all of that hard work culminated on saturday, march 10 with a dual purpose party to celebrate our new home and henry's first birthday (which was march 7). evan's parents, grandparents, and brother billy arrived on march 8. mom and i spent hours at costco and giant on march 9, stocking up on food and drinks. on march 10, there was a lot of cooking and decorating, and then billy picked up rob and kris at the airport. i'm so glad that evan's entire family was able to come! i had been hoping to get a nap, but by the time we got the kids down, there was still a lot of work to do and people were set to start arriving at 3. not counting all of evan's family, we had over twenty people come and go throughout the afternoon, and we only had a few no shows. we gave lots of house tours, visited with good friends, and ate lots of food! a lot of people brought housewarming gifts and birthday presents for henry. after he got up from his nap, henry went to town on a birthday cupcake. we didn't sing happy birthday because we were thought it might scare him. i was honestly surprised that he did so well sitting in his high chair with so many strangers watching him. he didn't really open any presents - he had been teething and although he didn't fuss, he was pretty sedated. he slept on my mom for quite a while. stephen was really good and not very shy, and he LOVED the elmo cupcakes. it was cute. martha and eric stayed until late evening, and we all played xbox after the kids were in bed. the party was quite a success! the best part is that we used our costco cash back coupon to pay for almost everything we bought, so it's almost like it was free. i told evan maybe we should make this an annual thing. the only downside was that it wasn't really warm enough to spend time out on the deck, but it worked out fine. evan's parents unfortunately had to leave the next day, but rob and kris stayed until wednesday. i had meetings all week, but rob got to spend a lot of time with evan and the kids, and that's what was important.

last weekend we sort of took it easy. on saturday morning, my mom and i got pedicures at the red door salon and spa in reston. the pedicures lasted almost an hour, and were awesome! after that we had lunch at cpk, and had some really good conversation about kids and things. it was an awesome, much needed girls day. on sunday morning, we met my parents at frying pan farm park. a lot of animals were born within the last few weeks, so we got to see piglets, lambs, chicks, etc. the weather was cool but comfortable, and the kids were good. we spent some time on the playground before heading home for naps, and then relaxing the rest of the day.

i really wish we could take some more weekends "off", but i feel like we need to push through and get the repairs to the townhouse finished first. hopefully evan can make some progress this weekend!

let me start by saying that i could not be happier with our new house. literally every single day, i'm struck by how thankful i am for at least some aspect of it. sometimes it's the quiet, tree lined streets where we pull the kids in their wagon, with every single car that passes us taking the time to wave hello. sometimes it's the enormous back yard where we can go out to play after dinner on a warm evening. sometimes it's my giant laundry room on the top floor, making it so much easier to deal with the laundry of three boys. sometimes it's when i'm driving home at night after a late meeting, and i have to use my brights just to get down our street, and i can see every single star in the sky. the few negative aspescts, like our enormous electric bill and the cost of lawn maintenance, can't make even a small dent in my happiness to be there.

all that being said, i feel like evan and i have hardly had a momemt to breathe in MONTHS, especially since the move. i almost can't believe it was only three months ago, because we've done so much during that time. we've unpacked virtually everything, hung up pictures and curtains, had blinds installed, had the fence put in, bought a dining room table and office furniture, wall mounted the tv and shelves so the kids can't reach anything, put up a bird feeder, ordered and received several custom area rugs, made countless trips to lowe's and home depot and target for everything from bathroom accessories to touch up paint to lighting, had the paino retuned... everything is basically in it's place. stephen's room is the only room that really looks unfinished, and that's only because we are looking for some new "big boy" stuff to decorate with. i feel like we've made this house into a home in a very short time, and i can already envision us here for many years. the thought of my boys growing up there gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

we even found a landscaper and a housekeeper (!). we had the house cleaned several weeks ago, and it was the first time we've ever used a cleaning service. it. was. AWESOME. the house smelled great, everything had been vacuumed and dusted, the fridge and microwave were spotless, the bathrooms were clean and sparkling... when i took a shower the next morning, i realized that they had even wiped down my body wash container! after seeing what a mess the townhouse was when we moved out, evan and i agreed we should get someone to clean every two or three months, just to do the things that we have a lot of trouble keeping up with. thoughts after their first visit are that this will be totally worth the money.

