New Year, New Hair... (and hopefully new body!)

I thought of a good title! A day late and a dollar short, but hey - I'll take it. I forgot to mention that I went dark! Boy, you'd never know I gained 10 pounds from all the compliments I'm getting about it. Of course, what else are people supposed to say "Oh, you dyed your hair..." So maybe some of the compliments aren't 100% truth, but any compliment at this point is a good one (and a coveted one!) I'm hoping that soon, they'll have more (or LESS, that is!) to compliment me on other than my hair.

Now let me explain the pictures to the right. The top one is me and my husband, before we were married and 4 kids ago. In reality, it was only a little over 5 years ago. Wow. I wish you could see that picture closer up. My face actually has dimensions. There are nice, skinny smile creases on the sides of my face... I can't explain it. Now my face is big and round. And that's just my face. If I'm going to be honest, I carry my weight pretty well. I've always struggled with the scale, but all growing up, even the dr's were shocked by the actual number on the scale - even when I was thinner. I think I look pretty darned good at 150 pounds, whereas I know some girls who think they're cows at that weight. I mean, I never thought I was skinny, but my stomach was flat, my FACE was thin, my arms were looking pretty good. I have big legs, but when I'm thin, they're mostly muscle - yet, I still couldn't wear knee-high boots. You get the picture. Anyway, I digress (really, I just wanted to use "I digress" at least once today - I love that phrase!) I want to look like that again. Heck, I want to look BETTER than that from the neck down! Or at the very least, from the waist down. The one beneath it is a similar picture... five years and 4 kids later. I can't really blame it on the kids, though! Can I let you in on a little secret?? Seriously, you need to keep this between you and me. I LOSE weight when I get pregnant. No, I'm not lying!! Ask Tina! Oh, I see you don't believe me, tomorrow I'm going to upload a picture of me during my last pregnancy. One of my pregnancies, I lost 16 pounds when I first got pregnant. Then, I gained EIGHT back throughout the pregnancy - that's -8 pounds! Then, once I give birth, I generally lose 15-30 pounds in the first three weeks. It is THEN that they start creeping back on. When I'm breast-feeding. I sit here - right in this very chair - with a huge glass of water and whatever snack (my preference is usually pb&j's when I'm nursing - my cravings start once I give birth, go figure!) I can grab with a HUNGRY, screaming baby or 2 in my arms... And it just creeps back on. I think my body freaks out when I start breastfeeding. "Oh no, oh NO, I'm losing calories... I'm not working out, and I'm losing calories!! Quick, I'd better store some FAT before I STARVE!!!"

Boy, I explained the heck out of those photos! The rest of them speak for themselves.

Oh, and P.S. (I think I'm going to do a p.s. in every post) I weighed myself this morning - down another 2 lbs. So THERE, Glenn!! I'm catching up!!