I Wheel!

Mommy: Loretta, please pick up your blocks.
Loretta: I wheel.
Mommy: Loretta, get your finger out of your nose.
Loretta: I WHEEL!

Don't ask me how our girl, born and raised in New England, got a southern accent, but apparently she has. But it only surfaces when she says "I will". I can tell you she doesn't get it from me. Trust me John wouldn't let me hear the end of it if she did. Now all we need is for her to start saying "wicked" ;o).

Caroline is 9 months old today. She's been officially crawling for the last 2 weeks now. Baby gates are coming out of the basement and she's already uprooted one plant, so up high they go. I can't believe in 3 short months or so, probably by this summer, she'll be walking. I also can't wait for my parents to see her in May. She's changed so much since Christmas and she's just the happiest baby. She smiles all the time.

Weight loss update: no update. stalled out and trying to re motivate.

Meaghan had her baby!!!! a baby girl they named Isabel. I'm so happy for them. Meaghan is such a good mom to her boys and I'm so glad she has a girl to share her love with now too. I can't wait to hold her when Loretta and I go down in June. Which reminds me, Loretta is still having a hard time with the move. A couple of nights ago she woke up crying, real sobbing tears, and all I could get out of the sleepy girl was she was crying because she wanted Alex and Devin. Broke my heart. Those Blakes are well loved by all us Tarnuzzers!

Love to all!

Happy Easter!

Every year we go to the Lions Easter breakfast and meet the Easter Bunny with the Tarnuzzer's. Loretta is crazy about the Easter Bunny. Caroline gave him a wry smile ;o) I just can't believe how big our girls are getting. This summer Loretta will be riding a two wheeler (with training wheels, but still) and Caroline will be walking!

John and I have decided he's going to have to perfect the, "if you even think about touching my daughter I will (insert life threatening profanity laden content here) to the other side of (more inappropriate content) and make you wish you were never (^&*%$& &^%$%@#$&^) born" look.

I saw some recent photo's of the boys on Meg's blog (linked on my page) and I can't get over those two. Such little men! I can't wait to see them (hopefully in June) and meet the newest Blake addition (bring on the girl power!).

What's really crazy is pictures of Jordan these days! He's practically a full grown man! I still have the picture of us eating cookie dough together on my mantle (he was two at the time). I can't believe in a few short years he'll be driving!

Take care all!

I've been trying to email a couple of videos out, but my email service crashes every time! Here is one of Caroline, she loves jumping just like her big sister did. Enjoy!

What's new:

John and I have an appointment for our tattoo while we are in Florida. I'm so excited to get my second and can't believe after all this time John is getting his first. It will be cool too, his family crest. The shop assured me they could come up with something beautiful for me on the spot. Oh, Florida, we are going to this amazingly swanky resort in Saint Petersburg. I can't wait! and Mom and DAd are coming up here to watch the girls - so Loretta and Caroline will have an absolute blast and I know John and I can enjoy ourselves knowing how well they'll be spoiled, um I mean, taken care of ;o)

weight loss update: big fat nothing this week and this weekend will be hard with kids birthday party and easter breakfast on Sunday. Oh well, keeping at it. I'll get there eventually.

WE are doing a 5k run on May 18th. I have only made it 2.5 miles so far, so I'll have to get cracking. It's our way of remembering Meg's neice Brianna and the Tarnuzzer family will all be wearing our purple Brianna bracelets.

Love to all!

Dimples and Tattoos

Hello everyone,
Sorry I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. All is good here. This week Caroline is working on tooth number 3 and surprisingly, for the first time, I really took notice of her dimples! She has to smile just right and she has one deep dimple in her left cheek and one tiny dimple close to the crease of her smile on the right side. Looks like her smile might be a bit crooked like moms, but much much cuter than moms!

Loretta is doing so awesome these days. Her favorite special treat for great behavior is a temporary tattoo, the girl is covered in them, I fear we may have created a monster ;o) She is such a loving big sister, although when she decides Caroline needs to be moved she just grabs an arm or leg like a caveman and pulls. Regular visits to the naughty step for that! Yesterday John found her lining up chairs in front of the fire place b/c she didn't want Caroline to roll into it. She is very thoughtful and when the two girls see each other their smiles can light up a room. They are both so enamored with one another. It's really sweet to witness and I'm so happy that the girls each have a sister (not that I feel I missed out at all, I've always had Meaghan (sister of my heart) and once I was older, Trish ;o).

Florida update: we finally heard the dates, but not the where. We are going May 6th through the 9th (if I can convince John to stay over one day). I can't wait to find out where so I can start researching tattoo artists.

Weight loss update: Down 13 in 10 weeks. Woohoo!!! I just ordered Turbo Jam which looks like a lot of fun. It should get her in the next week. Now if I can just figure out a way to get a workout in at home. It's funny how much easier it is to pack up both girls and take them to the Y then to try to workout to a dvd at home. Ideally I'd like to lose another 15, but I know it's unlikely before Florida. Either way I'm really proud of what I've accomplished so far.

Paul is losing weight too which is so wonderful. I know he knows how much we love him and worry about him. I know if he keeps it up his life will be better for it (and health of course).

Ok, closing for now. Love to all!

Positive Thinking

So, I've been thinking a lot lately about positive thinking with the help of books like "The Secret" and "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" and I'm only about 30 pages in so I have a way to go, but I have to admit I do think there is something to it. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a self help book type, and maybe it's just a reminder to find the best in any situation (the glass is half full) or maybe it's more (the energy you put out into the universe will come back to you tenfold) but either way, it seems like there is something to it and I like it.

