She's not a baby "anymo"

"Baby Love" has been my term of endearment for my sweet girl since she was born. Now, she's not too pleased with this pet name. "I'm NOT a baby anymo Mama!" she yells when I slip and call her Baby Love. She's a big girl, you know.

Some recent things about Maggie:

• Her imagination is in full force. We play House just about every night these days. She's typically the Mama and Andrew and I are the babies. Sometimes, I'm assigned to be Izzy, Andrew is Baby Elliot and Maggie is of course Aunt Amie. Max is a white stuffed polar bear. She makes us sleep in the crib (her toddler bed) and reads us stories. Of course, this gets a bit tricky when we try to slip into parent mode and tell her what she needs to do (like pick out jammies for bed, go to the potty, etc) and she tells us, "Babies don't talk!"
• She is naming just about everything these days. She's real into her puppies. We have Odie & Missy (name of my mom's dogs), Lola & Babalu (Andrew's dad and stepmom's dogs), Cassie, Pinkie, Frenchie. Her favorite teddy bears are Strawberry and Chocolate Brownie. If she doesn't have a name or doesn't know the name of someone, she assigns names like Liki, Kiki, Coco, Leecy. Odie's official name is Odie KikiLeechy. Cracks me up.
• I can only get her to eat two vegetables--edamame and broccoli. She is a picky eater and we're trying to continue to encourage her to try more things. Unsuccessfully so far, but still trying.
• She's is still a Daddy's Girl through and through. She's sweeter to me when he isn't around, but still prefers him hands down over me when we're both around. Andrew is real good about speaking to her sternly if she says something like, "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to DADDY." He doesn't tolerate it and makes her apologize. It helps
• Relationships really interest her. She loves to understand who is related. If I say GaGa, she immediately asks, "Your mama?" Told her we were going to Aunt Bobby's house (Deb's) and she says, "Your best friend?"

Speaking of Mama, she is whining and saying, "I want to be on you! Get off the computer!" Gotta go. I leave you with some recent pictures.

I

Economy's Effect on Charities

As a fundraiser, the worst three words right now are "with this economy." We're hearing it from all sides, "With this economy, I'm scaling back my charitable contributions." "With this economy, we aren't supporting X or Y causes." "With this economy..."well, you get the point.

Here's the problem--With this economy, charities are facing a double edged sword. Contributions will go down while need for the services provided will go up. Especially for organizations provided immediate needs of services such as food pantries, addressing homelessness, and fighting poverty. More clients will be coming to the doors of charities seeking help. They are going to struggle to meet the rising demand of needs from clients. Many of people coming to organizations for help may not have needed help in years past. However, "with this economy" they are now finding themselves struggling and turning for help.

If you're a frequent visitor to this blog, you know this is a topic I feel strongly about.

People are being laid off. People are losing bonuses or raises. Many are just thankful they have a job at all. It's scary times, I know. Today, I sat with my monthly leader's circle of Executive Director's at various nonprofits discussing what we're seeing. It's happening all over. I'm thankful to be in Dallas where the situation isn't quite as dire. I'm thankful that Heroes for Children is doing well comparably and able to provide for families with children with cancer. This post isn't about how HFC is doing or a plea for donations. This is about the national situation for nonprofit organizations.

What scares me is people cutting out charitable contributions all together. Sure, I cut my housekeeper for the time being and we cut our lawn services. We're not shopping for ourselves and spending frivolously anymore. One thing we're not cutting back? Our charitable contributions. We're thoughtful of where and how we give. We have our set charities (HFC, Princess Alexa Foundation, and LLS) that we will be supporting this year. Our selection is personal to us. We found the ones whose mission best fits our family. We won't be huge contributors this year, but we're not stopping either.

As you think about your upcoming year, I hope you will consider the same. Charities need you now more than ever. Read my post from December (linked above) for ideas of how you can make a difference without breaking your bank account.

My question, dear readers, is how are things in your area? What are you seeing? Are you able to contribute to nonprofits right now? Please leave your thoughts and comments here.

Wednesday Weigh-In

I blog about my weight and what happens? I gain two pounds!! OK, so it might have been the decadent Valentine's Dinner at my mother in laws Saturday night. Between her cooking and Amie's (my SIL), it's pure indulgence.

