Chocolate Intervention?

HELP!! There's chocolate everywhere and I can't stop eating it! Halloween is very bad for my diet. I admit to being a fatty tatty Halloween candy raiding Mommy.


It's vacation time and we are heading back to THE STATES!!! WooHoo! There is a flight headed toward our destination on Tuesday, so fingers crossed that it isn't changed and there are seats available. And this brings me to my new goal. I had said that it should be exercise specific. Now I'm also making it vacation related.

*Walk every day, at least 30 minutes, while in Cali to burn off some of the DELISH food you will be eating.*

*Hope to not gain back weight that has already been lost.*

A tiny goal, but there will be not limits to the eating while on vacation. We have a list. An actual list, written down, of where we have to eat. Yep, our trip is centered around In-N-Out, Carl's Jr. and good Mexican food. Sure, we're excited to see family too, but oh how we miss American food. ;-D

Met My Goal

Yaaay! I've met my goal of losing 12 pounds. And I'm done early. :D I never accomplish anything early. On to the next step in the weight loss/be more healthy journey. I definately have many more lbs to lose, but I'm thinking my next goal should not be related to numbers on the scale. Since regular exercise seems to be really hard for me, maybe my next goal shoud be exercise related? Hmmmm....

Jr has just a few more pounds to go before he meets his goal as well and he has another 2 and a half weeks to accomplish it.

As far as eating goes, we've done.....OK. Not great. Tonight we had a little re-jump start with some delish stir fry with wheat noodles for dinner. Mmm mm mmm. (Looking forward to that for lunch tomorrow too!) I am not a fish fan, but I've been trying to incorporate more of it into our regular meals, as well as an occassional vegetarian meal, in order to eat less meat. So tomorrow night we will try a new fish recipe with a quinoa salad on the side. I really only have one other way to make fish - unless you count tuna sandwiches - and am going to have to do some experimenting to find new ways that I can eat it. Also on the menu this week are pork tenderloin with veggies and albondigas. Can't go wrong with albondigas. Yum.

Comments, 5lbs & Kid Pics

Ok, why can't I post comments on my own blog??? I've done it before, but tonight it will not work.


Exciting news for me: I am about 5lbs away from my pre-Gianna weight. WooHoo! So far I've lost about 8lbs in about 2 1/2 weeks. I think that breastfeeding deserves most of the credit for that. I actually need to eat more because I'm losing too quickly. That's never happened before! But, according to what I've read, when breastfeeding you aren't supposed to lose more than about 1 1/2 lbs each week.



The exercise routine has not yet improved, and this weekend I ate very, very badly. The only days I've exercised were Tuesday and tonight. Ooops. Going to do better this week.



Here are a couple of kid pics: Gianna with a Pebbles Flinstone hair style and Alex with his binoculars. Amazing how entertaining empty toilet paper rolls can be!

Need to work on the exercise!!

Operation eating healthy is going well in the Tacbas household. It's the exercise that's tough. I either walked or swam for four out of the past seven days. Not too bad, but if you recall, my goal is at least 30 minutes each day. Gonna have to work on that one.

On a good note, I think that the eating healthy business is saving us some money. :D We haven't made any huge changes, really. We've mostly just cut out junk like sweets, chips, pastries and what not. And especially eating out. It's just too hard to make healthy choices when eating out, especially here in Germany. So we have really been trying to plan meals and snacks, even for when we are going to be out. That is saving us the $$ for sure. Sounds good to me: shrink my body while growing my savings. Good deal.

Makin some changes!

Wow. "Happy New Year" is the last post that I put on this blog on December 31st. Zero blog posts for 2011. It's been a while!

Well, Jr and I are have just started (with dinner last night) with a plan to meet some new goals. We both really want to lose some weight and work on living healthier. So I plan to blog about our goals and progress in hopes that it helps keep us more accountable. Here are our goals (I'm calling this phase 1):

Erin: Lose 12lbs in 8 weeks (which is when we head home for a visit).
Cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes each day.
Eat healthy foods every day, with occassional treats.

Jr: Lose 20lbs in 8 weeks.
Cardio exercise and weight lifting for 30-60 minutes each day.
Eat better and watch the sweet stuff.