we've also had to worry about the townhouse. at this point, all the carpet has been replaced, tile was installed in the bathrooms, and the entire interior has been repainted. the place looks good but i have to say that when i saw it, it looked so small. i think i'm already used to all the space in the new house. there are a number of smaller maintenance items left to take care of. hopefully evan (and some helpers) can do that in the next several weeks, and then our realtor can start looking for renters. that will be a big item checked off our list, although then the landlord duties will begin. hopefully we can get some nice, long term tenants, and it won't be too much of a hassle.

to be continued...

week 42 - down 0.2
week 43 - up 0.6
week 44 - down 0.8
week 45 - up 0.2
week 46 - down 1.2

i am currently down 31.4 pounds, and 17.4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. i continue to struggle every day, but at least i'm still headed in the right direction. i'm proud to say i've worked out at least five days per week for the last three weeks. it's mostly been too cold to run, but i am alternating using my elliptical, doing my 30 day shred dvd, and trying my new fitness game for the xbox, your shape fitness evolved 2012. i also finally bought a heart rate monitor, the polar FT60. it was my reward for hitting thirty pounds, and so far i really like it. the heart rate strap is comfortable, the watch is cute, and easy to use. you can enter your weight and fitness goals, and it will develop a training program for you. mine told me to work out 4 hour and 55 minutes and aim for about 2500 calories burned per week. i usually work out about 2.5 hours per week, so at first i thought, no way! but damned if i haven't found myself struggling to make that goal! i've upped most of my workouts to 40 minutes instead of 30, and even worked out the past few saturdays. for some reason, that watch is motivating me! it also tells me what heart rate zone i should be in for weight loss. my heart rate is usually too high, but i like keeping an eye on it and trying to get into the right zone. another thing i like about it is that there is a GPS accessory you can buy to track distance and pace when running outside - i'll probably use that as another weight loss reward in the future.

evan helped me quite a bit last week, by reminding me to track my food even when i was eating more points than i should, and by taking care of the kids so i could get a few extra workouts in. i really appreciated that. my goal this week is just to keep tracking and keep working out.

- went to weight watchers.
- hid a key at the townhouse so our painting contractor can get started - woo!
- brought home chik-fil-a breakfast and enjoyed it with my boys.
- evan and his friend casey left for charlestown races and slots about 12 for casey's birthday.
- i played with the boys until 12:30, then got them in bed.
- i ordered pizza and watched vampire diaries and csi on my laptop.
- i cleaned the kitchen and swept downstairs.
- henry woke up about 5 pm. evan got home about 5:30 pm. i woke stephen up at 5:45 pm.
- evan watched the kids for an hour so i could work out and shower.
- all spent time together until we got the kids in bed about 8:30 pm.
- evan is making a late dinner of "fancy" (oven finish) mac and cheese, and texas toast.
- we are about to watch shark tank.

evan and i both got to spend time with the kids, got to spend time to ourselves, and now we're spending time together. the best part is that this is a three day weekend, so we have two more days to enjoy.

today was sunny and 60, and yet tomorrow it's supposed to snow. i kind of hope it doesn't, because my parents are planning to come over and help us finish a few more things around the house, spend some time visiting, and maybe go out to dinner.

lots of fun stuff coming up - jim gaffigan at the warner theater next weekend, gaelic storm at the birchmere the weekend after that, and henry's birthday/housewarming party the weekend after that! should be a fun month.

i requested a vacation day yesterday. i have three board meetings this week and evan and i wanted to make our annual trek to olive garden, but we didn't want to wait in the lobby for two hours with two kids. so, i figured we'd get to spend the day together and then we could go out to eat in the middle of the afternoon. my boss asked me to order 10 dozen gourmet cupcakes from the shop near my house and pick them up. she offered to let me work a half day without using any vacation time, and that sounded fine to me. it turned out a large project i was supposed to complete monday wasn't finished on time, so i had to work on that feverishly on tuesday anyway. i was starting to get awfully stressed and annoyed about being at work by the time i finally left around 1 pm.

