Let me back up. Since my early 20s I've had an underactive thyroid - symptoms include unexplained weight gain (and inability to lose it), depression, exhaustion, dry skin, always cold, you know, that fun stuff. Regardless, of the chronic conditions to be plagued with, this one is pretty low maintenance. You take some thyroid hormone (called Synthroid) and you're fine. The tricky thing is that your dosage needs to be adjusted as your hormones are (pregnancy, nursing, etc). The year after I weaned the Lobster Roll I was in peak condition- lost weight with diet and exercise, wasn't constantly tired, felt ready to take on the world. Then, in November 2013, my (now ex) endocrinologist adjusted my dosage despite my protests. The change to my body hit me like a ton of bricks as I gained 12 pounds in 3 months through no change in habits, went though bouts of exhaustion and insomnia, and snapped at my kids for every word that came out of their mouths. I was a mess, went back to my endo where he told me my levels were fine and to check with my primary care. That appointment yielded nothing but a lecture on my bmi from a nurse (um, unexplained weight gain is a symptom, ahole) and a push for all natural remedies from the crazy not-an-MD doc lady. I then sought out a new endo who wanted to start me slowly on something different from Synthroid, which after 4 months of spiking 103 degree fevers with my period landed me in the ER and eventually back at square 1.
The new endo finally put me on the dosage I was on before the whole thing started, the fevers vanished and I started feeling a little better. But, still not really myself. In the meantime, I was adhering to the strict marathon training plan and continued to gain weight with my training, despite barely eating back the calories I was burning. Everyone's response "oh, you're just building muscle" didn't really jive with the fact my clothes and bras were getting tighter too. Plus my mood, the stress, ugh. Anyway, after the marathon I continued running because I thought I would need redemption and have to run another, but I just settled in with Broad Street. So, there I sat, despite running my fastest 10 miler ever and being in arguably the best shape of my life, I was over 20 lbs heavier than just 18 months before that and completely miserable. Well, not outwardly, but I struggled every day to keep my emotions in check when dealing with everything.
Then, finally, as I decided to take a little break from running and stressing over exercising, an amazing thing happened. My weekends began to fill with joy again, and, despite having my busiest work stint since I started this job, I've woken up the past five Monday mornings feeling fabulous and refreshed. I've been yelling at the kids less, worrying less, and somehow, with little to no effort, I've lost a few pounds too. The onslaught of natural Vitamin D from being outside probably helped, but I really thing my body just responds poorly to vigorous exercise, I mean, that's the only explanation, right? So now I'm taking it easy and doing a little here and there when I have time, but not really worrying about fitting it in or stressing about that extra cookie.
With the first half of the summer under my belt, I feel on top of the world, yet the only place to go is up! Besides all the fun I have listed here, our weekends were peppered with Gobbles' tball games and soccer games for the Lobster and myself (all to be written about in a future post!). So. much. FUN!
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| I'm friggan exhausted... |
Weekend 1:
Memorial Day: Highlights include a sun porch pizza party with friends after wrapping up our intensive swim lessons (more on those later), a birthday party with some fabulous old friends, a mini cookout with more friends, pool visits, and some relaxing kite flying at a nearby park. Gobbles was obsessed with his Yoda kite and even got the hang of it in the end. The Lobster was more content to run around without the kite and ask when we could leave...
Weekend 2:
More pool fun, and at the last minute we decided to head to the neighboring town's Founders' day celebration. Besides having fun running into our school friends, the kids enjoyed the free games, food, and FIREWORKS. They were mesmerized! The next day we celebrated another friend's birthday, one who's sister is no longer in Gobbles' class, but a family we'll be friends with for awhile because the kids will be reunited in elementary school. They kids played together like they were old friends.
Weekend 3:
Cousin Ella came down for some random fun and we of course had more fun at the pool! The kids had their first s'mores of the season and Gobbles rigged up a tether to keep Cannoli from running away.
Hubs was away with the neighborhood men, so the kids and I flew solo all weekend and survived with wonderful memories. I dragged them to a food and wine festival (after Gobbles' final tball game, more on that later) with one of my good friends, where we sampled and the kids had smoothies, pizza, popcorn, and gourmet cupcakes. They played soccer and frisbee and collected all the free swag and samples they could get their hands on. Gobbles even made friends with one of the vintners and played frisbee with him while we enjoyed our wine. I had been so terrified to take them because although the event was kid-welcome, it wasn't kid-friendly, meaning they had no events geared towards the kids. It didn't matter though as most people were out to enjoy the sunshine and listen to the band, and the kids did the same.
If that wasn't enough, we then moved on that afternoon to a birthday party for a classmate of the Lobster. This was the first party we've gone to where I knew nobody (I think only the Lobster and 1 other girl were invited from school), and it was at her family's house with a "bubble" theme. The kids jumped right in and played and I sat back and congratulated myself for not overdoing it at the wine festival.
The next day, hubs was still away and I had my last soccer game an hour away, so the kids came along. I was nervous as the playground was a basketball court's length away from the field, so I played on the near side. We only had 9 players so there was no subbing out, but the kids did really well listening to my instructions on where to stay and befriending a kid to play with. The only interruption was towards the end of the first half when the Lobster had to go potty. With no other option I took her behind a shed and helped her do her business (thankfully just pee). By the end of the game my guys had found a water fountain to play with, and combined with the spray bottles they brought to cool down the players, they were a little bit soaked, but not the least bit tired. This was great because we had another party to head to after a quick stop home.
