospital, so hopefully it has gotten back to normal. I don't know what we do if it isn't normal. We'll just have to wait and see. I have to get that appointment scheduled soon.

Ethan is still my PEANUT!! He is on his own growth curve (meaning he is following the curve, but just in his own way) at about -20th percentile!! However, he has a HUGE head for his body size. His head is in the 40th percentile for ACTUAL age, not adjusted age!!

Since he isn't growing as fast as they would like, we are still pushing the calories. I am adding butter to their lunch and dinners. I just started adding some vegetable oil to parts of their lunch and dinner. He also gets Carnation instant breakfast in his milk. And, we are trying to transition him to a Pediasure a day (he doesn't like the taste of straight Pediasure, so we are trying to mix it like we did with the formula). I tried it today and it worked ok, so we'll see if I can get him to take just straight Pediasure here in the next couple of days.

We have to return to see the pulminologist for his breathing issues sometime in March. And I was supposed to schedule the PT to come out tomorrow, but didn't get it done, so maybe next week. We will finally be getting him on the right track to be able to walk soon.

Overall the boys are doing well. We could have things a LOT worse, or we could not be here at all. I thank God every day that these boys are here and I have the chance to be a mother to them.

As for other news, Grant is thisclose to walking. He will take a few steps or more by himself, but he falls down a lot still. When we try to get him to walk between James and I, Grant gets the giggles then doesn't concentrate on what he is doing. It is so cute.

They are all playing a lot more together and Alex is starting to pick up on some things that other kids are doing. He was playing with a little girl that is a few months older than he tonight at church. They were chasing each other, tackling each other, and tickling each other. It was so cute. I should have gotten a video, but didn't think about it until just now! :)

As for James and me....

James is loving his new job. He is keeping busy. He loves what he does though.

This weekend he gets to have the boys to himself! All to himself!! I am going to a women's retreat for the weekend. James gets to take care of the boys for the first time ever by himself, with no help!!! (He is going to be exhausted by the time I get home Sunday afternoon!)

I have also found a new friend. She has twins that are 6 months old and she goes to our church. We started walking together this week and found out that we have more in common with each other than just babies!!! She used to play soccer!! Hey, so did I!! She was extremely involved in our church as a youth and young adult and thought she was the poster-child for an ABC youth.... so did I!! We really do have a ton in common and I am so very thankful to have found a very good friend to be able to talk to, walk with, and commiserate about my kids to!!

I am so excited to be going on this retreat this weekend. It will be the first time I am away from the boys over night since May of last year when I went to my friend Amy's wedding. SO EXCITED!! Plus, the last time I went, I had a WONDERFUL experience. (And not to long after that, the miracle I had prayed for the entire time I was at the retreat came true). You can read about that last retreat in this post of mine titled "A Dose of Conviction". (It is an amazingly prophetic post... go read it!)

I know this was a long post. Glad you stuck with me! I am sorry but I don't have any pictures in this post. It is late and i haven't taken the pictures off my camera yet. I will do that as soon as I can tomorrow (or so) and try to get another post up soon!! So check back then.

I hope you all are having a great week. Love to all...
The Fischer 5

Confessional Time

I feel that I need to put this out there for a couple of people to know. There are a lot of reasons that I am living and doing the things I am doing, and here is one of them.

For the past year and a couple of months, James and I have been attempting to get pregnant. So far no luck. Here is why...

I have a condition that is called Polycystic Ovary Syndrom (PCOS) or Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD). (here is the link to the info on my doc's website) Whatever you call it, it is where your ovaries have cysts on them and they do not, at least in my case, allow me to ovulate. My hormone levels are out of wack because of this, or because my hormones are out of wack I have PCOS. It's a "catch-22." There is also a possibility that my Thyroid could be causing some of this too. My doctor wants to check that again here in a couple of months.

Anyway, my doctor has encouraged me to lose weight. Losing weight can help with the PCOS and the possible thyroid issue. However, in another "catch-22" the PCOS can prevent me from losing weight, as can the possible thyroid issue. I find this all very frustrating.

My doctor has put me on the medication Metformin. She started me on a 500mg dose and said in 6 weeks if things are not getting back to normal in my body she will up the dosage. I have a call in to her right now to see if we are going to up to dosage.

Well, I figured I would put this all out there to let you all know. I know, where does privacy go these days. But, if I am going to be continually asked when we are going to have kids, I might as well have some place to point people to.