i must say, after that, we had the perfect valentine's day. we got the kids up from their naps around 3, put some nice clothes on them, and headed out the door for olive garden. we had to wait about 5 minutes to be seated even though there were a lot of empty tables, but that was fine. the food and the service were both very good, and the kids really couldn't have behaved any better throughout the meal. henry quielty noshed on breadsticks and milk the entire time. stephen played with henry, ate some bread and grapes, and people watched out the window. he also took a few pictures with my iPhone, which he LOVES to do now. we asked him to take one of us, which he's never tried before, and he did pretty well!

when we got home, i gave stephen and henry their valentine's day gifts -they each got a balloon, they shared a musical snoopy valentine's day card, and they shared a chocolate cupcake. they loved it! evan and i had agreed not to buy each other gifts, since we've been spending money it's going out of style, but evan got me roses and a gift basket anyway, which was really sweet.

after the kids went to bed, we both had dessert and i had some wine. we watched a little tv, and then headed to bed. a perfect valentine's day!

i can't believe it's been so long since i posted about weight watchers... my last post was at the end of october! here's a recap of the last few months:

week 29 - oct 29 - down 0.2
week 30 - nov 05 - down 0.4
week 31 - nov 12 - up 1.0
week 32 - nov 19 - up 1.2
week 33 - nov 26 - skipped
week 34 - dec 03 - down 2.8
week 35 - dec 10 - up 0.4
week 36 - dec 17 - skipped
week 37 - dec 24 - skipped
week 38 - dec 31 - skipped
week 39 - jan 07 - up 0.4
week 40 - jan 14 - up 1.0
week 41 - jan 21 - down 3.4

so, i am currently down exactly 30 pounds, meaning that i have lost 2.8 pounds in the last 13 weeks. i guess i could look at it and say crap, i only lost 2.8 pounds. and sometimes i do. but more often than not i am choosing to look at it and say hey, i made it through the holidays and didn't gain any weight. i've been struggling really badly to get back on the wagon and last week was the first time i was able to force myself, kicking and screaming, to track my food five out of seven days. i also worked out four out of five days, but for some reason, that's never been nearly as difficult for me. anyway, saturday we had some snow and a little ice on the ground, and i was devestated at the prospect that my meeting would be cancelled. once i confirmed it wasn't, i braved the roads and went to weigh in. my efforts were richly rewarded and i was very surprised at how much i lost. woohoo! i'm hoping that gives me the boost i need to keep going. i didn't track over the weekend, but i am back at it today. this is pretty typical for me even when i'm really sticking to the plan - i'll sort of eat what i want over the weekend, then track my food during the week and assume that my extra 49 points are gone.

i have 18.8 pounds to go to my pre-pregnancy weight and it's very doubtful that i will make it by henry's first birthday (march 7 is only about 6 weeks away), but that's okay with me. having less than 20 pounds to go feels more manageable somehow, and as long as i keep heading in the right direction, that's all that matters.

i have been looking forward to this christmas since at least christmas 2010, and maybe even before that. i knew 2011 was our year to stay in virginia (we spend every other christmas with evan's family in georgia) and i felt confident that the mulligans would spend christmas in virginia too, since they stayed in colorado in 2010. i couldn't stop thinking that we were going to have "a fun old fashioned family christmas", christmas vacation style. as the months wore on, the dream became a reality. evan and i planned to stay in my parents basement with our two kids and two dogs for several nights, while krystle, gavin and finn would be sleeping in the guest rooms upstairs. i think everyone except me had some serious reservations about what a total nut house it was going to be - i was too excited to consider even the possibility that the whole experience wouldn't be awesome.

the mulligans flew in on tuesday evening, december 20th. they came by my office on wednesday so mom could show off her grandbaby, and i was SO excited to see them all! i couldn't believe it had been 8 months - too long! i took thursday and friday off. we headed over to my parents thursday evening and stayed there until the following tuesday morning. we met everyone for one last dinner on tuesday night at copper canyon, and then the mulligans flew home on wednesday.

