Let's Get Some Positive Up In Here!

After having that last sad post up for a week, I decided it was time for a more positive post. Now armed with Sleepy Time tea, bring on the joy!

Thanksgiving was fun...all four Thanksgivings we had. Yes, four.

The first one was at church on the Sunday evening before Thanksgiving and included some awesome swing dance lessons. Wow I've missed swing dancing. Seriously. My friends and I were swing dance fiends in high school, so much so that people would stop and just watch us during the Miner's Jubilee street dance every summer. Anyway, it just re-enforced how much I love our church here. I mean, how many churches have swing dance lessons? And the food...wow. It was amazing, especially considering the sheer amount that was made.

The second one was actually on Thanksgiving, at Nathan's mom's house. I didn't know that I would get Thanksgiving off until two days before, so I got to tag along at the last minute. The cast of characters included Nathan's mom, her sister, her parents, and Nathan's sister and her husband. It was a quick one, but definitely fun. I even got to make the pumpkin rolls...yum. And the cheesecake Kate made for dessert was divine...I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, so this was a welcome change.

The third go was that same night, at Nathan's dad's place. It was just the five of us, and incredibly relaxed. After dinner, we followed Labunski family tradition and popped in Dad's 1998 taped version of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, complete with 1998 commercials. Love it. The boys didn't sleep very well, which made for a long night, but we still had a great time.

The final edition was on Saturday at my parent's place, and included the four of us, my parents, my dad's parents, and Nathan's dad. After yet ANOTHER delish turkey dinner (man oh man, the boys love love love turkey, you definitely didn't hear them complaining), we started a new family tradition and busted out the Wii. We even convinced my grandparents to jump into some Wii bowling and Boom Blox. I have to say, my grandpa was kind of a pro at Boom Blox, even managing to beat Nathan.

While all of our Thanksgivings were wonderful, it was nice to finally see that particular holiday behind us. I never thought I'd get tired of Thanksgiving dinner, but it actually happened!

On Sunday afternoon, Nathan and I bundled the boys up and headed out to the Erratic Mammoth Tree Farm (so named for the huge Mammoth sculpture at the entrance, made by the farm owner) to get ourselves a Christmas tree. For $10, we got an absolutely B-E-A-UTIFUL tree...probably so cheap because we got to cut down and schlep the tree a good 100 yards with babies in backpacks. It's my first big bushy tree, and I just love how it looks with all our lights and ornaments. I also got our house decorated with Christmas stuff, aided by Christmas music and some yummy hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. I love how a Christmas tree makes our house smell. Mmm.

Ok, now we'll share some photos. We got photos at my parents' place right before we started for home, and the boys were less than impressed.

All four of us in front of our tree.

Asher left, Levi right...Just try to tell me that there are cuter babies out there!

Our tree all decorated!

Grammy and Grandpa Morgan with the boys (Levi left, Asher right)

The boys getting some love from Grandpa Ger

Great Grandpa and Great Nanna with the boyo's (Asher left, Levi right)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Labunski's! I love my family!

I Hate Nights Like Tonight

We dispatchers have a dark sense of humor. We can laugh at most anything. Not only CAN we, but a lot of times we HAVE to. It's our coping mechanism, the thing that allows us to take a dark, messy call and then move on to the next one.

But sometimes we get those calls that not even the darkest sense of humor can laugh away. The calls that make me want to shut the door and throw away the key, because laughing it away would be a disservice to those who are living that nightmare on the other end of the line.

Those are the nights that prompt me to text my husband to have a bottle of wine waiting for me when I get home.

Tonight was one of those nights.

So I come home, cry for a bit, and then settle in with a glass of wine and an episode of Biggest Loser.

And try to remember all the reasons I do this job. There are a lot of reasons. I just have to remember them all.

Dispatcher's Prayer

Dear Lord, help me keep safe those who depend on me.

Give me healthy ears, for they are my link with those who need me.

Keep my mind sharp and alert, my fingers quick and nimble.

Grant that I never forget how to do ten things at once, and do them all equally well.

Bless me with patience Lord.

Patience to deal with the public, with the officers, with the firefighters,

and with everyone else who makes me want to grit my teeth and yell.

Give me nerves of steel;

That I may listen to a mother screaming for her child to live,

the man with a gun, the family watching their home go up in flames, or a request for backup or more equipment and not give way to panic.

Grant me empathy, that I may help the caller in need,

and not cause them more pain than they already have.

God, give me the ability to learn what I need, to remember it quickly,

and give me the wisdom to use the knowledge properly.

Bless my family Lord, for they will have to make sacrifices to shift work,

overtime, canceled plans and times when I just can't take on one more thing.

Help them understand the missed ball games, school programs and dinners for two.

Lord, give me courage. Courage to persevere when I feel undervalued,

unappreciated, overworked and unrecognized.

Courage to keep trying when I feel in my heart it's hopeless.

Last of all Lord, help me to never forget why I chose this job in the first place,

to never lose sight of what is important in the midst of the stress.

Help me to remember that I make a difference;

however small it may seem some days, and that I matter.

I am a dispatcher, Lord, grant me peace.

Mmmm Spaghetti

The boys have officially been introduced to spaghetti.

"Levi and Asher, meet Spaghetti. Spaghetti, meet Asher and Levi. I think you'll really love each other."

Lordy, there was red EVERYWHERE! Hands, arms, faces, ears, foreheads, trays, bibs, floor. It was hilarious! Levi's wearing the yellow bib, Asher the blue one.






Oh those faces and smiles slay me.