I would also like to ask for your prayers for us. We hope God blesses us and makes us parents sometime soon, but as you know, it is all in His timing. So your prayers would be appreciated. Thanks.

3000 Calories!

So this past week I cancelled my subscription to Weight Watchers. I did not do the meeting thing and I did not keep up with the points very well. I have not been losing any weight for the past 4 months. I don't want to keep wasting the money. It is money we need for other things.

I started to track what I am eating and doing for exercise on this calorie counter online, that is free!!! It is my-calorie-counter.com (http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/calorie_counter.asp).
So anyway, I started that on Wednesday, the 26th. I put in everything I eat, any activity I do, weight, and measurements and it will do the calculations for me.

That said, I have had a VERY VERY BAD week/weekend. I averaged 2700 calories a day. NO WONDER I AM SO OVERWEIGHT!! I ate over 3000 calories a couple of days this week. (I didn't have my computer on at all until tonight so I didn't imput everything until now.) I can't believe it. It makes me so sick to think that I have been eating that much. I am very disapointed in myself too. I need to have a lot more self control.

So, here is my thinking. This thing also allows you to post your entries for the day as blog post. So I am going to be doing that from now on. If I don't get it posted that day, send me an email (those of you who know my email) or put a comment on one of my postings to let me know that I am slacking! That way you all can help keep me accountable. We'll see if it works. So, here is my food journal post for today.

			Free Weight Tracker my-calorie-counter.com
			Cal	Fat	Sat	Chl	Sod	Crb	Fib	Sug	Pro
Breakfast
1	1 can 12 fl oz 355 mL	Pepsi® - Mountain Dew (can) - citrus-flavored soda	170	0	0	0	70	46	0	46	0
5	1 oz	Breadsmith® - Beer Bread	360	2	1	0	590	73	3	55	12
			530	2	1	0	660	119	3	101	12
Lunch
1	tbsp	Salad dressing, KRAFT Ranch Dressing	74	8	1	4	144	1	0	1	0
2	Serving - 85 G	DOLE FRESH VEGETABLES - SALAD BLENDS - AMERICAN 12 OZ BAG	30	0	0	0	20	6	2	4	2
1	1 burger	Roy Rogers® - Hamburger	472	25	1	64	607	37	0	0	26
			576	33	2	68	771	44	2	5	28
Dinner
1	1 can 12 fl oz 355 mL	Pepsi® - Mountain Dew (can) - citrus-flavored soda	170	0	0	0	70	46	0	46	0
2	2 medium slices	Pizza Hut® - Cheese Pizza, pan style crust	1044	44	58	100	2004	282	8	216	34
			1214	44	58	100	2074	328	8	262	34
Snack
1	2 Tbsp 39g	Hershey's® - Chocolate Syrup	100	0	0	0	25	24	0	0	1
5	1 oz	Breadsmith® - Beer Bread	360	2	1	0	590	73	3	55	12
1	cup	Ice creams, vanilla	289	16	10	63	115	34	1	31	5
			749	18	11	63	730	131	4	86	18
Water Tracker
Totals Target Balance			3069 1400 219 1669	97 50 194 47	72 16 450 56	231 250 92 19	4235 1800 235 2435	622 200 311 422	17 25 68 8	454 40 1135 414	92 50 184 42
			Cal	Fat	Sat	Chl	Sod	Crb	Fib	Sug	Pro
Activity
Totals			0

Abolish the Fat Tax!

If you do anything today, I think you should go read this. It is about being fat, and obeisty, and all the stuff that goes along with it. I have to say that I agree with this article.
http://www.slate.com/id/2184475/pagenum/all/#page_start

I really need to get back on track

I dreaded stepping on the scale this morning. I didn't follow the WW this weekend and I paid for it dearly. Plus I haven't been able to work out since last Monday. I'll explain that later. But anyway, the scale said 255. I haven't been that high for a long time now. This is agrivating me, but I haven't been following WW very closely since Christmas and now I realize I need to.

Well, I went onto my WW website and put in my points for the week and I was over 50 points! That is over and above my weekly allowance of 35 points too. Now I know why I gained 3 pounds! Oh that sounds so bad saying it like that.

As for the working out. I was called in to work on Friday because my co-workers Dad was put in the hospital. Then we went to my parent's house for the weekend and I skipped working out any, and ate a lot. Then, when I was supposed to go in and workout on Monday, we were driving home from my parents' because we had been snowed in. Then I had to work yesterday.