We headed to one of Gobbles' classmate's homes for a "farewell to school / graduation party" and the kids all had a blast playing together. We stuffed our faces (the moms moreso than the kids!) and chatted about the years these kids have spent together and what we hope for their futures. We watched them have fun with the friends they've had their whole lives and called it a weekend well past dinnertime.
Weekend 5:
First we crashed grandmom's shore house week on thursday and friday to kick off a long weekend. Despite the weather being bad the first morning, the kids thrived getting to run around on the beach, play catch, play in tide pools, build castles, and meet a horseshoe crab. That night, we took them to an arcade with some of those dinky dollar rides out front. My son, the one who complained that we weren't going on enough rollercoasters at Disney, couldn't get enough of the silly duck merry-go-round. Then we of course played all the games we could in the arcade to win enough tickets for some more bouncy balls to add to the Lobster's collection (which she keeps in a Lowe's build-and-grown monsters' inc box on her bureau). Ice cream topped off the night and it was soon the next day. I started off the 2nd morning like I had the first, with a run. It was just as pathetically slow as the first morning, but I was so at peace with it because now that my racing is on hold for a bit speed doesn't really matter.
Anyway, the next day they were so excited to try our their new boogie boards, and Gobbles had no fear. I set him up in the waves as they curled around him and he just rode. He would have stayed out there all day had I not gotten tired! The Lobster was a bit more timid and wanted me to hold her on the boogie board the whole time... it was a little tricky and when I thought she had the hang of it I let go and into the water she tumbled. Now pissed at me Mom, hold ON to me when I ride she screamed. I let her "ride" a few more minutes and got her out since she really didn't want to do it anyway. This from a kid who 20 minutes before was scared of the small waves and wanted to be carried all the way out. Oh well, we have august!
So later that afternoon we went home, had fun at a friend's birthday party the next day (2 chuckie cheese parties in one post!), and finally got to hang out with hubs for fathers' day weekend. We didn't have any concrete plans because we had no idea how tired the kids would be, but at the last minute we decided to go out for dinner. We tried Victory Brewing because, you know, beer and fathers day, but since they don't take reservations the wait was 90 minutes. Not ideal with two kinda tired kids. After a few more stops we landed at a Pour House and were pleasantly surprised by the good food (including gravy and cheese curd fries!) and enjoyed the selection of draft beers. The kids loved it too, because they've adopted our affinity for going out to eat and the places that have crayons are a bonus to them.
For Fathers' day itself, the kids and I let hubs sleep in and made him breakfast of french toast (Gobbles' request) and chocolate chip cookies 3 ways (per the little lobster roll), consisting of regular cookies, some doughballs, and a giant heart-shaped cookie. Hubs had won tickets from work to the Phillies game, so he headed out with Gobbles and they had a great time, eating treats every other inning to keep occupied of course! We all met up later at my parents to spend family time together and celebrate Dads and the June birthdays. The kids hit their pillows with no problems after that weekend and would have slept for a week after if given the chance.
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| Gobbles rendition of a star wars battle |
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| A sample of the lobster's freehand writing... she's getting there! |
Weekend 6:
The last weekend in June was supposed to be our neighborhood campout. The week started off pretty ominously with a tornado warning followed by a 24 hour power outage. By Friday we anticipated the weekend to be a washout. So Saturday we woke up with a clean slate of no plans and decided to head to an afternoon movie to see Inside Out. This was the first movie I've seen in the theater since the kids were born, I think the last one I saw was one of the later Harry Potters! The movie was adorable and the kids enjoyed their popcorn and snacks, and with the rain still coming down and the kids still in decent moods, we decided to head over to Victory and give it a second try, this time beating the crowds (it helps to go at 4:30 to dinner!) and getting a seat right away. The kids loved this even more because of the butcher paper on the tables, ideal for doodling and playing games. Hubs and I both ordered our samplers and he started a game of hangman with Gobbles.
I love that now when we go places like this Gobbles has the ability to be entertained with word searches and word games. He was so creative with his word for hangman that it took hubs awhile to get it. We started questioning him is he sure it's spelled right, etc, so he wrote it down for me and i verified that yup, you're good Gobbles. Loved it.
That night, since they were promised a campout we gave them a campout! They slept on air mattresses in a tent in the sunporch with movies and snacks. After the Lobster fell asleep, I went upstairs and hubs slept in the family room so he'd be close. He said the night only had one incident - Gobbles woke up with a start wondering why the Lobster was there "in his bed". After a potty trip and a drink he was back on dream street, and they loved talking all about their camping night the next morning.
By Sunday, the weather was clearing so the neighborhood held an abridged version of our wacky weekend, including a stickball game and the pool party. The kids both had a blast and are getting more acclimated to hanging out with the big kids, finally learning all their names (ok a few, I can't even pick out all the kids yet, there are sooo many). We had to drag ourselves away from the party in time to get the kids to bed, but everyone was full, happy, and tired from another awesome weekend, looking forward to this kind of fun to continue throughout the summer and beyond!
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