I can't seem to get pregnant again, and it's very frustrating. I've even resorted to joining a "biggest loser" competition among neighbors in an effort to lose the previous "baby weight" and make myself healthier all in hopes of regaining everything I lost slow and steady over a joyous 9 month course. It lasted 40 days and ended this past Friday. I lost a legitimate 18 lbs in the first 5 weeks and an additional 7 of water with a fine regiment of dehydration and sweatsuit exercise yielding me a 2nd place finish (out of 32, mostly men) of 13.42% loss. I've celebrated by reconsuming junk food and re-attaining all of the water weight over just 3 days. It was fun while it lasted though, giving me something else to hyperfocus on and compete. I'm hoping to keep on the loss train for awhile but of course I have to stop with the celebratory sugar first.
Hubs has been at his job for six months now, but it feels like an eternity. The new normal is half the time he is not home for dinner or bedtime at all, and the other half I'm taking all of my stress out on him because I'm the bad cop every weekday night screaming about homework and nightly reading that needs done. Hopefully summer brings an easier routine.
Worst of all, our beloved Spoonsie bear has cancer, and though the multiple vacations' worth of money we've spent on her treatment has made every extra day we get with her worth it, the dread of losing her tomorrow or 6 months from now has become a permanent fixture in the back of our heads. We're working on loving her a little extra every day and making sure the kids are getting all the snuggles in the can with her. Praying she is healthy enough to come on a little doggie vacation we have planned for June.
The kids. They've been taking all of this in stride. They talk about Spoons "going to Heaven soon" in a matter-of-fact way since they've had to deal with losing both the baby in my belly and their great grandmother in short history. As the same time Gobbles looks at her with such love that I know his life will never be the same once she is gone. They lament about how they miss their daddy when he is at work or they miss me when I'm traveling, but every night when we do our thankfuls the Lobster gushes how she is thankful that she has the best family ever and our hearts are restored before calling it a day. They are growing up so quickly.
Gobbles is almost finished Kindergarten, still loving Star Wars with every fiber of his being, and still hanging out with his best buddies. He's become a little ninja warrior climbing on everything, trees, poles, monkey bars, ANYTHING that is up high that he can get his hands on. The kid's upper body strength is amazing and the fear and caution he once showed when he was little is long gone. He's reading now too, like word by word plodding through books. Not on his own doing, as he is not exactly enthusiastic about it, but he does what he is assigned. Math; however, is quite the opposite. He does not have to be pushed or prodded at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite - "Mom, can you give me some hard math problems while you're cooking please? just shout them out and I'll figure them out." Last week he was quite proud of himself for constructing the best sphere out of legos and winning the teacher's dollar prize. He's been through tennis in the fall, soccer in the winter, and is now onto Tball in the spring, loving each of them. We got the swimming crash lessons wrapped up last week with both kids getting excellent progress reports and cleared to move up a step to intermediate swimmer and advanced beginner. Since we just don't have the kind of time as a dual working family to put Gobbles on the swim team, that was probably the last of his lessons for now and the future, as he now knows how to swim freestyle properly.
The Lobster, my girl, she's navigating the world of pre-K, having moved up in February after turning four. She's in a different place than her brother was when he moved up, with her two best buds in class being boys, waiting for her bffs to turn and move up. Her very close girl, V, the one she's been partners in crime with day in and out, recently moved away and the Lobster is not taking it very well. The other girls in the class are all five and on their way to high school, with a cool exclusiveness that didn't seem to exist before. I'm hoping the Lobster lets it roll off of her until the sweeter girls move up, although from the phone call I got today- biting a friend who tried to mess with her man- I think we have a long way to go. Academically, the Lobster is where we expect, though without the need to show it off like her brother. She'll randomly come out with correct math facts or memory recall that surprises us. This kid is definitely underestimated and I know she'll surprise us more in the future. She's currently obsessed with her own fashion style, earrings, chapstick, and headbands, and is working hard for her first dance recital. When she's not being the girliest of girls she's kicking butt on the soccer field or farting and blaming Daddy, all while pissing herself with laughter.
In the past few weeks (besides the monotany of running around and sports and birthday parties galore- they still haven't slowed these social butterfly kids!), we've gotten to have some good family time. For Mothers' Day the kids (with just a little bit of hubs' help, just a little he insists) made me a gorgeous flower planter to adorn the corner of the sunporch opposite last years' herb garden. Gobbles was so proud and was bursting by the time they got the chance to show it with me. The Lobster had been making "happy Mothers Day" cards for weeks leading up to the day. Hubs made my family and I dinner that coincided nicely with the aforementioned weight loss challenge. It was just one of those very good days.
The week after, we went to Star Wars Day at the Brandywine Zoo, where the kids had a blast meeting all of the characters and checking out the small selection of animals they had. The Lobster's favorite part was the Rodent of Unusual Size (seriously!) that pooped in its own little pool then swam in it Mommy, so gross, remember that? I overheard Gobbles telling her girlfriend on the way to swimming And, at the end when they were taking pictures, a stormer trooper married his girlfriend! Close, we saw someone from the acting troop propose to one of the handlers. It was cute and the Lobster was completely smitten. I also thought it was funny that Gobbles, of all the things he saw that day, chose that moment to share with his girlfriend whom, he later told me in all seriousness and secrecy, that he really does have a crush on, even despite her mom and I forcing them to hang out for years and making grand plans for their wedding!.
It's been a spring of ups and downs for us, but we're hanging in there just trying to nab what each day throws at us. In the next few weeks we have sports makeups (did I mention it's rained almost every Saturday since March), graduations, pool kick off, summer camp, more birthday parties, and a special family vacation as a bucket list trip for our girl Spoons. We're looking forward to this, our first official trip that is just our little family, and we are thrilled about it.
Some video highlights of the last few months...
