60

FINALLY! So after a month of plateau, my good friend Dawn Facebooked me (who knew that could be a verb?) and said that after reading my blog, she wanted to let me know to eat more protein. And holy god, was she ever right. So I ate more protein. For 2 days. And dropped 5 pounds in those two days. After that it's been steadily downhill, and I've lost another 10 pounds in about a week. I'm thinking my body was just waiting to get a little more nourishment before it could let go of the pounds it was holding on to. The last couple of days it has slowed down considerably, so I'm thinking I just needed that jumpstart to get back on track.

In other news, I went to a bachelorette party on Saturday night. Wow, was that fun - not only the party itself (drunken debauchery - including a scavenger hunt that involved us being required to catcall at every guy we drove by on the street - is not something I get to partake in very often). But the most fun part was shopping for new clothes, getting dressed, putting on makeup, and LIKING the way I looked! No, let's be honest here - after probably 5+ years of not feeling at all attractive, I LOVED the way I looked. And after I finish baking my friend's wedding cake over the next couple of days, I'm going to be totally narcissistic and post an entry of nothing but pictures of ME. Because I've actually LIKED pictures of me lately! (You have no idea how excited I am about this.)

And in a last bit of news - about 5 minutes ago I read on BOTH Facebook and Myspace that my sister-in-law Alyssia (and of course her hubby, my buddy and bro-in-law Ryan) is pregnant. Now, unfortunately, she has pulled the "I'm pregnant!" crap with us several times - one time she even posted an ultrasound pic to HER blog that she STOLE from MY blog. So even though I saw her in a pic WITH the actual pee stick, I really don't think I can get all excited about this one. In fact, since they just left here for Japan a few weeks ago (which means she probably conceived this child while they were here, ew) and won't be back for TWO YEARS, I'm really just gonna sit back and wait until I see actual belly pics. OR a kid. You hear that Alyssia? You've ruined me. You have managed to make the one person who gets all excited about EVERYONE getting pregnant NOT excited for you. You happy now? You suck. And if it's a girl, you better at least have an M in it's name somewhere, for all the heartache you've caused me.

(I'm kidding, I'm kidding...I'm jumping up and down right now. Inside. Where no one can see it.)

Update

Just for you, Matt, more on my boobs!

So I've been nursing Emma every 2-4 hours for the past week and giving her a 4 ounce bottle about every other session. She's already getting chunkier, and is still happy as ever. Supply is up a little, but not much. Got an email back from a La Leche League leader, and I'll be calling her tomorrow.

I'm exhausted after 24 hours with my sister-in-law and her two kids. I offered to take the three of them to dinner last night with me, Alex and Emma, and wow - I can't imagine doing that alone - women who want more than two kids are crazy. I say that as lovingly as possible, but seriously - CRAZY. And it really wasn't the babies who were nuts, it was the 3 and 4 year olds. I think Kristy and I got two words in to each other, the rest were telling the kids to knock it off or making sure to feed them something.

And Alex? I don't know who invaded his head the past 24 hours, but he was a little snot. I think the jealous sibling attitude is finally hitting him - and he took it out on Jazlyn. Unfortunately, they both have the firstborn, strong-willed child personality and they try to boss each other around, and Alex is having a hard time remembering to use his words before smacking or kicking. I think 2 weeks of unstructured Mommy time (he hasn't been in daycare because of the snow, the holidays, and this trip) has made him excited to get back to school. (Shh...I know I'm ready to get him back there too!)

Anyway, I'm exhausted and I know for a fact that I'm not having any more kids. 2 is perfect. One for each hand, one for each parent. Now if I could just convince Scott...

A direct quote from the boy: "I can't enjoy myself in the dark when I'm all alone." While I'm hitting myself in the head with a book because I can't get the vaguely dirty connotation of that statement out of my head, it's still a great snapshot of my child's mind. Any NORMAL 3 year old will just say, "Mommy, I'm afraid of the dark." But NO, not my 3 year old. He has to utilize that embarrassingly large vocabulary of his and make me feel GUILTY. For leaving him in the DARK. Because he's so CUTE. Damn kids.

Anyway, so today. Whew. End of a busy weekend. I don't think the ILs have seen this much of us in a long time. We spent all day Saturday at SIL's parents' lake house for Alex's cousin Jazlyn's birthday. (Is it just me, or was there an overabundance of "S"s in that sentence?) Alex got to go in the hot tub and ride in the boat, as well as playing with Jazlyn all day. Emma did what she does. Which is to say, coo, burble, look adorable and be happy. And get passed around to everyone and their mother, which I totally don't mind - I'm feeling a little kid-centric these days and I appreciate being able to hand them off to someone else. We had fun, although the weather didn't cooperate and we didn't get to spend time in the water like we usually do.

Sunday was Emma's blessing, and despite the fact that I break out in hives when entering a church (no, I'm kidding) we survived. Actually, I was just glad the church didn't burn down around me. :-) Alex watched adoringly as his little sister was gathered into the circle of men and given her name. I told him that he had the same special thing happen to him and he just got a huge smile on his face. He was very good and only had one issue - sharing his snack with Jazlyn, which was a recurring theme all weekend. Baby sister makes otherwise good-sharer into grabby and whiny non-sharer. Life with two kids is nothing if not entertaining.
God, I love those toes. What is it about baby toes?

Monday, Labor Day, was Kristy's baby shower. It was nice and small, just Oma, Grandma, Aunt Mary, Kristy, Kristy's mom and me. Jazlyn and Alex stayed with the dads (which is to say, they played video games and watched movies) while the babies (Emma and cousin Matsen) stayed with us at the shower. Mary certainly got creative with the menu - I had feta cheese and hummus for the first time, and tried a frittata, which wasn't bad but could've done without the onions. Emma was cooing and burbling and adorable, as usual.

Nursing update: I've made it 17 weeks and we're still exclusively breastfeeding! I start back to work tomorrow with our nuts and bolts staff meeting and an ice cream social, so I'll have to start pumping. I'm worried that this will mean the end of nursing, since I generally don't handle stress well. I'm enjoying it so much that I don't want to give it up - it's my time with my baby girl that has really strengthened the bond I have with her. I'm planning on doing a weekly nursing update to keep track of how things are going. Right now we're nursing 6 times a day at least, usually on a 6-9-12-3-6-9 schedule, and she's sleeping from 9 to 6 at night. Couldn't ask for a better baby.

And that's about it. I'll blog tomorrow about the parents I meet at the ice cream social, if any show up. I usually get 3 or 4, so we'll see. Wish me luck!