But!!!!...... I did work out some last night (Tuesday night). I was going to go to the gym but I couldn't find my membership card. So, I took 15 minutes and walked up and down our flight of stairs. (Each time I went up I took something that had to go upstairs with me so I was multi-tasking!) But then, when Biggest Loser came on at 7:00 I ran in place, did crunches, and push-ups for 1/2 hour. I should have done it through the entire show, but I got lazy. I don't know why but I am having motivation issues right now.

Well, it is back to the grind. I am going to try and be better this week and really keep track of my points and work out (except I can't Friday cause I am going to have to work). I'll do some this weekend then.

Weight Watchers Update

Well, I have been procrastinating putting my weight watchers stuff back up on here because I gained quite a bit over the Christmas holiday and haven't been able to get it back off.

I am now (as of yesterday morning) at 253. I have given up pop. Really, this time! I haven't had one since Tuesday Feb. 5! I feel like an alcoholic saying that I have been "sober" for a week and 2 days now! :)

Anyway, I was going to try and give up on "white" sugar, but with Valentine's day looming, I just couldn't. The chocolate was just calling my name! So, I am trying to be moderate with the sweets and really not eat too much of them.

As for the exercise, I have started something new. On my days off (not counting weekends) I go to the gym and walk/run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Usually I burn around 250 calories. Then I do a little bit of weight lifting and then go home. I usually only do that on Mondays and Fridays.

On Tuesday nights, when I am watching "The Biggest Loser" I do an hour of different workouts in front of the TV. For example, this past Tuesday I ran in place for about 30 minutes, then I put two dining room chairs in front of me and did some step aerobics for about 5 minutes. (I about died!) I then did sidesteps for about 10 minutes. I did 30 pushups and then did probably 50 crunches, 20 side crunches (on each side), and then did some stretches. Then I did 30 minutes of "Shimmy."

Ok, so "Shimmy" is a really cool show on the Fit TV channel. It is a belly-dancing workout. I really like it. It isn't too hard, and it really is working my belly. It is getting flatter and fitter. Obviously not too much cause well, it's still there! :) But I really like doing the Shimmy workout. I try to do that on the weekends, but if James and I are doing other things around the house I don't usually get to. But thats ok, at least I am up moving around.

Well, I think that is all for now. I will try to keep up dating from now on.

Dove commercial... "Evolution"

14 Down... 93 to go...

I stepped on the scale again this morning and it showed me 248. I think that is possibly the lowest since I started WW. I have such a long way to go, 93 pounds in fact. I am trying not to get down on myself. I am not losing as fast as I would like. I know a lot of it is my fault for not eating the correct things. I have been sticking to the points, but I haven't been eating the veggies and fruits like I am supposed to. I have been drinking pop too. That, I stopped yesterday. NO MORE POP FOR ME! Hopefully that will help. I am pretty sure it will. I will be drinking more water and less calories!

Anyway, I am going to go swimming here in a little bit, so I have to actually get out of my pajama's. I'll post more later.

Today....

So, I stepped on the scale this morning and was back down under 250! I weighed 249. Only 1 pound under, but that is ok... its not 250!

I also went swimming today and started out by swimming a 500 freestyle. I have never done a 500 in under 10 minutes, even when I was a lifeguard at the Rec. Center in Gillette (which was a requirement). I did it today in 8 minutes!! I was soooo happy. I wasn't even that tired after it, so I kept swimming and did another 500. The second one was breaststroke and backstroke. Swimming just feels so good.

I also took my measurments this morning and was down another inch. I am down 11 inches since starting. I was only down 1/2 an inch in my waist and 1/2 inch in my hips since Nov. 9. Not a lot, but some. Hopefully I start losing more! Anyway... that's all for now.

Thanksgiving Did NOT Agree With Me!!

Yuck... Yuck... Yuck. I even tried to be good for Thanksgiving. But alas, I have gained three pounds back in the last two weeks! I don't like it. I think it must have been the rolls. I made too many and ate them instead of eating pie. Oh well.

Thanksgiving was good. We went over to our friends house and had Thanksgiving dinner at about 1:00 then we hung around there all day and had seconds at about 7:00pm. It was so nice. There was three of us couples and we each chipped in to make stuff. I made rolls, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. I almost had a big oops before we went to dinner. I was boiling the mashed potatoes and almost boiled them down to potato soup. I tried to drain them and they just wouldn't drain. I ran upstairs and was upset and told James I ruined the potatoes. He dumped them into a bowl from the strainer and salvaged them, luckily. Otherwise we were going to have to stop by King Soopers to pick up some of theirs. But we didn't have too. They were actually good. I was just trying to do too many things at once.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. I only had one serving of everything except the rolls. And I really didn't eat too many of those. I did not have pie either. I don't like pumpkin pie and they also had a french silk pie that I don't like so I didn't have pie! I still gained weight though. I think I am not drinking enough water. In fact, I am pretty sure I am not drinking enough water.

