27 down... 73 to go.

Well I have made it through yet another year! I now find myself at the ripe old age of 27! Yesterday was a good day, even though I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be. I had to work so it started out at 6:30 a.m. pretty much like any other school morning. But when I got to my class the room mother for my class had brought me a surprise on behalf of all the parents, which was really unexpected and sweet. At 1 p.m. Bevan came to pick the boys and I up and had brought lunch with him that he had picked from Elizabeth's Pizza (a nice local Italian joint), we took it home and to my utter astonishment the house was spotless and organized! Bevan had come back home after dropping us off at school and cleaned the house and put all the laundry away and everything. I really appreciate this because I know what a sacrifice that time was for him because he has a lot of tests and projects due this week. There was a potted plant of gerbera daisies on the table and in the fridge was a Cheesecake Factory pumpkin cheesecake from Sam's. (Amazing because I had been at Barnes and Nobles the day before and seen a poster advertising this exact cheesecake, I am on a big pumpkin kick at the moment so it looked really good. I mentioned to Bevan later on how good all things pumpkin were seeming to me although I did not mention the cake. And lo and behold that exact cake appears in my fridge the next day like magic!) Liam was really funny about blowing out the candles on the cake. He pretty much did it for me! I certainly appreciated his help. After lunch Bevan had to get back to school so it was just the boys and I the rest of the day.I did get some great phone calls from Patricia and Vivian (who actually coordinated their lunch breaks in Salt Lake City so that we could all talk together at the same time, very fun!), my parents and brothers, Ruth and of course dear old Autumn (my longest running friendship...she is 13 months older than me and actually came with her mother to visit me at the hospital when I was born...we hit it off from day one, literally!!). I also got adorable e-cards from Heather P. and Sarah R., I really appreciated those you guys! "Good Mail" came on the weekend from Ruth and my Mum. A fun delivery arrived on my door step later in the evening, Leah and Philip from our ward and complex left me a package with the just released that day copy of "The Little Mermaid", they called to let me know the bag was at the door and that they had knocked several times but said I probably didn't hear it because they could hear Liam screaming very loudly inside. I had been trying to clip Liam's toenails which were nasty and he was having a conniption...how embarrassing!All in all it was a really nice day. For me birthdays are like New Year's, a time to make resolutions and gage my progress. One goal that I had set for myself to achieve this past year was to loose enough weight to be within my BMI range, even if it was at the highest end. This was no small goal considering that during this time period I gave birth to my second child and of course had gained a great deal of weight in the bearing of that child, not to mention the fact that I was overweight before starting the pregnancy and had not been within this range since I was twenty. But I want to document that I did achieve my goal. I actually even managed to go two pounds below what my original goal was. So, since Asher was born I have lost 66 pounds, and am 25 pounds lighter than when I started the pregnancy. I still have another 5 or 10 pounds to go until I reach my final weight destination, but I feel really proud of myself that I am within my body mass index range and feel that I can now classify myself as a healthy person. It has been really rough from time to time, with lots of bad habits to replace but I made it through the worst of it! So now I am in the process of assessing what my goals for this next year are going to be, I'll post about it when I know.