Random meanderings...

I am sitting here on my bed just trying to figure out how to put the last week into words (and listening to Emma - out in the living room, putting a DVD on to watch.  Miss Little Independent).  It has been a super crazy busy week - which has its good and wonderful moments but it has its crappy (sorry, this is the best I could come up with... my brain has become mush!) moments. 

My husband flew out early Monday morning and spent the week in Connecticut.  Since his last trip, we have come up with some new terminology for my daughter to understand what is going on.  When he traveled earlier in the month, I told Emma that Daddy was at work.  I figured that this was as good an explanation as any and would end the conversation pretty much there.  It did.  It worked, and although Emma asked throughout the week, it didn't seem to matter too much to her.  She was thoroughly excited to talk to Daddy on the phone, but didn't seem to realize that we hadn't seen him in days.  However, last week, when Jonathan was in Roanoke working, we realized our mistake.  On Monday morning when Jon was telling Emma goodbye, she had a massive meltdown.  She sobbed uncontrollably and kept yelling for Daddy... We understood at this point that Emma thought that Jon was going away and wouldn't come back for awhile since that is what happened the last time he went to work.  We now have new terminology.  During this last week, we told her that Daddy was going to work - we even went to the office so that Emma could understand what "work" meant.  When we dropped Jonathan off at the airport this past Monday, we told Emma that Daddy was traveling.  Of course, this meant that all week long Emma thought that he was flying.  Oh well.  At least she seems to be comprehending it so much better!

I've also come to the realization that without Jon here, my daughter is absolutely attached to my leg.  She follows me everywhere - to go take the laundry downstairs, to take a shower, to go to the bathroom... oh my.  Right now is the most alone I've been in a week's time (don't worry, I can hear Emma - she is less than 20 feet away playing with her Disney Princesses... lol).  I will have to say that baby Carter seems to take the transition well - of course, he really is only three months old and is lucky to realize that his fist is not the same as his pacifier.  Poor boy... haha!

I can also happily say that I have gone 12 days without drinking any soda.  I am sad to say that I have only lost a couple of pounds though - and I definitely don't feel any different.  I do massively crave soda - especially since it has been so warm.  There is nothing like a cold glass of soda on a hot day!  We will have to see what happens in the next 16 days or so to see if I will totally stop drinking soda at all.  But at this point, it's not looking good!  :)

Well now that I've spent some time jotting down my random thoughts, my precocious 2 year old is demanding some attention.  May you all have a lovely Halloween weekend!

2nd Annual Pumpkin Patch Day with the Clarks!

Today we had the privilege of going to Layman Farms with the Clark family...

 You never can tell what these two are up to... :)

 Jessica, Mike, and Mary

 We did it!  Our first picture together... lol. 

 Myself and the two men in my life :)

 I love my crazy Emma-girl!

And of course, my little man, Carter!

It's so funny to think where we were a year ago.  The Clark and Dickinson families each only consisted of three members (and now we have Mary and Carter) and Jon had just quit his job at Wachovia.  It's amazing to me the blessings God can bring out of hardship.  This last year was probably one of the hardest for our family - but in the end, Jon has a wonderful much better job, we've had a wonderful new addition to the family by the name of Carter David, and we realized what good friends and family we are surrounded by.  God has blessed us immensely! 

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

Some thank Him for the flow'rs that grow,

Some for the stars that shine;

My heart is filled with joy and praise,

Because I know He's mine.

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul,

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich and free.

I trust in Him from day to day,

I prove His saving grace;

I'll sing this song of praise to Him

Until I see His face.

Day Five of No Soda

5 days, 120 hours, 7200 minutes without soda - ahhh!  Tonight I could so go for a nice cold Pepsi.  But I must prevail ;) 

Here are our current weights:

Jonathan: 168.0 (-1.0)
Gina:  139.8 (-1.6)  Woo hoo!  :D

I Love Fall!

Fall could quite possibly be my most favorite time of the year... the smells, the changing of the leaves, the cool - but not cold - weather.  It all adds up to a perfect time for being with family!

This morning, I was fortunate to be able to take this little farmer to school: 

Today was the Fall Harvest party at school and the kids were supposed to dress like a farmer or a farm animal.  Don't I have the cutest little farmer ever? :)  Of course, I am a little biased. 