Today I am starting over again. I logged my weight in on my Weight Watchers thing and I lowered my daily allowance of points from 32 to 29. We'll see if that helps. I need to be eating better too. I also have not been exercising as much. James and I did go for a 5 mile walk before Thanksgiving dinner. But the week before that the Rec Center was closed so I couldn't go swimming. Then I forgot to go swimming last week. Monday I was going to go, but I had to go pick up Jet from the Vet at noon. I know, excuses, excuses.

I did exercise a bunch last night. I was watching The Biggest Loser (such an inspiring show) and I exercise during the whole 2 hour show. I was running in place, jumping, sit ups, push ups, and I used some cans of soup as weights for bicep curls, flys, and a couple of other arm work outs. I hope to so that a little bit more! Anyway, I will quite rambling now!

Weight loss pictures...

I finally have pictures. The one on the left is the picture taken today, the one on the right is when I started. I see some difference, but let me know if you see any.

12 Pounds Down!!

Slow but steady. And it yelled at me again. I know I did not lose more than 2 pounds this week, but it is taking the "average" of the last couple of weeks and telling me that I am losing more than an average of 2 pounds over a week. Well, I am not going to worry about it. I have been at this for 8 weeks and I have lost 12 pounds. That is not more than 2 pounds a week! I should be at 16, but I had some trouble when I was in Grand Junction.

Oh well, anyway, I am at 12 pounds down, and 10 inches lost. I measured myself the other day. I don't have the measurements with me, but they total 10 inches! I am happy. I stil have yet to get my pictures taken. I will see if I can do that some time this week.

10 pound milestone!

I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 252! I was excited. 10 pounds down since I started. I started on Sept 19 at 262. 7 weeks later I am down 10 lbs. That isn't bad. Or so I thought. I logged my weight in to the Weight Watchers website and it yelled at me :-(. It told me I was losing weight too fast. That I need to slow down to 2 lbs or less a week. I lost 3 lbs this week and it yells at me for losing too fast! I don't understand sometimes... I am trying to be good. It is hard. And I understand what it is saying when it tells me that I am losing too fast, but I still don't want the scale to be the same or higher each week. I am going to take what I can get. I'm going to work harder on only losing 2 lbs per week, but I am going to lose each week. I am not going to gain. That is part of my goal.

Well, anyway, I am happy I am down!

Inches Lost!!!

I am so excited. I measured myself today and I have lost a lot of inches. In total I have lost 9 inches!!! I am sooooooo estatic! I have lost the most in my waist.

Here are my starting measurements...
thigh-34
hips-53.5
waist-41 (?)
chest-44.5
arm-16.5

Here are todays measurements...
thigh-33
hips-51
waist-38
chest-43
arm-15.5

So here are the differences between Sept 30 and today (Nov. 5)
1 in the thigh....
2.5 in the hips....
3 in the waist....
1.5 in the chest...
and 1 in the arm...

I guess this is working. I all of my jeans are too big for me. But I don't want to buy anymore clothes til I am down to where I can't wear any of my current clothes. I did buy a dress this weekend, but it is a wrap dress and will be easily adjustable when I lose weight. It can also be used as a maternity dress once I will need to have one. But anyway, I am done now. I have to go clean the house!!! I will post pictures tonight once I have James take them!

Update on Weight Loss and Family

So, I was told the other day that I need to keep writing in my blog. I have been a little lax on doing this. My apologies! Anyway, I stepped on the scale this morning and it read 253!!! My lowest since I started WW. I am excited! I also measured myself the other day. I don’t have those with me right now, but I will put another post up tomorrow, with updated measurements. I will also put up pictures.

As far as other news in my life- I don’t really have any. Grandpa is having more tests done, so no news there. James is loving his new job. He is keeping extremely busy. He has learned more in his last two weeks then he learned in his two years at Archstone. He is proving to his boss that he is a good investment.

