Ohhhhhhh....Wedgies

Just another quick little "write it or forget it" tidbit. Hannah has a way of taking care of wedgies unlike any other I've ever seen. She drops her pants, fixes the problem and pulls everything back into position. While doing this tonight her dad told her she was mooning everybody. Hannah replied, "No I'm not MOVING anybody! How could I be moving anybody?" It was such an innocent response. They are like open books with each interaction writing the pages. I pray daily that we are writing good memories for them. They have certainly written positive things in my life book.

My Silly Kids!

This is just a short one - just something I want to remember and won't unless it's typed somewhere I can find! In the past couple days my children (geniuses, perhaps) have begun to enjoy watching their videos in foreign languages. Yes, you read right. One of their favorite pasttimes while stuck in the house on these cold rainy days is watching any one of their various favorite movies in either Spanish or French. The most recent favorite has been "The Fox and The Hound" in French, but there's no limit to their enjoyment of this. Crazy kids! I love them more by the day! :)

Happy Jayhawk Day! :)

Okay, so it's not officially Jayhawk Day anywhere except in this house (or maybe in most KU fan households across the nation)! And it won't be Jayhawk Day in this house after the K-State Kingpin returns home, but for now we're celebrating! Twenty years of being a Jayhawk fan is a great thing, and last night's game made it unbelievably exciting! I'm looking forward to all the hoop-la surrounding their return to Kansas and being the National Champion Jayhawks again - 20 years later. It's a great day for a Jayhawk fan!
Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

A Couple Memory-Filled Days

One year ago yesterday the twins had their Mic-Key Buttons removed. It was the beginning of a very difficult 6 months, both physically and emotionally for all of us. Within days of them being removed, the dressing changes were causing severe pain for both girls due to their sensitivity to the adhesive holding down the gauze dressing. Never again do I want to have to hear one of my children say to me, "Mama, please don't hurt me." It was absolutely one of the most gut-wrenching statements I've ever had to endure. To think that I had to do something for their benefit that was causing them pain was and continues to be almost too much to bear. At the time I had to push on beyond the emotional effects, but now, as I look back, I struggle. These children, in their short lives, have had to endure so much more than I would like. I say it that way because I know that God has a plan for them and that His plan must include their rocky beginnings. I could dwell on those things but I choose to enjoy the happy times and try to find blessings in the difficult times. It is such a blessing that they now have nothing beyond scars to remind them of those days. It's definitely a good thing that they don't remember those days. I remember them too well and have scars on my heart equalling those on their tiny tummies. Their scars will disappear with time, but my scars are permanently deep.

The other reason we're celebrating today is that 6 years ago today we did the embryo transfer that resulted in the three amazingly phenomenal little girls we have the joy of parenting today. I remember that day very well, even stopping at The Machine Shed to eat lunch before heading home. What a wonderful outcome! I will always celebrate this day, April 5, as an important day in my life, as well as the beginning of three beautiful lives. Thank God for my angels.

And God Said, "Ha, Thunder Butt!"

Okay, so God said, "Ha!" and Hannah said, "Thunder Butt," but that's beside the point. To start off the evening Hannah began replying to Gary, when he teased her by calling her Big Mouth, "I'm not Big Mouth, Thunder Butt!" We all got a good laugh out of it!

As for God, He just continues to laugh at me. I had planned to go to Topeka this weekend for a much-needed quick get-away to Sam's. Yes, to Sam's. I know it's pathetic. Anyway, Hope is running fever tonight totally out of the blue. I don't know why, but that's just the way it works. What did I do to deserve this?! Have we not gone through enough sickness in the last couple months? Do I really have a lesson to learn that I'm just not getting time after time? Only God knows, but I pray he'll let me off easy this time. Please, Lord, not another bout of sickness. They don't deserve it. :(

Pretty Pretty Princess - Such a Manly Game...

As I sit here quietly hiding from the world I am also quietly observing a game of Pretty Pretty Princess that is in progress among my husband and daughters. Who knew such a girlie game could turn into such a testosterone-fueled competition?! It always turns into a much bigger competition when Gary plays with them. I guess that's the effect of having a man involved in the game. Granted, this man is wearing plastic clip-on earrings and a crown, but still... While watching this scene, I have to wonder what if this might truly be a game every man secretly wants to play. Okay, so maybe they wouldn't really want to play it, but it sure gives me a chuckle just thinking about what that game might look like. I just picture Gary (aka Mr. K-State Wildcat) and three of his friends (none of whom I will mention here out of respect for their masculinity) fighting over the crown. "Oh, man, not the black ring again!" "Just one more earring and I'll be the winner!" I'm pretty sure I'll never actually see it happen in my house, but just imagine what a hoot that would be to watch. Although, if there really was a game of this nature, do you really think anyone would admit to being involved? I think not.

Back on the Wagon

This blog started out as a means of holding myself accountable on my continued journey of weight loss and healthy living. It has since changed to more of an outlet for my life mothering three amazingly wonderful and vastly different girls. What I'm realizing is that it all ties together. Today, however, I'm using it for the weight-loss journey. I'm pretty sure it won't be as entertaining as stories about the girls, but you'll survive (or you'll quit reading - whatever).

I did work out this morning. Granted, I didn't complete the workout, but I did 30 minutes of vigorous exercise. Please hold your applause. I've been at a comfortable plateau since late December/early January. I'd like to lose roughly another 10 pounds (maybe - I don't want to look like one of those giant lollipops you buy at Disney World - you know, the big head, little legs/body syndrome) but am thrilled that I have lost 60 pounds of excess blubber and am healthier, happier and hopefully wiser. I have found that I am now one of those annoying people who is cold all the time. I'm also one of those annoying people who sometimes just forgets to eat. When I was fat I didn't understand how it was possible to forget to eat. In fact, my exact response to that was, "You'd have to be ten kinds of stupid to forget to eat." I now see that I was ten kinds of stupid to live my life like that. So, now that I recognize the problem, I'll count them out.

1. The Eat-Too-Much Stupidity - I think this one sort of explains itself.
2 - 5. The Eat-When-Bored/Mad/Sad/Lonely/etc. Stupidity - Again, pretty self-explanatory.
6. The I'm-Too-Concerned-With-What-Others-Think Stupidity - This is a life-long battle I continue to fight. I'm improving, however. I used to put way too much stock in what others thought of me. Hopefully I'm recovering from this one a little bit.
7. The Changing-The-Channel-Via-the-Remote-is-Exercise Stupidity - Yeah, I know. You don't even have to say it. For what it's worth, chewing doesn't count as exercise either. While housework does burn calories, it doesn't burn off all the calories I was eating. I've learned my lesson, and frankly, I do enjoy exercise now.
8. The Fat-Clothes-Are-Hot Stupidity - Okay, so I never really thought that my fat clothes were hot, but I didn't change my eating/exercise habits earlier, so I hold myself responsible for wearing my fat clothes. They could have been worse, as in bigger and with gaudy flowers (I never got to that point), but they were my fat clothes and I HATED them. It's like every morning was a slap in the face saying I was a fat cow who couldn't even find cute clothes in her closet. Ooh, if I just had a few thousand dollars to spend on new clothes now... I can dream...
9. ????

Okay, so I can only come up with 8 concrete kinds of stupid that I was. Just pretend I said something about being eight kinds of stupid instead of ten. The fact is, I have changed a lot of things since January 2007. My confidence has improved and will continue to do so as long as I remain true to myself and hold myself accountable for my eating and exercise. I'm not going to be fat again. I'm not going to be weak again. I'm not going to be eight kinds of stupid again. Well, maybe I will, but not those particular eight.