Clothes-shrinking closet

I had a friend who used to say her closet kept shrinking her clothes. I love that. I have the same problem. None of my clothes fit, so it is clearly a closet problem.

During our last couple moves, I weeded out my clothes and got rid of all the bigger sizes. So now, two months after having a baby, nothing fits. It's frustrating. It sounds minor, but it really is a hassle trying on ten outfits to find something that looks nice to go out to dinner, or squeezing into jeans that rub my still-tender C-section incision.

I quickly lost 15 pounds after giving birth. I gained a total of about 30. I figured I was well on my way to getting back to normal. I'm breastfeeding after all. Isn't that supposed to make the weight melt off? Sure. In the past week or so, I have gained a couple pounds. Not good. This is not the direction I want to go.

I have been easing back into exercising. It is definitely not as easy as it was with the boys. I was running again just weeks after having them, but this time my belly is still sore. I have also been eating like I was still pregnant--cookies, ice cream, third helpings. So something has to change, and I think I found the right thing.

I was messing around with my iphone apps--only the free ones of course, and I came across My Fitness Pal. It is the coolest thing! You enter in what you eat and how much you exercise and it calculates the totals for you. It keeps you totally accountable! I do have to enter "breastfeeding" as cardio exercise, but it is still pretty slick. T is using it now as well. He gets a lot more calories than me, so I am jealous. You can also keep track online at www.myfitnesspal.com.

I would love to lose 15 pounds and get back to where I was a year ago. We'll see if this keeps me on track, and if I can get my closet to stop shrinking my clothes.

Thankful

This is from Thanksgiving. Lena was all fancy, even wearing tights. All of our nearby relatives went out of town, and we weren't exactly up for a lot of travel, so we went to a club we are members of. The boys were pretty bad and Lena was hungry the entire time, so it wasn't exactly a peaceful event.

We tried to get a nice picture of the kids together. They were squirmy and Lena kept falling over, but they still are pretty darn cute.

--MM

Sweet thing

I love my rambunctious boys. They have endless energy and love playing together. They make me laugh. But they are often exhausting. The pile up couch pillows and jump over them or on top of them. They ride their "bikes" down hills with their feet off the pedals. They run around the house at top speed, chasing each other and laughing deliriously. They are a wonderful pair. But I am so glad to have a sweet little girl for number three. Just look at this face:

She is a true sweetheart. She is full of huge smiles these days. She rarely cries unless she is hungry (and then she is pretty vociferous). The boys were good babies but not nearly as calm as this little girl. She doesn't even fuss when I wash the spit-up off her in the bathroom sink.

A third wild boy might have been the death of me, but instead I have a sweet little girl. I'm lucky. Until she turns 13 and is moody teen, and I am the source of all her angst. I don't look forward to that. For now I am just enjoying our present family dynamic. The two energetic boys and the precious little girl. I love it.

--MM

Wine bars and breastmilk

Babies aren't common in wine bars. Our first clue when we showed up for our reservation with our month-old-daughter in her car seat is that the restaurant didn't even have a high chair. The server who seated my parents, T, and I, was very gracious and assured us they could borrow one from Panera next door. He said that is what they usually did. At least we weren't the first.

So, we ordered wine flights (I got the sparkling wine offering) and tapas. Almost immediately Lena started crying. I decided I better feed her before I actually started drinking wine. I ended up breastfeeding her standing up in their bathroom stall in stilleto heels. Everyone does that, right?

As is her habit, that feeding only satisfied her for about ten minutes as she dozed in her car seat. Then she was fussing and looking for more. I decided to stay at the table this time, and self-consciously got my nursing cover in place. I nursed her as I nibbled at cheese and bruschetta (still holding off on my wine flight, which was getting warm at this point). When Lena finished her breastmilk flight, she slumped in my arms, cozy and full.

She slept for the rest of the dinner, and I finally got to relax and enjoy myself. We ordered several rounds of tapas and another glass of wine. We felt even more at ease when another couple walked in hauling a car seat. We aren't the only ones who still want to have a little fun!

--MM

My favorite milestone

The first smile. I have been coaxing them out of her for hours. Love it!

--MM

Getting the words out

Poor little Q has trouble saying what he needs to. He has been stuttering for several months now, but it was something we thought he would outgrow. He was a preschooler after all, and often excited or frustrated. His words would get jumbled, and he would repeat one word or part of a word over and over and over. Like Mama. He would say, "Mama, mama, mama, mama...."

At first we would often rush him, or tell him to slow down. Finally, his stuttering was not going away and was even getting worse. His doctor referred him to a speech pathologist, and we went a couple weeks back. She determined he stuttered, had a slight lisp, and tongue thrust. She said he definitely needed speech therapy.

Then she said some scary things like, "We might not get rid of it completely, but we can help it a lot." Ugh. The last thing I want is for my little guy to struggle with this is whole life. So far he doesn't seem aware of it, other than sometimes being frustrated when he wants to tell us something and can't form the words as quickly as he wants to. I hate to think of him being teased or being extremely shy or afraid to speak. I really hope we didn't wait too long.

Neither T nor I ever stuttered, and speech problems often have a genetic component. The odd things is, R is now starting to stutter! We thought he was just copying his older brother, but the speech pathologist says it doesn't usually work that way.

Now I am paranoid that we are causing this in some way, though the therapist assured us we are not. Still there are things you can do to aggravate it or make it better. I am reading up on the materials the therapist gave us about how I can help him. I am trying to listen very patiently to Q and wait for him to say what he is trying to say. (He talks a lot so this can be time-consuming!) I repeat back what he said to me, and I am speaking and reading slowly to him.

We tend to fly around the house whenever we are going anywhere, and especially in the morning. We are endlessly telling the boys to hurry up. We are usually running late. That hectic atmosphere also can contribute apparently, because kids can feel pressure to get out what they want to say. So now T and I are trying to leave some more time and not be constantly rushing the kids. We don't want to operate in that emergency mode all the time. Since this is a pattern I have been following for 32 years, it's not going to be an easy one to change. But in the long run, it will probably be good for all of us.

--MM

Bugs!

Here are my little bugs getting ready to go trick-or-treating. Notice Q's manly monarch costume and R's one missing antenna. L just happily snoozed in her caterpillar costume.

It is dangerous having so much candy in the house. We are limiting the boys to two pieces a day (that means more for us).

--MM