[talk: Bday Part One & Who are YOU?]

Well - what a DAY we had yesterday. Off to the waterpark during the day and celebrating Tias' birthday with my side of the family at night. We "borrowed" a family friend's pool and ate DQ cake on their deck. SUCH a lovely night ... and Tias requested us to sing the "Happy Birthday" song a couple of times *wink*.

Here are a couple of pics I took in our back yard while Siah slept ...

On a side note - I'd love to hear from you. I have no clue who comes onto this site *grin* - except for a few close friends - and I gotta admit that I check daily to see if anyone's commented. If you're so inclined, leave a "hello". *grin*.

[talk: So In Love ...]

Being a mom puts a person into a place that they never thought possible. A place where they love so much, it hurts - where they care, feel responsible, carry the burdens of their children ... a place where they hurt when their child is rude, or needs to be disciplined. Such a massive amount of emotion comes with being a parent, I find.

For me - yesterday was a day of PRIDE. Josiah, our littlest one, got brave with his water-wings and was able to hold himself on his own in the pool. Plus walking off the diving board!! And - I didn't have my camera *dang* - but just as well ... I was in the pool too *wink*. And Mattias continues to gain confidence in the pool as well - jumping off the diving board, into Lu's arms. So proud of my little guys.

Tonight is "Birthday Celebration #1". Tias will be four next week - but with family being out of town and such, we've found ourselves planning 4 separate gatherings. Because of this glorious weather, we've asked a family friend for the use of their pool - so off we'll go with DQ ice-cream cake and hopefully get some exercise.

Hope you enjoyed this fantastic, sunny day!!

Here are two pics that I took at the park yesterday - my little men.

[talk: The "NOT the Biggest Loser" Prize]

OK - are you still interested? The story goes like this ...

IF I had won, I knew where I would spend my $800. Some of it would've been put away for the "Girls Weekend to Phoenix" that I'm a part of in October ... but what I REALLY wanted was a new camera. Why? My Pentax has been good - but a Nikon ... ohhhh my. A Nikon.

When my DH won, he knew how disappointed I was. So - he said, "Let's take a look at a camera shop - see what we can find." Oh - I had already done the research. A Nikon D40 was what I wanted - about $450 - and with a trade-in of my Pentax, the cost was minimal. But when I went into the camera store the salesman said, upon seeing my Pentax, "I don't really know why you would trade it ... the Nikon is a better camera, but the D40 is parallel with the model you already have." My DH had been waiting in the van, so I sent him in and got him to figure things out - whether it was worth it or not. And what did he do?

Well - he came out with a bag and a grin. He traded in my Pentax and upgraded to a Nikon D60 with 2 lenses, a flash, a remote and another rechargeable battery. OH HOW I LAUGHED!!! Me? I would've NEVER bought all of that ... probably not even the upgrade. But I'm thrilled - and spoiled.

So, see? I'm the BIGGEST winner of "The Biggest Loser" - without winning.

This afternoon, my man was out golfing so I took our boys to a playground and brought the Nikon. Here are some pics of our time together ... See why I'm in LOVE with this camera??

[talk: "Biggest Loser" Hints]

So - I've had many emails from people wondering HOW we did "The Biggest Loser". First of all - I cannot take the credit for most of these ideas ... a family friend told me that THEIR family was doing this and we just tweaked it a bit and put the plan into action for ourselves.

First, we got a group together of people who wanted to participate. We required a $200 buy-in because there were only 4 of us. I know that's steep - but THAT'S what made it work. If it was $25 or even $50 I don't think that it would've hurt enough to lose *grin*. Plus, it made the prize really big!! We chose to not have 2nd place etc - only 1st place. So, it was all or nothing. Maybe if you had 8-10 people, $100 would be good ... but whatever the case, the group can decide.

We chose a day to weigh-in with everyone present on the same scale. There was no cheating - i.e. no water guzzling before the event to sway the numbers. We recorded our weights and agreed on them together. Then, we set a date and time (for us, it was 3 months) to return to the same scale and weigh-in. On that final weigh-in date, we decided to have a "Celebration Breakfast" afterwards to reward ourselves *grin*. The winner was determined by PERCENTAGE of weight lost from the original weigh-in, not by pounds lost. That equation is "pounds lost" divided by "original weight".

So - that's it.

Now - people have also asked how I lost my weight ... well - it was SO gradual. I only lost an average of 1-2 pounds a week ... it was painful. BUT I stuck with it ... I chose to not eat carbs for dinner. I ate a high-fibre cereal for breakfast, had a snack of fruit before lunch, had a small plate of almonds, cheese, apple, crackers (or something like that) for lunch. I would have a "treat" between lunch and dinner - which were 100 calorie chocolate bars, protein bars or fudgicals. Dinner was always a protein (steak, pork, chicken ...) and vegetables. I tried to get at least 20 minutes of cardio in the day - either on the trampoline with my kids or by housecleaning with ankle weights on. In the last couple of weeks, I began a daily routine of a 20 minute Pilates DVD, once the kids were in bed. So - that worked for me ... maybe if I had done more, I would've lost more - but that's how I chose to live my day-to-day "food" life.

Yesterday, I wore my size 4petite dress pants. And I felt good.

On another note, Lu is continuing the "Biggest Loser" with a bunch of his guy friends. He still has some weight to lose, and found that this competition was the BEST thing for him. It will have the same structure as the one that we did together with a $100 buy-in.

PLUS - with the group we were just with - we're doing a "Maintain Weight" Competition where we will weigh-in on November 1 and if you are LESS weight than the last weigh-in (yesterday) you are "safe" from paying out... BUT if you've gained even 1 pound you pay $100 to the person who has lost the most amount. Another good motivation tool to keep things moving.

SO - I was going to post the "2nd Place Gift" that Lu got me ... but now I've done this one - so I'll do that post tomorrow.

Curious? Stay tuned *wink*!!

[talk: Not a Loser, But Still a Winner]

**sigh**

Need I say anymore??

So. I lost. Not by much - but I didn't lose enough pounds to win. My husband DID win, though, so I guess that's better than forking out money to those outside of our chequing account *smile*. And he's looking good - so that's a bonus for me *wink*. And I'm feeling pretty proud of myself regardless.

BUT DANG.

I am so competitive. I wanted bragging rights SO bad *grin*. But, alas, I am NOT the Biggest Loser. We weighed in this morning - and I was almost in TEARS when I realized that I hadn't won.

Now, I only have 5 pounds to go to be "wedding weight" - so I'm not quite finished yet. I have been receiving so many encouraging comments, though. SO great. They make me feel ... well ... pretty. And I haven't felt that way in a long time. So thank you - thank you - thank you for that ...

My husband was saying that he was a teeny bit sad that people haven't been commenting on him the way I've been getting feedback. In fact, everyone I've told are surprised that I didn't win - and more surprised that HE did. I told him that was because he still has another 20lbs to go. And I don't. So I LOOK like I'm "done" ... he doesn't. *evil grin*. So that made me feel better . How cruel of me, I know ...

Now what? Well - as I said - I still have a few more to go, so I will keep on keepin' on. I have a wedding that I'm in in September and a "10-year Anniversary Cruise" in October to be ready for. So - those things will keep me motivated.

But guess what?

My husband treated me to a SPECIAL gift ... a 2nd place prize, if you will. Ooooo - it's SO GOOD!!

Stay tuned to find out what it was ... is ... whatever *grin*.

Off to bed ... so so tired.