Christmas is upon us! I am up at 4:30 am Friday, unable to sleep with worry. I have adoration on Christmas morning, smack in the middle "doing Christmas" and I don't know what to do! I would normally ask a relative to take the hour but...they will all be "doing Christmas" - without me! Anyway, quite the pickle and I'm worried. Of course, things always seem worse then they are in the middle of the night. Maybe the Lord will provide a spotless lamb in the brush...oh, that was someone else's pickle.
So, I've been intending to post a few Moses specials for you as your Christmas gift. Here he is, at his best:
"It's dark again. [this was when the time had just changed and he was fascinated that it just kept getting dark] The sun is sleeping. Where the sun's bwank bwanks?"

"I love daddy. Gecause he my favorite friend." (and yes, my friends, I happened to be rolling tape for this one - preserved for posterity)

"I want to cut off my big, big toe." Yikes! So, I figured out that he meant he wanted to clip his toenail.

After we prayed night-prayers with him one night: "This is good. You are two wonnerful kids."

"Grandma thinks me handsome." Heck yeah!

"Sometimes I say, "cwappy"." Which I take to mean, Mommy, sometimes you say crappy and you need to stop because now, sometimes I say crappy (which, btw I've never heard him say except in this sentence - oops, there I go rationalizing again).

"This is amazing oatmeal!" Who knew? I wasn't aware that oatmeal even had an amazing side.

I've been layering his PJs at night and putting on his Michigan sweatshirt but sometimes he rebels: "Mommy! Take off my sweaty-shirt!"

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Worth the Hype: Vacuum cleaner belts

So, I feel like a total housekeeping dunce. For months I have been faithfully vacuuming 3 times a week and feeling more and more discouraged each time. I finally reached the height of frustration when my brother spilled fish food on the floor and I couldn't get the vacuum to suck it up. The hair from my postpartum balding was EVERYWHERE and I'd taken to crawling around the living room, putting my head parallel to the floor when the sun was shining in the window and picking up as many hairs as as I could see that way. I even asked a bunch of friends about their vacuum opinions - certain that I had to go and buy a new one like, yesterday. Lily has started to really crawl in the last 2 weeks and I was getting desperate. A friend graciously let me borrow her vacuum (probably so that she could put her baby on my floor when she came to visit without fear for his health) and finally it dawned on me that I had owned the vacuum for 3.5 years and I had never replaced the filter, the roller brush or the belt. Lo and Behold...the belt was broken.
I have had lots of examples of broken belts in my day - I think that my mother bought them wholesale and had bins full of them when we were little because she ALWAYS seemed to be changing them. So it is not from unfamiliarity with the problem that I suffered. I guess I just thought that MY belt would never break (don't ask me how a person can be arrogant in so many areas of their life - it must be my own special gift) and therefore blocked that solution from my mind.
So last night we switched the belt and this morning I vacuumed - for the first time in probably 3 months - it looks so great!!! Who knew?! It doesn't matter how often you vacuum if your vacuum is broken - it won't help! I was so happy that I just sat down on my couch and put my feet up and gazed with love at my clean floor. And I won't even go into the details of the hair that ended up in the filter - wow. I don't know how many more kids I'll be able to have - a few more and I'll end up looking like my husband ;).

Worth the Hype: Weight Watchers plus others

I'm done! I've finally lost the last 30 lbs that was hanging on after Lily. Now, I realize that some of you only gained 30 lbs total with your children. Well, in my dreams. This 30 was after the initial 20 lbs were shed. And the sad part is that I was so excited to "only" gain 50 lbs with her because with Moses I gained (doo, doo, doo) 70 lbs. Seven-O pounds. That pregnancy increased my overall weight by roughly 70% - nearly doubled my weight in 9 months. Ouch. Literally.
Now, the question you may be asking is, what the heck does she eat while pregnant? While I occasionally had a bout of 1/2 a carton of chocolate ice cream, or, say, a whole pumpkin pie, solo, by noon - I can count those occasions on, well, on 2 fingers because it happened those two times. So, I don't really know. It's a little distressing to gain that much and a little more distressing to work my butt off for 8 months after having the kiddo in order to get back to feeling like myself. Truth be told, I'm not at my pre-pregnancy weight - I'm just at a weight that I arbitrarily set for myself as a good weight for me to be. OK, not so arbitrarily, I did use the BMI chart and pictures of myself at different weights to decide.
So, I wanted to tip the hat to Weight Watchers, Outsmarting the Female Fat Cell, and Strong Women Stay Thin. I just ordered the Weight Watchers materials (core food guide, dining out guide, and point calculator) from ebay and did it on my own. I really liked that they have a point adjustment for nursing mothers - a guilt-free way to "diet"/"control portions" and nurse! And I just love the other two books, Outsmarting and Strong Women, they really keep the health perspective at the forefront and help me to not get caught up in vanity and over-concern with looking skinny. Also, they are really big on the tremendous job a women's body just did to grow a baby and how it needs some TLC during recovery while at the same time offering a kick in the butt to get back into shape eventually. They don't expect you to be near your goal until 8 or 9 months so, I'm right on track according to them :). Anyway, I've been waiting for 8 months to write this post so here it is!!! Maybe I'll add picture later today...let you in on my shame and my triumph :) Yea! Guilt-free eggnog!