I also love fall for football.  When I had the chance to travel to PA to spend the week with my mom and brother, I had the chance to see my little brother play in Pony Football (5th and 6th graders).

 My cute handsome little brother :)

 Who knows why he stands like that... lol. 

We also got the chance to go to one of Kurt's practices.  And let me just tell you, in northcentral PA it IS COLD!  But oh so beautiful!

My mom and Emma near CARP Park waiting on Kurt while he is at football practice. 

This is a picture of the PA Grand Canyon (borrowed from my friend, Talia - thanks!).  Aren't the leaves absolutely gorgeous?  PA has the best fall leaves in the world.  Incidentally, this is actually where Jon and I got engaged.  :)

And to end our wonderful fall experience in PA, Emma got to take a trip back to my childhood and ride this wonderful merry go round at the park... oh the joys of being a child.  Annnnd the joys of being the adult that had to run in circles to get it moving.  That was so much easier 15 years ago.  I must be getting old!  ;)

Well I sure do love fall for so many reasons.  What do YOU love about fall?

**Day 4 of No Soda**

Jonathan:  166.0 (-3.0)

Gina:  140.4 (0.0)

Day Three

Yay!  I've made it to day three... haha!  I will tell you that it has been such an encouragment to get people's comments on my challenge of not drinking soda for 28 days... even as much as getting a friend to do it also (yay, Nic!).  I think that is my favorite thing of doing this -- reading your comments and suggestions!  And I definitely think I will take Becca's suggestion and ordering a glass of water with my sweet tea when I'm out to eat.  I think this will definitely help me to not order so much tea and keep that at a minimum.  :)

I am pretty darn proud of myself... while I haven't lost any weight since I've started this (a whole whoppin' three days ago...lol), I have found myself drinking more water.  If you know me, this is quite an accomplishment!

I will say that today was not without it's temptations.  While running errands, my daughter adamantly told me that she wanted a drink - 50 billion times... in a row.  Normally, when this happens, I try to distract her and it usually works... today it was an umbrella of her very own.  I had promised her at the beginning of our errand running, that if she was good, that I would buy her an umbrella.  She is absolutely obsessed with carrying her own and let me tell you... it's not a pretty picture -- her carrying the umbrella, thus making me squat to keep myself and Carter underneath it, while it is massively pouring outside.  Usually at this time, my shirt will come up in the back, my pants will slide down to show a wonderful image of the perfect plumber's crack, and I will have to use one hand to pull my shirt down to cover it up - while still trying to keep my daughter out of traffic and balancing my 100lb son and his car seat (okay - so I know he's not even near 100lbs, but he sure is heavy!), and keep myself from looking like a drowned rat.  Anyways, back to the drink story.  She would not be disuaded from the lack of drink that I was not providing!  So, as I went into the ghetto - and yes, I definitely mean ghetto, Kmart, I thought that hopefully there would be something that I would willingly venture to buy from this Kmart.  Fortunately, there was a Little Caesars inside of this store - but low and behold - there was nothing but soda and slushies.  I mean, c'mon!  Seriously?  Just tempt a girl.  I honestly thought to myself, why not?  Emma's whining, Carter is fussing, and I really REALLY want a soda.  Who would know?!  Lol.  Luckily, I got a hold of myself and told myself that it was not even an option to go buy a fountain soda and I turned myself and my kids around and went hunting for some water.  Are you proud of me?  Okay, so I seriously couldn't make it 3 days without being tempted, but hey - that's a long time for me to be deprived of soda!  ;)

So here is our weight as of today:

Jonathan:  168.0 (-1.0)
Gina:  141.4 (+1.0)

Day Two of No Soda :)

So I know that I am only on day two of not drinking soda, but I feel like I'm doing pretty well.  I gave the 12 pack of Pepsi that we had to my brother-in-law and bought some bottled water (the water from our faucet is probably fine, but I grew up on well water and spring water - so I'm a little spoiled).  I also bought some flavored sparkling water that has 0 sugar, calories, sodium, and caffeine.  There were pretty cheap too - $0.64 for a big bottle of it.  My husband would be so proud - not drinking soda AND saving money (soda can get so expensive - especially since we like to buy the cans). 