For some reason, the boys love anything that involves sauce. I have yet to see them refuse food that includes sauce. It is SO nice to be able to just feed the boys whatever we happen to be eating, and it gives our pocketbook a bit of a breather as compared to feeding them 6-8 jars of baby food every day. That really added up.

They're also getting SO close to being able to walk on their own. All that's left is for them to realize they want to do it, instead of just dropping down to a crawl whenever they want to get somewhere. They've been using our dining room chairs and bar stools as modified walkers, teaming up to push them all over the dining room and kitchen. It's pretty darn funny, and they giggle the entire time.

The only dark spot is the fact that they haven't been sleeping real well. It's pretty frustrating. Granted, it probably doesn't help that they have some residual coughing from the cold they just got over, but I don't think they've slept through the night at all in the past three weeks or so. Mommy and Daddy are tired. Any ideas?

I think I need a beer. Biggest Loser and beer.

Don't look at me that way. I have the points for it.

Another Weigh-In Bites the Dust

This week I lost exactly one pound, for a total of 21 lbs lost. Not my best performance, but also most definitely not my worst. The official weight is 153.4 lbs!

And here's the thing...

I have a method to weighing myself at home that (I think) yields the most reliable numbers. It's first thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom, without any clothes on. TMI? Too bad. It removes any factors like difference in clothes weight or what I've eaten throughout the day.

Anyway, on the day I found out I was pregnant, I weighed myself exactly as described above and I weighed-in at 152 lbs.

Today I weighed myself the exact same way before getting dressed to go to WW, and I weighed 151.6 lbs! So technically, I'm below my pre-pregnancy weight. However, I am being stubborn and not truly claiming that as official until I hit 152 or below at my WW meeting.

But still!!! I'm pretty excited!!!

And...I'm only 3.4 lbs away from saying goodbye to the 150's forever!

AND! My BMI is now officially below the 'obese' line. I'm ashamed to say that I was ever in the 'obese' range, but I can now say that I am officially only overweight. Only another 24 lbs to go before I am in the 'healthy' weight range! And heck, 20 lbs only took me 10 weeks before, so this will be a snap!

You know, being short is the pits. If I had only 3 more inches, my BMI would be 27 instead of just below 30. Lame.

Before & After

Yesterday, after weighing in and hitting the 20 lb mark, my dad requested photographic proof. Before and after. Ye gods. Ok. Because I'm kind of a Daddy's Girl, and because he told me how proud he is of me...because of the tears in his eyes...I'll do it. I was going to put a picture of myself before joining Weight Watchers, but I couldn't find one that was a good example. So instead I'll use a couple that I took just 19 days after starting WW. I weighed about 12 lbs more than I do now.

Ugh.


And now a couple of photo taken tonight, minus those 12 lbs...photos a little less painful to look at. Please ignore my face in the first one, I was trying to see if I was actually in the shot when the camera took the picture and I really didn't feel like taking another one.



That's much better. I found a picture of myself in college wearing these same jeans. They've been stuffed in the back of my bottom drawer for several years now because I kept telling myself someday I'd fit in them again. You know, THOSE jeans. And look...I fit in them! It's amazing what losing 20 lbs can do for your self esteem. I highly recommend it.

I wonder what losing the next 20 will look like!

The Big Two-Oh!

Today was my 10th weigh-in for Weight Watchers. I was pretty nervous, because last week I gained o.4 lbs...and did I mention that Halloween was last week? Stinkin' candy. But all the worrying was for nothing.

I weighed in at 154.4 lbs!

Not only was that a loss of 2.8 lbs in a week, it also was a total loss of TWENTY POUNDS!

I'm a mere 2.4 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Oh that feels so good.

Maybe tomorrow, after I've had a shower and am halfway presentable, I'll post a picture in honor of the bit two-oh.

An Awesome Halloween

We had a GREAT time yesterday! Oh man.

So Nathan's dad got several tickets to the OSU/UCLA homecoming game in Corvallis. 6th & 7th row on the 10 yard line, on the alumni side. Oh, they were amazing seats! We were surrounded by hard-core fans, which just made the game even more fun. The score was tied at 19 up until the last 49 seconds, when the Beavs made a touch down...I am SO glad they didn't go into overtime, because I don't think my heart could have taken it. Not to mention my voice...there was a little yelling and screaming going on. What? I get into games. So sue me! I felt a little bad for Kate and Eliot, who were sitting right in front of me, ha ha ha.

After the game, Nathan and I waited out the post-game traffic jam at my grandparent's RV, along with my parents and my aunt and uncle. It was great to spend that time with my family, especially my aunt and uncle, who we hardly ever get to see. We finally headed home, back to the boys, after a much-needed relaxing day.

The boys, on the other hand, got to spend a fun day with their Grandma Jan. While I did miss them, it was great to have that time with Nathan, without worrying about being on baby duty. Very rarely do we get more than about 4 hours sans-baby together, so a full day was a real treat. Do I regret not spending Halloween with the boys? Yeah, not really. They really wouldn't have enjoyed the whole going trick or treating scene, and we'll be ALL over that next year.

What a day. I don't know about Nathan, but it was EXACTLY what I needed.

And now a couple of photos.

Levi as a pumpkin, Asher as a skeleton, and Mommy as an OSU fan (ha ha ha)!

The view from our seats...OOOOOO SSSSSSS UUUUUU!

But the best part? The surprise on my family's face when they saw the effect of losing 17 lbs on my body. Another was when I held a medium OSU sweatshirt loaned to me by my super fit aunt in my hands (the one in the photo above), and wondered if I would be able to fit in it. I haven't been able to wear a medium sweatshirt since high school. I put it on and it fit perfectly! Success! My self esteem was at an all time high yesterday. What a good feeling!