things really couldn't have gone any better! stephen and finn played really well together. last time they were together, they were a little curious about one another, and played near each other, but they didn't interact a lot. this time, they interacted a TON! they laughed and talked in toddler speak, tickled each other, chased each other, and evn exchanged some adorable hugs and kisses. there was a little bit of hitting and snatching of toys, but far less than i expected. henry and stephen slept together in the main room of the basement, with henry in the pack and play and stephen on a futon. they slept through the night almost every night and did very well at nap times too. i got to go out to lunch with mom and krystle, and then krystle and i also had one lunch just the two of us, followed by a little bit of shopping. that was great - i really miss our girl time. the boys helped bake molassas cookies, went to the playground, and helped hand crank ice cream. we all got to watch christmas vacation together on christmas eve, which looked a little questionable with all the kids sleep schedules. there was tons of eating, reading, tv, and words with friends. christmas day itself was pretty crazy. the pile of presents was larger than it's ever been, which i suppose makes sense as this is the most people we've ever had together, three of them being children! we did stockings and presents and it took hours. the kids were all pretty well behaved. henry couldn't have cared less about his presents, so stephen opened a lot of them. towards the end, the boys were so interested in all the new stuff they'd gotten, and the grown ups opened all their presents. my only complaint is that there was so much stuff and so much going on that i didn't get to see even half of what everyone else received. if i had it to do over, i might suggest that we do all the kids presents first, and then have an "adult" christmas later, maybe when they were napping, so we could go slow and really see what was going on. anyway, the boys of course got way too many toys and adorable clothes. i got speakers for my ipod/iphone, some jewelry, VS pink sweats (good job, evan!), clothes, books (devoured the hunger games trilogy already - loved it, although it left me kind of depressed), christmas ornaments, and a xbox (and probably a lot more things that i am not remembering right now). i have the xbox setup in the extra room in our house, which is turning into a workout room for me, basically. my elliptical is in there, as well as some hand weights, tv, dvd player and workout dvds, and the xbox. i can't wait to try some of the fitness games.

after our final dinner together, of course i was sad to see the mulligans go. i told myself i wasn't going to cry and i was doing pretty well, but then finn started to cry and call for "baby" (his name for stephen). finn and stephen had been chasing each other down an empty aisle in the restaurant for at least 30 minutes, and i'm sure finn just wanted to keep playing. i highly doubt he understood that playtime with baby was over for another nine months or so, but it still tugged at the heartstrings! i did get a bit misty after that, but not too bad. honestly, the visit actually felt pretty long and satisfying, which made saying goodbye a little easier. i felt like we got to spend so much time together and so many different things, probably because we stayed in the same house for five days and didn't have to worry about trying to make plans together and meet up places. christmas was everything i had hoped it would be, and more.

now time to focus on planning our fall trip together to new hampshire!

evan's parents arrived at our townhouse on thursday night, december 15. they helped up do some late night packing before bed. i had work on friday but it was our holiday party and i was out of there by 1 pm. my parents came over right after work as well, and we packed the cars to the gills and headed to the new house. mom and i worked on unpacking the kitchen at the new house while everyone else moved stuff - mom is really good at that! my parents went home around dinner time, we ate with evan's family at the townhouse, and then there was more moving and late night packing. saturday morning my parents arrived bright and early and we headed over to the new house with more carloads of stuff. the movers arrived promptly at 8 am, and evan stayed at the townhouse to work with them. my dad and i made what i'm sure will the the first of many, many trips to home depot, for shower curtain rods, toilet paper dispensers, towels bars, etc. and then he installed all that stuff for us at the house. we had to pay the movers a minimum of four hours, and we just barely went over that. they assembled all our furniture and were out of there pretty close to noon. my parents stayed until saturday afternoon. we spent our first night in the house saturday night. evan's dad mounted the flat screen on the wall for us and then they left sunday afternoon.