On Sunday night, Heroes for Children hosted a beautiful Valentine's Dinner for HFC families. We had free on-site childcare for the kids and dinner for two for the parents. Same as last year, we had a mother come alone. I'm not about to let a mom sit there by herself at a table for two! So, I asked to join her and we had a wonderful dinner together. A wonderful, non South Beach friendly dinner.

So, here I am now up two pounds. I know I'll shed these pounds. It's just a reminder of how easy it is for those pounds to creep right back up. Just a reminder that I am in this for the long haul, not just to lose weight and think I'm done.

It's a lifestyle change. Those are the toughest, aren't they?

Jabba the Baby

Elliot. Three months old. Love this man

28 Pounds and Counting

This picture was taken of me Saturday night before Andrew and I went out on a date. I hadn't finished my makeup, so ignore the fact that I don't like how I look in the face in this picture. What I am proud about is the top. That top is the most unforgiving piece of clothing I own. It shows each and every bulge I have.

For the past month, I have tried it on, looked it the mirror, and yanked it back off my body in frustration. Saturday night, I tried it on. It fit! Not only that, I didn't have horrible muffin top or bulging arms. The jeans are actually too big now and I am having to yank them up (I hate belts and refuse to wear them). I had Andrew take the picture and sent it to a few girlfriends to celebrate. Now, I'm sharing it with you because I know this is my biggest support system out there!

I have contemplated disclosing my weight for a while. I thought I just wasn't brave enough to share that. But, really, what the hell? I've shared every other detail of my life for the past five years, why not my weight.

So here goes...

At the end of October, I weighed 185.

When I started South Beach diet the second week of November, I weighed 182.

Currently, I weigh 157.

Total loss: 28 lbs!!

My doctor's appointment with Dennis is in two weeks. I would love to be under 155 by then. I haven't seen that number is SO LONG!!

Thank goodness for half marathon training and my commitment to South Beach diet. Maybe I can be even less than 155 by then.

My BMI was 30.8 when I started this. According to my Wii Fit (can be a bit of a snarky bitch sometimes, but we're currently having a good relationship) says I am now at 26.1. Under 15 is now longer considered Overweight. I'm about 5 lbs from that giant milestone.

And now here is the bigger challenge than just losing the weight--continuing to KEEP it off. Well, that is with the exception of that thing called pregnancy.

Chubby Babies

This weekend, we had some much needed family time with extended family. Unfortunately, it was because Andrew's grandmother passed away. The visitation was Friday night and the funeral was Saturday. We got to see cousins that we haven't been good about keeping in touch with, with the exception of lately on Facebook. We visited with his Dad and stepmom Jane, and played with Izzy, Max, and sweet baby Elliot. It was nice to see everyone, even under sad circumstances.

I can't get over baby Elliot! He is a tank! At three months old, Elliot has fat thighs, chub cheeks, and ginormous "cankles." He flashes a smile that melts my heart, and I can't help but to remember another chubby baby that I love so much.

What is it about a chunky baby? They melt my heart. I've been blessed to have both--the chunk and the peanut. Both are precious and sweet.

I realized yesterday that it was a blessing that Allie was my chunky baby. She was so big, with giant fat rolls all over her. You could count the rolls going down her arm, and you couldn't help but giggle at her "thunder thighs." She didn't look like a sickly baby. She looked this a chunky, happy, healthy baby. Even during her worst times, she didn't look sickly. I think her size helped that. It helped me. If Allie had been Mag's size, a bit scrawny and always less than the 10th percentile for her weight, I think she would have looked worse. I might have struggled with seeing her like that.

I was a skinny baby (funny given my weight struggles). Andrew was a HUGE baby. I have his baby book to prove it. At 8 weeks, he weighed in at 16lbs!!

Now that the idea of another baby is much more of the horizon for us, I have been thinking a lot of our baby girls. I'm hoping for another chunk to love on! Of course, given that my peanut was such a lovey awesome girl too, I would take one of them too.

Guess it just boils down to the fact that I'm ready for another baby.

MIA

Four nights this week. Four nights I'm in meetings in the evening, out of town, making presentations, or coming home late.

Hope my family makes it through the next two months with me. It's going to be tough.