Family Walks

Family walks don't happen quite as often as they should, but we do try.

Not far from the house there is a "lateral". Laterals are turn-outs from the main irrigation channels of the Rio Grande. They are opened in the spring to feed water to the little ranchitos that are abundant in our area. They also make very nice little walking paths.

Autumn enjoys the walks, and was fond of this graffiti until it was covered up.

Erica and I enjoy them also, but the pace is definitely a little slower with Autumn.

We'll probably be taking fewer walks for a while since Erica will be expanding for the next few months, and then we will have an additional non-walking family member.

Sometimes Autumn needs to take a break from walking.

Daddy getting older.

Autumn being cute.

I've Lost 12 Lbs!

Since I had my gall bladder removed I have lost 12 pounds. I have no Idea what my gall bladder has to do with my metabolism. I have been working very hard to lose the 60lbs left of the 100 lbs I gained during my pregnancy for over a year and have had no real luck, so while 12 lbs is still 48lbs shy of my goal I am very happy to be making SOME progress since before this I had not lost or gained a single pound since my 6 week post-partum check-up. before the surgery I couldn't really eat for about 10 days, but the weight loss did not occur until a few weeks later. I can't see any lifestyle changes that would have caused the loss, I have been eating more calories than before the surgery, and I could not exercise for a little while after the surgery either. Now I am back to my regular activities, but I am so shocked and excited to have seen the scale steadily fall each time I go visit the Doctor.


It is also very confusing to me, since I didn't even lose A POUND when I was trying so hard to. Two other small changes occurred. I stopped drinking. I used to drink a glass of wine a night. I have been enjoying blue sky cherry vanilla creme soda more often, and that has way more calories than a glass of wine. I also do not eat anything with Corn Glucose (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup etc). That actually added calories to my diet as well. I didn't eat much that had corn syrup, but I was surprised what did have it. The problem with corn syrup is that it is even worse for you than sugar, especially if you are very active and need your calories to work for you. Sugar at least turns to energy before your body stores the unused calories. Corn syrup goes directly into fat storage. The reason so many products have corn syrup is because it is much cheaper than real sugar. So, as a result of my new aversion to corn syrup I no longer eat Special-K (or the store brand equivalent) and have switched to Kashi or "Mom's Best" shredded wheat. We only get the kashi if it is on sale. I also switched from yo plait light yogurt to the smiths brand yogurt. It has way more calories, but it tastes so much better and it is healthier because it doesn't have corn syrup or aspartame in it. I have also let myself eat pizza twice in the past month (it had been about 8 mo since I last had eaten pizza) and made my delicious but fatty green chili chicken enchiladas last week, and have been enjoying the shortbread cookies adam got me for valentines day.

Anyway... don't look a gift horse in the mouth I guess, I am happy for any progress, even if I can't explain it! Maybe whatever was wrong with my body has finally worked itself out!

YAY!

Here is a cute picture of Autumn after eating a chocolate sucker that I got her from See's Candy when I got candy for Adam For Valentines day:

It looks a little like she killed something and ate it's bloody carcas or had a massive bloody nose, but that is really just chocolate.
Xoxo
Erica

Baby Autumn is ADORABLE

I have not put up any baby pics in a while so I thought I would share :)

Isn't she just adorable?

Thoughts.

I have a lot to do for etsy. I have a lot that I want to do in general, and here I am , not doing it . Sitting on my butt in front of my computer not doing any of it, except of course, writing a blog. That was on my list of things to do.

I am not sure if I am lazy or depressed. I can’t usually tell the difference, I must admit. Maybe not REALLY depressed, just glum. I know now that I am one of those people that just NEEDS sunshine. If I had not moved here I never would have known. The sun came out briefly today, but now it is gray and cold again.

Adam left town today. He is working somewhere doing something for some biz. He is a wildlife biologist and during the spring that usually means MIA. Admittedly I feel lucky this year. So far this is his first trip out of town. It is going to cause problems for my Derby schedule, but I am abstaining from the draft so it is not that big of a deal if my attendance suffers. The only real problem with that is that I love skating, it makes me happy.

Ahhh, and derby. I miss PLAYING roller derby, but am SO thankful to be involved at the level that I am. So why am I abstaining from the draft? Well, at this time, it looks like moving away from Portland is becoming more and more likely. The draft is intense and there are lots of girls that deserve to be drafted. If I decided to participate and happened to be one of the lucky few who got drafted, I would feel much guiltier about moving. I don’t want a team to waste their time with me, and then move away. I also don’t want to take a highly coveted draft slot from anyone else who will be here for a long time. I am not going to drop off the fresh meat team because I love getting to skate as much as I do and on the chance that we decide not to move I don’t want to lose the postpartum derby progress that I have made. Besides, if we stick around I don’t want to lose my slot on the fresh meat team.

SO, Tonight is fresh meat tryouts. I am thinking about going to watch. I want to, but it seems silly to drive out there just to watch, plus, they may not appreciate having Autumn on the sidelines. I also have all these things I want to do, but that is not an excuse because so far today I have not done them. Either way I will be rooting for Frisky Sour, Knotty La Rue, and hot mamma Stormy Monday.

Oh, and my new derby name is Sultry Confinement, Thanks to permission from Sally Terry Confinement in Colorado.

What else? I am excited to be doing a custom order on etsy. I will be making a dress. I need to get some exercise today. I am sick so I skipped Sunday practice, that and it was Easter. That means it has been two days since I have done anything seriously active and my body can feel it. I also started playing with youtube. I wish I knew how to edit video, but I have put up a few awesome baby Autumn videos.

I could go on, but I know that most people have probably already lost interest, and I should have really broken this into multiple entries. Cheers to everyone who made it to the end of this blog! You are surly less ADD than I am.