things have been pretty darn busy since then. with christmas and the mulligan's visit (which i'll recap soon), we haven't had too much time to devote to the house, but i think we've made a lot of progress. in hindsight, i wish we had just paid the movers to stay longer, because we left a lot of little things at the townhouse. between evan and i, we've made at least 6 trips over there and we haven't even gotten everything yet. i really want to get it emptied out so we can start the repairs and get it rented. it's hard to focus on that sometimes, since we are already living in the new place and we both want to do projects at the new house too. my parents have been over several times to help us. they spent an entire day with us two weekends ago, hanging up pictures, mirrors and clocks, cleaning our new kitchenware and putting it away, programming the garage door openers, etc. that was really the first time i thought the house started to feel like home. all of the windows are bare, which leaves us feeling pretty naked, but we've ordered custom blinds and they will be installed friday. we've figured out how to deal with the hard water in the dishwasher, so that's a relief. we just bought a large computer desk and file cabinet to create a home office area in the front room. my parents came over again last weekend, mostly so my dad could help evan put that desk together. of COURSE a piece is missing, and that piece is on backorder for 6 weeks. i am seriously considering buying another desk, taking out the piece i need, and then returning it and telling them it was missing! i don't know what we'd do without them - they have been such a help! we still need a dining room table, need to fence the back yard (getting our first quote today), buy a playset for the kids, and put a large bathroom in the basement, but i think all of those things are on the back burner for now.

so far, we are loving our new place. our street is quiet. we almost always have deer in the back yard in the mornings. the sunrises and sunsets are amazing, and it gets so dark at night that you get a great view of the stars. the boys love their huge playroom, and we love all the extra space. we have more cabinets and closets all over the house than you can shake a stick at, and at least half of them are still empty. i can see us really making a home here, for the long haul.

will post some pictures when things are actually finished!

this is my first full week at work in what seems like forever, and i have a board meeting tonight and one tomorrow night. ugh, i hate this time of year. the slew of holidays - thanksgiving, christmas, new year's, and even halloween - are over, and so is all the fun, excitement, anticipation, and days off work that come along with them. it's back to the grind and oftentimes it seems like there is nothing in the near future to look forward to. typically by this time of year, i've also had 4 - 6 weeks with no board meetings at all (most boards don't meet in december) and i've really enjoyed my freedom. i always have an urge to quit all my meetings, and this year is no different. i just have to grit my teeth and soldier on, like i always do, especially in light of the fact that we just bought a new house and i've been making triple digit shopping trips to home depot and target like it's going out of style.

although i do have a mild case of the grumps, things are really going pretty well. i'm working on updates about the move, the holidays, and weight watchers, but haven't quite finished them yet. just thought i'd stop by quickly and let you know i'm still alive.

well, it's official - evan and i (and the bank) own a beautiful single family home in gainesville! my mom came over at about 7 AM yesterday to watch the boys for us. it was a very cold morning so i picked up a chai at starbucks and then we headed to the house for the final walkthrough. while we waited for our realtor to arrive, we walked hand in hand through the backyard, and saw a big buck running past. pretty cool! we did a quick check of the interior and everything looked good. the owners are investors, so they didn't even show up to closing - it was just me, evan, our realtor and a representative from the title company who was very personable and knowledgeable. we chatted, signed some papers, handed over a ridiculous sum of money, and it was all over in less than an hour. our realtor gave us several large wrapped gifts, along with a homemade loaf of bread and homemade butter! we managed to stuff everything into the already overflowing car, and headed back to the new house to drop everything off. i tore into those presents right away - a blanket, a set of cream colored towels, a griddle, and a $100 home depot gift card. pretty nice! we unloaded the car and talked a little about where we wanted to put things, but then we had to get back to the townhouse so mom could go to work. it was funny - she and my dad used the same realtor about 6 years ago and she remembered the bread. we all had some when we got back and it was good, especially the butter, which was sweet. evan took a nap and i did some christmas shopping. i think i'm finally about done. he took another load of stuff to the new house after we got the kids in bed. we got to bed a little late and i am definitely tired today. evan is hoping to take another load of stuff over tonight. things are really busy at work so i'm just trying to make it through the next two days. evan's family may be here thursday night. friday is our holiday party at work and i'll be getting off early and then it's time to really get down to business! i can't wait!