Last night's healthy dinner was Tuna salad on a blooming tomato with boiled red potatoes. I loved it. Jr, not so much. Tonight we had (Turkey)BLTA's on whole wheat with fruit. Yummy. Always a favorite in our house. On the menu for the next couple of days are vegetarian sloppy joe's on whole wheat buns with fruit (another favorite of ours), and spaghetti squash with homeade spaghetti sauce. Mmmm, mmm mmm.

Today we went on a nice long walk around our village. Almost an hour. Pushing the kiddos (Gianna in here stroller and Alex on his tricycle) and climbing hills definately adds to the workout! For me at least. :D More long walks to come, and hopefully some swimming this weekend too.

If there's anyone out there who actually reads this give us your comments on healthy recipes and exercise ideas, or join us and let us know your goals.

Happy New Year!

Wow, that's a lot of cookies! I just finished baking some cookies to snack on during our wait for the New Year to arrive. Mmmmmm, can't wait to eat them. I remember making them one time at my friend Jenn's house when I was a teenager, and they were sooooo delicious. They are called Neiman Marcus cookies, and the recipe makes a TON! One batch made 120 cookies! Had to share, cuz I've been wanting to make these forever and ever. :D

Here are some pics of our holiday happenings:

At the Trier Weihnachtscircus
(Christmas Circus in Trier)

Saying "Hi" to Baby Sister

A Woody Doll for Christmas!

Santa brought Alex a train. Just what he'd asked for!

Our tree and presents after Santa had come.

At the Fire Department B-Shift Christmas party.

We made a gingerbread house!

Eye protection is necessary when preparing the icing.

The snow on our street a couple of weeks ago. Our house is on the left.

Looking out at part of our village.

Mommy made him pose.

Helping Daddy shovel snow.

There's a baby in there!

Out with a Bang!

So here is a quick catch up with the Tacbas Family. For the most part, life has been fairly calm and quiet around here. In October we had some good friends, Emma and Daniel, come for a visit. Lots of fun. We saw some local sights with them, and also took a trip to Amsterdam. We really appreciated them coming all the way over here to visit us. Thanks guys! Love you!

As I think everyone already knows, we have a suprise little bambino on the way. SHE is due to arrive on May 3rd. I am 22 weeks along now, almost to the halfway point, and baby is doing well. Here at Spangdahlem, we do not have Obstetricians on base, so all pregnant ladies must choose a nearby German hospital, or Krankenhaus, to go to. So far it has been a good experience. We get an ultrasound every time we go in, which is very cool. This baby seems to be very calm so far. In each ultrasound she just kind of hangs out, doesn't move around much. Does this mean something? Calm before the storm maybe??? I dunno. I just have a strong feeling that this little one is going to be Super Busy! Alex is so laid back, and so easy, I just feel like there won't be two easy babies in a row. Guess we'll find out in time, huh?



Here are the ultrasound pics from my last appointment on the 20th of December.

21 Weeks

We had a quiet Thanksgiving with just a few friends - Scott and the 3 kiddos, and 2 guys from the FD, Taylor and Ryan- came over for turkey and all the delicious sides. Now it is nearly Christmas, so next up is finding a tree and decorating! The end of the year is near, and we've had a pretty good one. Family is healthy, friends are doing well, Germany is, well, Germany. We are still missing the states, but are making it over here. Sometimes I feel like I'm just barely making it!

I don't know what is going on, but over the last, oh, maybe 2 months, we have had a curse over all electronics in the Tacbas household. And that seems to have extended to appliances as well. It all started with the iphones, which were lost in Amsterdam. I won't say by whom. (Not me!!) Anyway, then my laptop broke. (Ok, I'll fess up. That one was me.) Jr's laptop had been on it's last leg for a while. It was over 5 years old, and would randomly close out of programs and the inernet, and shut down completely whenever it just felt like it. Needless to say, we both have new (cheap) phones and new laptops. Oh dear! Then, just a couple of days ago Jr received a speeding ticket in the mail. Not an electronic device or an appliance, but just annoying, so I'm throwing it in. Today is the day that the appliances decided to join the fun. While trying to vacuum, with our one-year-old vacuum that has had issues for weeks, I smell smoke, see sparks and hear popping noises. Yep. Vacuum is done. The digital camera is not doing so hot either. We'll see how much further that one will make it, but judging by our recent luck, we will be looking for a new camera very soon. Phew. So that is how we are going out with a BANG! (And a little smoke and spark!) Hope that everyone out there has had a wonderful year, and that you are all enjoying the holidays!