A Fun Day With Good Friends

Today we had the privilege of seeing Leslie and cute, little Oscar (who is not so little anymore), our dear friends. We spent all three years of law school with their family and let me tell you...nothing bonds people more than sharing the miseries of grad school, pregnancy, grad school with children, being the only two white families living in the 'hood, and weekly criminal events. They now live in Utah as well, but about an hour from us, so we don't see each other very often. It was grand to catch up and see how much Oskie has grown.

Every day this week the girls asked me when "their cousin Oscar" would be here. Finally, the glorious day arrived and starting at 7:00 a.m. Amber asked me every 15 minutes, "What's taking them so long?" All of the kids seemed to get along really well, Rex didn't even try to bite Oscar (only me), and my favorite part of the day was hearing Rex say, "Oscar, 'mere!" (which means "come here" in Rex's lingo). Leslie and I could talk for hours, which we always do, and it's fun to be able to chat with someone who can totally relate to my situation. I'm so glad they made the long journey to hang out with us for a while today. It was great fun!

Among the highlights: Karli "shared" her V8 juice with Oscar by shoving the sippy cup into his mouth and pouring it down his throat. When we heard gagging noises, we looked over and wondered if Oscar was vomiting blood. Karli then yelled out gleefully, "Oh, he loves my V8!" and was so excited.
Leslie made Case two of the cutest onesies I've ever seen. One is appliqued with a darling blue and green rocket ship, the other with a very chic necktie.
Amber, Karli and Rex performed "All the Single Ladies" for Leslie, complete with sparkly uniforms for the girls and a big dose of shame for Rex...he he.
I had wonderful conversation! That was actually my favorite part of the day, but I guess I can separate the kid stuff from the grown-up stuff and claim two faves, right? Since Adam has been gone a lot lately, it was even more great to speak to an adult. Leslie and I have a lot in common and it's fun to hear her perspective on life.

Thanks for the visit, you two. It made my day. Let's do it again real soon!

The Body Blues

Well, well, well...here I am lamenting just like every other woman on the planet about how hard it is to get back into shape after having a baby, and all the while, I'm blogging instead of exercising. What's worse? That it's 11:15 p.m. and I'm starving! I've tried all my tricks to avoid eating this late, but I don't know if I'll withstand the temptation. Nachos on yellow Santitas with cotija, tomato and avocado sound really, really great right now. I should just shut my mouth, both literally and figuratively, but I won't. I'm going to rant.

Is it bad that whenever I see my reflection, I don't recognize myself? I think so. I have to do a double take, and pause to see if I can even begin to suck in my stomach to make myself kind of look like I did pre-fourth-pregnancy. I feel like I have some kind of mental disease or something, like I imagine myself one way that is completely the opposite of how I really appear. It's discouraging, that's for sure. I know that losing baby weight just takes time and becomes harder with each gestational effort, but when I think back to my previous experiences to gauge my progress (or, in this case, regress), I just get depressed. Boo for being fat!

One thing that makes dealing with having another child harder for me (aside from the added workload, demand on my attention, etc.) is that when I get dressed every morning, I try on six or seven shirts and have to peel them off my abundant upper body because even my maternity pants (yes, I'm STILL wearing them) give me a bounteous muffin top under shirts that used to skim my midsection nicely. I only feel comfortable in my sweats, and I fear that the next step for me may be mom jeans. Oh, the horror! It's not that I want to wear them, you see, it's that it seems like my body has totally morphed. Let me explain: when I was in college, I was hefty (I weighed as much then as I did when I was 9 months pregnant with all of my kids), but I still had a cute shape. Broad shoulders, hips that were equally broad, a significantly smaller waist, etc. Now, though, I have bulk in all the wrong places and a decidedly different, not-cute shape.

I'm wondering now if there's even hope for me in the body department, since the fundamental structure of my payload seems to have shifted irreparably. I'm telling myself "give it time", but I really just don't have the patience. I want to be skinny again! NOW!