15!!

Woohoo! I was hovering just under 15 pounds lost for a while and then I took my little diet detour and gained a little and FINALLY today I have lost the weight I gained plus .4 more and I have now officially lost 15.2 pounds. Yay me! It took me 71 days to lose 15 pounds, which is a little slower than I hoped, but I'm still really happy with my progress.

If I lose 10 more pounds my BMI will be in the normal range and if I lose 20 more my lowest sized pants will fit (the ones I only keep around as goal weight pants) and I will be at a weight that I haven't seen in years. I have purposely not set long term goals up until now because it's easier to focus on small numbers and day to day successes, but I have found that blogging has been one of things that has kept me motivated, so I'm putting the numbers out there. I'm still only going to focus on the day to day successes, but writing down a goal number will help motivate me to get there.

I have done great on my diet the past couple of days. I even turned down a cupcake at a church function the other night, and I love cupcakes! I'm back in the zone.

On a different topic, I have been meaning to mention this for the past couple of days and I have to write it down before I forget. It's a brag about Josh, so you'll have to forgive me, but I'm proud of him and I want to make sure I document this.

Josh is in Boy Scouts. He wasn't super enthusiastic about Scouts when he started but it's part of our church program and all his church friends go, so he has been a good sport about it. Then it came time to go to scout camp this summer and he wasn't totally sure he wanted to go. To tell you the truth, I wasn't all that sure I wanted him to go either. But we talked about it and decided that it was an experience that would be good for him and he decided to go.

You all remember how much I missed him that week and counted down the days until he came home! Because he's not super unto Scouts and was nervous about going to camp, I was nervous for him. I just hoped that he'd earn some merit badges and come home happy.

Before he left the scout leader told him that last year someone earned 11 merit badges at scout camp and that if someone could earn 11 this year they'd be doing really great. I told Josh to just do his best and hoped that camp would be a good experience for him. I was proud of him just for going.

He came home from camp, a little banged up from a bike accident and a run in with a tree stump, and all of his stuff was wet because it rained all week, but he had a smile on his face and was proud to tell me that he earned 13 merit badges! Thirteen is almost unheard of at scout camp!

After scout camp he earned one more and a couple of nights ago they held the Court Of Honor ceremony where they present them with their merit badges and we got to go watch him get his 14 badges. I was proud of him, not just because he earned the most merit badges, but because he accomplished something that was really hard for him and a little outside his comfort zone and that he did it with such a good attitude.

When he went up to get his badges, the leader who presented them said that the leaders had gotten together to choose one camper to award with a special award for being the best camper. Not for getting the most merit badges, but for having a good attitude, being cooperative and for trying hard. The choose Josh to receive the award and they gave him a really neat walking stick that one of the leaders had carved.

I am so proud of that kid. No matter what you ask him to do he does it with a smile on his face and he does it 110%. He wasn't even sure he wanted to go to camp and he ended up earning the most merit badges and getting the best camper award. I don't so much care about the awards, but seeing how proud he was of what he accomplished was awesome. He really stretched himself to do something that was hard for him and I admire that about him. I love watching my kids grow and learn and accomplish goals. Josh learned at Scout camp that he is stronger than he thought he was and I think that's awesome. I know that is a big long mom brag, but I wanted to make sure to write that down so that he'd know how proud I am of him. He's an awesome kid.

And speaking of awesome kids, Matthew starts his hip hop dance class tonight. He's really excited about it and I think it will be fun to watch what he learns. He likes to dance, which amuses me because he has the two most uncoordinated parents on Earth. :) I'm not sure when he gets it from, but if he wants to learn to hip hop dance I was happy to find him a class! It's a six week class and sounds like fun!

And because I can't leave my third awesome kid out, I am loving being home with Clarissa now that the boys are both in school. We went shopping this morning and she helped me pick out workout shirts. I love the one on one time with her, we've been having all sorts of fun together this week. She starts preschool on Tuesday and she can't wait! It's just for a couple of mornings a week but she has the same awesome teacher we had in the mommy and me class last year and I think she's really going to have a fun time.

So everyone is doing great around here! I'm loving life these days! :)