So Romantic!

Wow!  That was the longest weekend ever!  I swear, Tristan was the hardest he's ever been dozens of times taxing both Kelly and I to our limits on patience.  On Friday afternoon I felt victorious as I had ALL the laundry done in the house before Kelly got home from work about 7:30 PM.  This gave me a good guage to see how many pants/shorts Tristan goes through on average in a day.  To back track, he's regressed significantly since Lexi came 5 months ago.  He's always wet his pants, but now he's choosing not to use the bathroom and wets his pants all day.  Any people out there with suggestions on how to stop this, let me know?  Right now, he can't play video games again until he's potty trained.  This is defined as no wet pants outside of his bed.  He's still permitted to wet at night if he has accidents, but can't walk around the house in his wet pull-ups; such a pet peeve of mine.  So, ready for the tally?  We went through TEN outfits last weekend or an average of five outfits per day.  Totally unacceptable. 

Add this stress on top of all the other crazy stuff he was doing all weekend, and you'll get an idea of how tough it was.  He's such a tough kid, but there is a tender side of him that wins my heart every time.  Lately, he's been obsessed, and I mean obsessed with collecting acorns.  Now this is something I love about Tristan; he reminds me often of how beautiful the mind of a 7 year old is.  Don't you just love his serious face?  Collecting acorns is serious business.

 

The other big happening this weekend was watching general conference.  http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng  For those of you who have never watched it, I highly recommend it!  It was a breathe of fresh air for me to hear and remember what's most important in life; doing Christ's work here on earth. 

So Romantic!

Being 38 years old with a 5 month new baby, and broke at the end of Kelly's medical  residency, I'm in a bit of a fashion crisis.  My body still has about 17 pounds to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight, and about 40 pounds to lose to be at my pre-residency weight; stress is my biggest contributor to weight gain.  This has left me with limited options to take care of myself.  It doesn't help that I don't feel good about my current weight. 

On Friday night, while talking to my mom on the phone, I started crying as all the pent up emotions of me giving up so much of myself for our family came out on the phone.  I kind of feel bad now letting those emotions loose as its been something I've kept pretty secure.  Kelly came in afterwards, and saw that I'd been crying and asked me why.  I confessed to him that I was crying because I didn't have a dress to wear to the wedding, and that I was sad that even if I wanted a dress, we didn't have the money for me to buy one. 

Before my wonderful husband left for the men's session on Saturday night, he knelt down next to me and said he needed to talk to me about something. A little worried, I said "okayyyyy?" He then got out two intricately and neatly folded up one-hundred dollar bills and handed them to me. He had been keeping these hundreds in his wallet since December when he got some money as a gift for Christmas.  He was saving this money to buy something he really wanted. He then said that he wanted to spend his Christmas money on getting me a nice dress for my brothers' wedding coming up in two weeks and said on Monday or Tuesday night, he'd like me to get a nice dress for the wedding with this money.  It was a very tender and loving moment for me.

Nutella - Try with Caution!

So last week, on a whim and after I ran out of sunflower butter (I sadly discovered a moderate peanut allergy in my mid-thirties), I had a Nutella Sandwich.  Wow!  I'm 38, and have never tried Nutella.  I've missed out on this hidden delight all these years.  I'm shocked.  So delicious.  So tonight, I picked up several items I can try with Nutella including graham crackers, strawberries, bananas, and vanilla wafers.  When I got to the store, the Jiff chocolate hazelnut was cheaper so I bought that.

Oddly, Catriona discovered Nutella about the same time and has polished off the whole container in about a week after she ran out of her staple; peanut butter. 

Discovering Chocolate Hazelnut Butter is not good news for my weight loss goals, but I just don't have the oomph lately to work on losing more weight.  I'm working on it, but it seems the more behind my vendors get at owing me money, the harder it is for me to lose weight.  Financial stress directly correlates to weight gain for me lately.  When Kelly started residency, I weighed 173 pounds.  I now weigh 210.  When I started my pregnancy last year I weighed about 193 which means I only put on 20 pounds during his residency; not too bad.  Just writing about this makes me want to lose the weight again because I loved how clothes fit and how I felt when I was thinner..

In July and August, I lost 10 pounds!  In September I didn't lose any more.  I need to lose about 40 pounds to be at what I consider my acceptable weight.  I've discovered that every 10 pounds of fat corresponds to about a size larger. 
200 = 18
190 = 16
180 = 14
170 = 12 acceptable
160 = 10 ideal

All that said, gaining weight and sacrificing the health of my hips had its massive reward!  I have the most beautiful new baby you've ever seen!  I know I'll be fit again soon, but at age 38, every month I put of having another baby lowered my chances off her getting her here safely.  I feel so blessed and thankful today.

Kindermusik

This morning I attended a Kindermusic class for our 5 month old Lexi.  Lately, I've been trying to think of ways to entertain and play with her that are outside of my usual play routine, and this class was just what I didn't know I was looking for.  It was fun to sing to her, work on movement, and watch her responding at such a young age to all the different stimuli.  I give it a thumbs up!

This morning was also my first day at a new gym I joined.  It's a step up from my previous gym, especially with what I would rate the gym child care as being 5 star!

Kelly has his first post residency interview tomorrow.  He's getting his hair cut right now for the big interview.  My mind is continually wondering lately as this season in our lives is coming to a close.  It's always both exciting and stressful entering a new phase in life.  My hope is that all these "investment" years are going to make for a fantastic 40's phase of our lives!  I feel like I've been standing on a platform ready to jump for five years now.  It's been a tough but wonderful 57 months!  He's 95% done with residency now with just 3 months to go.

