Valentines, three day weekends, pigtails, imagination, weight loss...

Hi all! Well, just a bit of an update. It's been lovely to have a couple three-day weekends. It really takes the pressure off of trying to get all the cleaning and shopping and such done and allows us fun time. This weekend we haven't even had our free day, and we've already gone to ArtBeast and the playground and visited Grandpa John!

Valentine's Day isn't a huge deal around here, but we do celebrate how lucky we are to have all this love. Sweetie and I exchanged presents (books for both of us!) and Zadie got two cool Mo Willems books from Daddy and stickers, bubbles, barrettes, and lip gloss from Mommy. We also all got presents from Grandma and Boompah and candy from Grandpa John. For dinner tonight we got take-out from Boon Boon Thai cafe. The food was good, and it was extra-special because we ate it on a blanket in a living room picnic.

WIth the barrettes I got Zadie were two ponytail holders. I figured we'd put them away until she had a bit more hair, but she begged to put them in, so I figured I'd try. Here's the result.


Doesn't she look grown-up? I mean it -- every once in a while it really strikes me how big she's getting or how much she's grown, and to me, with the pigtails on, she looks so much more like a little girl than a baby.

Her imagination is just going wild. She still keeps up a running monologue about what Baby Max might say, but she seems to be adding her own characters to the mix. For example, she's been talking today about "Miyoki." I couldn't figure out who it was, so I finally said "Is Miyoki your friend?" She said yes, so I guess Miyoki is a brand-new imaginary friend.

When last we left our blogging heroine, I was feeling a little "Sheesh, how am I ever going to lose this weight?" Now I'm feeling a little more "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." So that's good. Anyway, I've lost a little over ten pounds, which makes me feel a little better. It feels like an accomplishment. On the other hand, according to Weight Watchers, that means I need to reduce my calorie consumption even more, by four "points" a day. Well, that doesn't sound like much, but it's a cup of rice, or an apple and a banana, or a cup of no-fat frozen yogurt or two oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies and a rice cake... Anyway, you can see where I'm going to have to cut back more. Probably in the dessert region. Boo.

Okay, that's all for now! Take care, and I hope you're all well. Happy Valentine's Day!