Eight weeks old! May 2009

Dear Gavin,
I can't believe (in more ways than one) you're eight weeks old today. On the one hand, these past eight weeks have just flown by. The first four were a blur of nursing and pumping and weighing and worrying and loving. These last four have been a blur of settling into the busy-ness of our family routine with you happily being carted around for the ride. I still kind of can't believe you're really here. On the other hand, I feel like I've known you forever and I can't imagine what our family would have been like without you. When we have our little visits during the quiet moments in the day, I keep expecting you to come out with a sentence or two. "Mom, can you sing me that song about Mr. Sun again?" or "Hey, you want to lay off the chipotle mayo, already? That stuff gives me wicked gas!" all conveyed by a certain look in your eye or a little coo. And the smiles...don't even get me started! I'm looking so forward to the Gavin-giggles that I'm sure are just around the corner.
I love you,
Mommy

Weigh Day

- 1.4 pounds...a step in the right direction. I had a pretty good week. Did some walking, did some cheating, did some extra walking to make up for it. The hardest thing for me right now is trying not to eat after dinner. When I was pregnant and diabetic I was required to have a bedtime snack. After nine months of yummalicious nummies in my tummy to see me off to dreamland, I'm really missing it!
Today the meeting was about motivation. Our leader was saying that at some point you have to shift your focus away from what brought you into WW, the negative you're trying to leave behind. Instead you have to shift to a focus on where you want to go or it's easy to become complacent and pick up old habits again. Right now I'm still very motivated by the getting-away-from mentality, as in getting away from the clothes-that-still-don't-fit-me problem. Eventually I'll need a motivational strategy, though. Has anyone else come up with something that has helped them? I welcome any suggestions...

Five Cool Things

1. Gavin started smiling this week. Ah, the toothless, gummy grin!
2. Amy demonstrated unbelievable patience this evening with the slow service while out for dinner. She's only five years old and she had me beat!
3. Trevor now reads chapter books. For fun.
4. My parents are going on a wonderful adventure this week. Bon voyage!
5. I played all day today and didn't do any housework - YES!

Echoes

Yikes. Do you ever hear your kids talking to each other and hear yourself in their conversation? Sometimes it's positive, but sometimes it's positively cringeworthy.
I really notice it in my daughter, Amy, who's 5. Every so often, usually when things aren't going her way I can hear her frustration and impatience and know that she is echoing the way I sound when I'm stressed and impatient. Really not flattering. And I'm hearing more of it from her lately which means she is probably hearing more of it from me lately. I'm more tired and easily stressed than usual with a new baby around, and she's less secure and more stressed than usual, also partly because of the new baby and the fact that Mommy is a bit high strung these days.
I guess if I'm not crazy about her tone lately, it's time for me to get a hold of mine.

Summer's a Comin'!

I'm trying to plan our summer. What I would like to do is say that we're not doing anything, we're just going to lounge around and be lazy. I think I'd be crazy after Day 3 of that, though, from listening to the kids whine that they're bored and why can't they play Webkinz for 12 hours straight anyway? So I am trying to plan our summer and getting nowhere fast.

There are all manner of day camps, all of which are quite expensive (this is an annual source of stress in itself as I don't get paid in the summer as a teacher). We are looking at a couple of hockey clinics, neither of which run at the same time so that will gobble up two weeks. Also there are swimming lessons I'd like the kids to do, but that eats up a two week chunk of time per set. Then there are a couple of family vacation options we're looking at, but we can't book them until we decide what activities the kids are doing. Anything related to travelling to the US is in suspended animation until Gavin gets his NEXUS card. And before you know it, it will be time for back-to-school shopping!

It's such a fine balance between keeping kids busy/entertained and overprogramming the family. How do you handle summers and kids in your house?

The Weight-ing Game

Well, I'm six weeks post-partum and the baby-weight-loss has officially plateaued. Any extra weight I'm now carrying is mine; more likely to be due to spending the last four weeks of my pregnancy demonstrating the joys of eating ice cream soup for Trevor and Amy than actually having been pregnant. The "extra" weight is not insignificant (about 15 lbs.) and I was no waif to begin with.

So tomorrow it begins - I am going to join Weight Watchers and attempt for the umpteenth time in my life to lose weight (and not find it again). I believe that I've failed so miserably in the past for two reasons: a) I was focused more on losing weight than being healthy, and b) I viewed spending the time and effort and energy on my health as being self-indulgent (martyr complex, anyone?). Like many moms, I tend to use the demands of my family life as an excuse to not look after myself. It took having a small mental crisis after my baby's delivery to make me realize how important it is for me to take better care of myself, physically and mentally. If I take that time for myself, my whole family will be better for it.

I'll miss the ice cream soup, though.

Why Vocabulary Matters

Excerpt from a conversation with my five year old while driving in the van the other day:

Me: How was kindergarten this morning?

Amy: Good. We talked about body science today.

Me: Wow, that sounds interesting...what did you talk about?

Amy: We learned about the tentacles.

Me: Hmm. And where are the tentacles, exactly?

Amy: Next to the penis on a man.

Me: (trying not to laugh out loud with that little visual in my mind), oh, was it maybe called testicles?

Amy: No, Mommy, I don't think so.

Five Cool Things

1. The blanket of fallen cherry blossoms on our sidewalk.
2. Getting a prime parking spot at the school for morning drop-off today.
3. Listening to my five-year old daughter's conversation with her friend during the playdate this afternoon...princess tea, anyone?
4. My six-week old baby sleeping for eight hours last night!!! (There, now I've jinxed it.)
5. The new betta fish hasn't died...yet.