Before & After

It's really no secret... I've been on a diet. It began before Max was born, was interrupted for a few months and then picked back up again after his birth. I promised myself after he was born to never go back to what I had allowed myself to become. 

Since October 2010 I have lost the baby weight and then some. I've had lots of people ask if I have before and after pictures... I don't. I was never too excited to get in front of the camera before and still don't care too much for it now. Here are some photos taken since Max's birth that give a good idea of my weight loss progress.  

(I'm not too excited about showing some of these but it sure is good motivation to keep up the good work!!!) 

This was taken in November at Max's baptism.

This was in February, the 1st time we took Max to the park. I change my hair a lot!

This was taken at Easter... I always cover myself with my kids!!!

I HATE THIS PICTURE! It was taken in May by a friend.

This was taken in August at the zoo w/ the boys!

September 2011.... celebrating Hubby's 40th birthday! He can finally pick me up!

At the boys' birthday party at the beginning of the month!

This was taken Sunday on our trip to the Pumpkin Patch... I need more clothes!!!

So there you have it... fat to fit! This has been a major lifestyle change for my entire family. I am lucky to have such a great support system. Thanks to everyone for all of your kind compliments along the way! Now for the hard part... maintaining it!!!

Adventures in Pumpkin Decorating

Pumpkin carving always sounds like so much fun... the truth is with a 5 & 1 year old, it has it's fun moments, but there are lots of stressful ones too! Jaxon was put in charge of doing the gutting, he likes to get messy! Max was in charge of helping, he spent more time putting the guts back in the pumpkin than anything else! Daddy was in charge of helping w/ Max... he was too busy watching TV!!! I was in charge of the carving... most of it got done w/ one hand kinda like everything else around here so what should have taken a few hours got drug out two days!!!

And since I hadn't driven myself crazy enough I decided to let the boys paint their lil' punkins our neighbor gave to them. I thought this would keep Max busy while I finished carving his... it did for awhile and then he began tasting the finger paint! Needless to say the pumpkin painting got cut short, Max's pumpkin got carved w/ one hand and after Max's bath Mommy discovered that Jaxon's painted pumpkin had rolled across the dining floor leaving behind a colorful trail! 

Why do I do things like this to myself, you ask?! Because I love my kids and one day they won't want anything to do w/ painted pumpkins and crazy carving designs!!!

1st dig into his pumpkin!

Oooooyy, gooooyyy!!!

We are saving the seeds to throw over the fence again, apparently that's the only way Mama has any lucky planting pumpkins! (That's where the ones that the neighbor gave the boys came from!)

Max's turn!

Putting the guts back in his pumpkin!

Here's Jaxon's pumpkin all carved and ready to go! He chose a wolf howling at the moon!

He was happy with it!!!

Here are some shots from the pumpkin painting adventure! 

Max was giving his pumpkin some love!!!

Here's Max's pumpkin... it looks better all lit up!

Here are the painted pumpkins... I plan to paint their names on them, we'll see if I get to it!!!

Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite yearly things to do with the kids is to go to a Pumpkin Patch! We missed our family Pumpkin Patch outing last year because Mommy was on bed rest part of the time and after Max was born it got too cold. Jaxon got to go with his PreSchool class and was really excited about going this year w/ Daddy & Max. He filled them both in on what to expect and was happy to tour us all around Browndale Farm when we arrived!

Here's a quick peek into our trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

We all agreed that this is a must have at our house! A trailer full of corn to dig in! And Max only ate a few pieces or at least tried too!

Here he is sampling a few pieces!

Daddy & Jaxon decided to dig to the bottom!

Mama's lil' punkin! 

Here we are getting ready to go on the hayrack ride! It was a little windy!

I thought this was a cute idea for a picture to take every year to see how much they've grown... maybe next year they'll look at the camera!

Here Max petting the baby donkey... Mama & the boys have decided we need one of these!

Jaxon's favorite part.... riding the zipline!

I want to figure out a way to rig one of these up at home!

Both Mommy & Daddy had Grandparents that had a bike like this. Wish we had one now!

Posing with the pumpkins! They have some great setups for pictures!

Max the scarecrow!

Jax the scarecrow!

Daddy & his lil' punkins!

Mama & her lil' punkins!

Jaxon going through the maze!

We all made it through!

Isn't he precious?!

This was something different! It's a giant "hedgeball slingshot"! Daddy wants one of these!

We had a great time as you can see! The boys each picked out a pumpkin and in my next post you'll see Mama's carving skills put to test! What a great fun-filled, Fall, family adventure!

Having His & Eating It Too

Max had a great 1st Birthday! Here are some shots of him enjoying his cake! He's not nearly as messy as my other child was w/ his 1st cake!

Max's fave part... the marshmallows!

The colors turned out very vibrant!

We loaded up some cake to share with the PreSchool friends today... gotta get these sweets outta my house!