Early Morning Seminary

So my husband has successfully driven Catriona to early morning seminary from 6:10AM-7:00AM every morning so far since school started in August - a little over a month!  Why would anyone, let alone a teen, want to get up so early in the morning for a religious instruction class?  It's because it works!  Having instruction on spirituality and of the teachings of Jesus Christ is absolutely the best way to start your day.  It also teaches children the concept of sacrifice.  Sacrifice is a good thing when you think about it.  It usually requires you to give up something you want for something better.  Kids that choose to go to early morning seminary, and parent who support it give up that precious last hour of sleep in the morning for something better; having their kids start their day at school getting in tuned to the Holy Ghost and what the Lord wants them to learn that day or do that day in and through the Holy ghost. 

Here's some more info on early morning seminary:  http://seminary.lds.org/?lang=eng

My son Preston just started college this year.  He attended early morning seminary all four years of his high school experience.  What a blessing early morning seminary was for him, and is currently becoming for Catriona in her freshman year of high school.

Oatmeal Cookies & Breastmilk

Catriona made some oatmeal cookies on Sunday and I've discovered two things about them. 

1.  The cookies have given me a plentiful supply of breastmilk.  The past two days, I've gotten Lexi, five months, up early in the morning to feed her rather than letting her wake me for feedings.  The reason is because I'm too uncomfortable and engorged to continue sleeping. 

2.  I can't have cookies of any kind in the house because I have no filter.  So I've been trying to watch what I eat lately and this has completely thrown me off the past three days.  I ate the last cookie about half an hour ago so thank goodnesss they are out of the house now. 

I just got off the phone with my sister Deborah.  I love talking her her.  She's such a strong women.  She lives in New Jersey and has a beautiful family with four beautiful children and a wonderful husband.  Her youngest, Gwen, is 7 week old.  I just love talking to any of my sisters. 

After picking up the kids this morning from early morning seminary (to learn more about this - http://inthedoghouse.hubpages.com/hub/Mormon-Teens-Get-An-Early-Start-To-The-Day--Early-Morning-Seminary-Religion-Class), I told them how upset I was that Goyte came to concert last night and I didn't know about it.  My husband told me about it before I left, and it left me sad.  Sad because not only do we have zero in our budget for anything outside of food and bills the past five years, I was also sad because I would have really like to see them in concert.  I was also sad because, for a moment, it got me thinking how my life lacks fun stuff that costs money.  Yes, people say, money doesn't buy happiness, but that's such a lie to me.  Money would have bought the memory of taking my husband to the Goyte concert for his 38th birthday, and money would have paid the babysitter, even if it was Catriona, to watch Lexi while we enjoyed dinner (ideal) and the concert. 

That moment of feeling sorry for myself led to immense feelings of gratitude for what I do have that doesn't cost money.  Bring house poor the past five years during Kelly's medical residency has given me the rare opportunity to appreciate hundreds of things that don't cost money.  Here's a small list today of what I'm thankful for:
1.  My faith - we had the missionaries over last night and this gave me a moment where I really appreciated my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  What an amazing organization who's mission is to bring us closer to Christ.  Mission accomplished all these years with my membership and activity in the church.
2.  My husband - how thankful I am to have the best husband in the world.  He truly is my knight in shining armor.  He's the wind beneath my wings.  He's the first person I want to speak with when anything significant happens to me daily.  He's the one I look for in the middle of the night when I wake suddenly.  He's also amazingly talented, and is a wonderful husband and father.  People often say wonderful husband and father but don't say why.  Well I'll tell you.  He's a wonderful husband because his first concern every day is my well being.  From the moment he wakes in the morning, he says a prayer with me often on our bedside.  When we retire at night, he'll often give me much needed back rubs, and is quick to listen to anything I haven't had to say about the day.  He's a wonderful father because he has dedicated his career to both providing for our family, as well as devoting adequate time for each of our children.  He's just there for them from helping our daughter with math, to reading Harry Potter with our son.
3.  My 4 amazing children - The true gems and jewels of my life are my four beautiful children; but I can't talk more on them now because Lexi needs me more than this blog; she's hungry and time is up for her here on my lap. 

My "natural" hair color

So today I decided I needed a change with my blonde hair color and I decided to color it my "natural" hair color which I think is light brown.  I used the box color because I don't have enough extra money right now to get my hair professionally colored.  I used Feria Natural Light Brown (60 Natural).  Now that I've colored it, I like the change, but I'm worried the rich color won't stay.  O well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts and might pick up a second box just to color it again in a couple of weeks when it starts to fade.  I've been self-coloring my hair lighter blond now for years and my last color came out less than ideal and had too many orange hues for my taste. 

This morning I'm recovering from a long weekend.  Kelly was on back-up for the hospital and got called in Friday all day, Saturday all day, and Saturday night at midnight.  He was tired and couldn't help with the kids or house much, so it spilled over to me.  On Saturday night, I did get to listen and watch the relief society general broadcast on my computer which was a "better" that evening.  Best would have been going to the church and fellowshipping with sisters.  Feel free to watch online now at www.lds.org  It was uplifting and invited the spirit into my heart and those women who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as well as those women who are not will benefit from the sweet spirit they bring in speaking.

Tonight we're feeding the LDS missionaries.  This has been a been commitment today because our house is a mess and I need to get it sort of clean before they come, I had to go to the store to get stuff to make dinner, and I've already completed two loads of dishes.  Ever seen an LDS missionary?  They are my heroes because they are men and women typically age 19-22 who dedicated 18 months to two years of their young adult lives to teach and preach of Jesus Christ.  For those reading who don't know about the Lord's Church, check out www.mormon.org to learn more. 

Anyway, I'm making Italian Pasta Salad tonight for them, hopefully....if I finish it in time.  Lexi went down for a nap today at about 2 PM which has given me a really nice afternoon to prepare for the missionaries. 
Not much else today.  My job has me chasing down money again today; a part of my job I really don't like.