I am in a conundrum though.  I'm not sure if I should rule out sweet tea.  I don't drink it very often - only when I'm out to eat.  But it does have a lot of sugar in it and has caffeine - two of the things I'm trying to avoid by drinking soda.  My problem is that 1) I wasn't going to change anything except for the fact that I'm no longer drinking soda and 2) I hate drinking water.  This is why I bought bottled water and flavored sparkling water - to sort of replace my liquid intake of soda.  I also drink juice once in awhile - but I can only drink so much of that before I get tired of it - and this is where my weakness for soda comes in.  I no longer want to drink any juice and I don't like water.  So... hopefully I've beaten that battle before it starts by buying spring water and flavored water.  Anyways, back to the sweet tea - should this be okay as long as I regulate how much I drink of it (since I'm only drinking it when I'm out to dinner) or should I rule it out completely?

I have observed, however, with my lack of soda intake, I am drinking more water.  Normally, I drink A LOT in a day - whether it be soda, tea, juice, kool aid, etc.  I've noticed that while last night at dinner, I drank only 1 glass of peach bellini tea (yum!) and then the waiter gave me a to go cup of it.  So that was only 2 teas versus I'm not even sure how many sodas I would normally drink (way too many to be sure).  Usually the waiter or waitress is constantly filling up my cup with soda.  So I definitely thought this was a good sign.  The water I drank during the day was definitely hydrating me.  :)

Now to our weight.  I am sad to say that while I happen to have gained a pound (dang it!) my husband has lost more than a pound.  I will say, however, that my husband is sick and has only eaten soup and drank hot tea and water for the last two days (cheater! ;)  haha!)

Jonathan:  167.8 (-1.2)
Gina:  141.8 (+1.4)

Better luck tomorrow!  :)

The No Soda Challenge - Day One

This past week, I had the pleasure of getting to spend the week with my mom and my little brother Kurt.  It was a great week, filled with new memories, and lots of wonderful food.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately :), my mother is addicted to the doctor shows... for example the Doctors tv show and Dr. Oz (formerly on Oprah).  So this resulted in my also watching the shows with her, which then turned into me surfing their websites (I'm an internet surfing addict... lol).  I came upon where Dr. Oz has a page strictly for challenges.  The second one listed was a "No Soda Challenge".  My first instinct was to as quickly as possible scroll past it... I've tried one time to cut soda out of my diet - I lasted two days.  Two days.  That's not even enough to say that I tried.  It was more like we didn't have soda in the house and I didn't have time to run to the store and buy more!  Well, in the end, I did click on the link and read about the challenge.  There are four different steps involving drinking sugar free soda, sugar and caffeine free soda, cutting down on your soda consumption by 50%, and then completely not drinking any soda at all (it sounds like trying to break a cigarette addiction... lol).  Jon and I decided that if we were going to do a challenge, that we needed to do it cold turkey. 

Here is our plan:

We will not drink any soda at all for 28 days. 

We will weigh ourselves each day.

I will blog about our days (including our current weights... ahhh!)

Our goal is to see if cutting soda out of our diet will affect how much weight we lose.  We won't be changing our lifestyles - no extra working out (not that we do any now... lol), no change in the foods we eat (yes! no cutting out the chocolate!), and no other strategies to try and lose weight.  This is completely and fully just cutting soda out.  We can still drink juice, gatorade, sparkling water, and of course, water.  I'm looking forward to seeing how much weight we lose, if any. 

Here are our beginning weights... (I can't believe I'm posting how much I weigh on a public blog... oh the joy)

Jonathan:  169.0
Gina:  140.4

Here's to not drinking soda!

Emma's 1st Big Girl Haircut

So today, I decided that my little girl needed a haircut.  In the past, I have cut her hair - or rather, trimmed it up - trying to get rid of the mullet look.  :)  Her hair was getting a little out of control and I thought it would be a great idea to go and get it cut instead of fighting that battle myself... haha! 

Fortunately, Emma did terrific!  She was a trooper and sat there so well and did what the hairstylist asked.  I was so proud of her. 

I'm so happy we won't have hair morning like this for at least the next week: 

And now have this: 

 Besides the fact that they charged me $2 to blow dry her hair (which took approximately 20 seconds to do), we had a great first experience!  And I think Emma looks so beautiful!

My little girl looks like such a big girl!  Yay, Emma!