I've been trying to think about the positive outcome of situations. For example, instead of thinking about our debt (evil four letter word that you certainly don't want coming back to you tenfold) I've been thinking about getting more money. Actually imagining as I fall asleep at night money pouring into our life (upcoming bonus, tax refund, merit increases, new promotions, whatever I imagine that has money coming in instead of "debt"). It's kind of fun to imagine what that would mean, vacations in Italy, a cleaning service, etc. etc. So over the last month we made some conscious decisions (like traded in the vw for a lease saving us $250 a month) but some other things have just happened. For example, unexpectedly, we are saving $30 a week because Loretta is turning 2 years 9 months (completely forgot about that) & John got a really good raise. And the biggest surprise of all was John actually suggested that we consider getting a cleaning service with the extra income!

Anyway, I guess I'm just trying to turn my thoughts upside down for awhile. I'm not fat, I'm GETTING healthy and strong and slim. John thinks it's silly, but I'm sticking with it, can't hurt right?

Weight Loss Update: I did not lose any weight last week ;o( ahhhh the positive to that is I didn't gain any weight last week! I am hoping to lose a pound this week though. I know the reasons, I haven't been eating the best (not horrible, but I can do better) and I missed a few workouts due to sick kids and other commitments. But turning over a new leaf. I am tracking to lose 1lb this week and my official weigh in is tomorrow so back on the horse.

Love to all!

Happy Valentine's Day

John and I are taking the girls out to dinner tonight somewhere close. I'm looking forward to it. We are having so much fun with the girls these days. Caroline is not crawling, but sure gets around and has started saying Dada and MomMomMom. She calls for me when I'm out of site and still gives the tightest longest whole head hugs. Loretta is kicking butt with potty training and only has the ocassional accident. She helped me pick out and wrap all of Daddy's valentine's day gifts.

I think I've decided to postpone my trip to see the Blakes until the June timeframe so I can bring Loretta with me. She's so in love with those boys and Aunt Meaghan. Plus, Loretta and I have very little 1:1 time anymore. Only if I can get Caroline to nap and then it's quiet time. It would be so nice to have some Mommy Daughter time together and with her getting a little older (and just the two of us) the trip itself will seem like a breeze. Baby girl Blake will only be a couple/few months old so I'll still be meeting her in good season.

Weight Loss Update: I don't weigh in for a couple days but I'm thinking this will be a zero loss week. It was bound to happen eventually, but I'm still hoping for a small loss. Last week I did my first Bootcamp workout and it was awesome. I was sore for days and I have it again today. I'm looking forward to it. I've been researching tattoo ideas on the internet. I can't wait to find out where we will be going in Florida (and when) so I can start researching local artists.

John is doing well and has some exciting new initiatives at work. I'm thrilled for him b/c these are projects he's been advocating for quite some time and he's finally getting the powers at be on board.

We setup a babysitting exchange with our neighbors. They are awesome and have a 3 year old girl and a 6 month old son. Loretta loves her friend and they play so well together. So once a month we will watch eachother's kids for an adult night out with our significant other without worrying about babysitting cost. Plus the other great thing is when it's time to put the kids to bed one of us can actually walk across the street and put the kids to sleep in their own beds and just wait for mom and dad's return. The Naps are a lot of fun and we enjoy hanging out with them. Plus it's nice that the kids are so close in age. It's no replacement for the Blake's (who can never be replaced in our heart) but we feel lucky to have them as friends.

Ok, guess that's all for now.

Two Teeth!

Caroline has two teeth! I found them last night while giving her dinner. Bottom center. She's just over 7 months and the happiest smiley baby. Loretta is such a big girl these days and doing so well telling us her feelings using her big girl words instead of crying or screaming, but I want to know how she has learned the art of the guilt trip so young!

Paul recently sent me a cool poem about tattoos (I'm all about anything tattoo lately) so I thought I would share:

The Canvas
Can you imagine the canvas alive
Living, breathing, itself a work of art
Muses, on which the Masters could decorate
Model itself becoming the medium
Trapping the soul of beauty in a frame
That is the traditional way of art
Is public view what feeds the artist's drive?

Scintilating, the female is beauty
All curves and smooth skin, oh the way they move
Who can make a heart race like a woman
Can a canvas cause such palpitations?
Inked with needles a living canvas breathes
New art beauty inked on the beautiful
The muses are the canvas for their art
Inspiration is not only what but where
Combined two visual greats in one
A beautiful woman with a beautiful tattoo

By Paul Clifford 8/27/07

I've got one talented little brother huh?

So weight loss update: Currently down 9 lbs so I'm pretty happy with that. I'm working out a ton and I think I could manage my meals better. I guess I don't need to have my ww cake and fat free pudding with coolwhip every night ;o). A few minor adjustments and I may be able to speed things up a bit. I've started running on the dreadmill again (hate it hate it HATE IT) but it's what I need to do to get my stamina up so I can start running outside again as soon as it's warmer.

Friend Update:
Meaghan is being induced on March 24th! I can't wait to meet that baby girl and I'm going to get the change too. John has suprised me with a chance to go as my b-day present. Just seems right to be there, I was there for Devin and Alex, she was here for Loretta and Caroline, I was heartbroken to think I might miss baby girl Blake. I'll either head down in April (just me) or wait a bit longer and take Loretta with me. She talks about those boys daily still. When she mentions here friends Alex and Devin are always spots 1 and 2 in her list. I know she would love to see them, but I'm torn b/c I want to be the most help I can be to Meg.

Family Update:
Chris and Trish are back from Europe. It sounds like they had an amazing time and I can't wait to see all the pictures and hear the stories. Chris sent a few pics along the way and it brought back so many wonderful memories of John and my honeymoon. Some day we'll go back to Italy, some day.

That's all for now!