Anyway, I must tell you about this awesome restaurant my boss introduced me too. It is called Four Leaf Chopped Salads (http://www.fourleafchoppedsalads.com/home4.htm). MMMMMMMMMMMMM I LOVE this place! All they serve is salads, so I can’t take James there (he’s “not a rabbit”). But their salads are excellent. You can choose one of their pre-designed concoctions, or make your own. My favorite is one they had as a special the first day I went there. It’s called the “Super Spicy Salad.” It consists of a mix of romaine and iceberg lettuce, spicy chicken, chedder cheese, jalapenos, red onion, tomato, and a southwest ranch. MMMMM! Anyway, they put all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then they pour the contents out onto a cutting board. They chop the salad together really well, and then put it into a big bowl, add the dressing, and then toss it all together. It’s then returned to the original bowl, and then you eat. Its soooo good, and really, really healthy. That salad is only 4 points on my WWs for a BIG salad. When I say big, I mean big. (If you have a set of the three Pyrex bowls, it will fill the middle size bowl! J) I am going to have that for dinner tonight!

OK, I’ll quit talking about the salad place! Well…. I will write more tomorrow. Hope you all are doing well. Write me some comments! I love to see your opinions and comments, etc.

8 lbs down...

So this mornings weigh in was a little traumatic for me. I was fearful that I had gained all of my weight back. James and I had gone to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and I really did not eat a very good meal. I had steak, broccoli, and a baked potato, with water. This usually would not be too bad, but it is what we had before that messed me up. James ordered some of their cheese-fries. MMMM good, but really really really, and I mean REALLY not good for you. I went online and found the nutritional value of that meal.... YIKES!!! Just the fries themselves were 20 points!!!!!! And that was for the 1/2 of the plate! Never having those again!

So when I got home from dinner (James had a pulpit committee meeting) I did my dance aerobics workout, then went swimming for 30 minutes. I did get back 10 points, but I was .5 a point from going over!!Oh well, that is ok. I DIDN'T.

Anyway, back to the weigh in. Needless to say I figured I gained it all back. I stood on the scale and saw 254! I smiled! That made my morning! I just really need to start watching what I am eating to make sure I don't do that again!

Down 2 lbs more...

I got out of bed this morning, went through my normal routine, and then stepped on the scale. James and I had gone to Applebee's last night, and I was sure I was going to be heavier than yesterday, since I had a few buffalo wings. Well, turns out, my new weight is 255. I had to do it again, just to make sure! I can't believe it, I don't know what I did different, other than working out in the morning and drinking tons of h2o. Well, whatever I did, I am going to do it again today and see if it works more than once!! :-)

It's going ok....

I went swimming this morning. It felt really good. I came home, ate breakfast, and with hair wet, I weighed myself. I was down 1/2 a pound. That is pretty good. I also measured myself. Here they are with the measurements from Sept. 30.

-------Sept 30-----Oct. 5

Thigh-34 ----------33.5
Hips--52.5---------52
Waist-*see below*-40.5
Chest-44.5---------44.5
Arm--16.5---------16

So when I measured I don't know what I did on the Sept. 30, my waist was 47. I don't think I measured in the right place. But if I did then I lost almost 7 inches there... I don't think so.

Anyway, I lost about 1/2 an inch almost everywhere. I am happy!!! I just have to keep going!

NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!

I went to Sonic for lunch. BIG OOPS!! I got a jalapeno cheeseburger and fries and a pop. Oh man. Should not have done that. I get 32 points this week per day and just that lunch was 27.5 points. I just know I will not do that again. I let my stomach do the talking and didn't check the points before I went to lunch. YIKES... I guess I will just be eating salad for dinner. That is ok though. I need to have veggies! I guess I will know better next time. I can also go for a walk after I get home from choir. I'll just have to see. Now that I think about it, I won't be getting dinner tonight because I usually don't get dinner on Thursday nights. I have bell choir at 5:45 and James and I usually get there about 5:30 and set up. Then I have regular choir right after that at 7:00. No time for dinner between. I usually don't get home till 9:15-9:30 so I don't eat when I get home either. That is ok today. I am good. I have an apple that I can eat on my way to the church.

4 lbs down

So I forgot to post this morning on how my weight loss is going. So far I have lost 4 pounds. I want to be losing faster, but I have a couple of people around me telling me that slow and steady is the way to go. Well, I will just wait and keep doing what I am doing. My weight now is 258. I'll do measurements and all that tonight. I am hoping that I see some change. If not, that is ok, I did just measure the other day. But I have been swimming and walking a lot. So hopefully that helps.