Fall: Taking Stock

Three months out from the new baby:  This is what my closet actually looks like right now.
  Ah, Fall.  Who doesn’t love Fall?  The further north you live the more exciting it is!  (And also a little foreboding at the same time).  
  I love it just as much as anyone, and as CEO of our little abode, it is my duty to take stock of everyone’s closet situation each fall.  Then I must fill in the gaps, as well as assess exactly what size jeans we all need!  
  It took me two weeks to do it, but I now officially have all closet assessments completed.  : )  I’m still not sure what size jeans everyone wears this year, but perhaps I’ll get that figured out this weekend.
  
  I wish I had taken photos of the mounds of 3T clothes I found in Dan’s storage bins.  Having two big bros paid off.  I actually hauled out three paper grocery bags of excess clothes.  Not kidding.  Who in the world needs 25 pairs of pants!!??  Daniel would like you all to know that he doesn’t need any new clothes whatsoever…probably until he graduates high school.  ; )
He only needs a few fleece sleepers.  Note to my family: If you’re buying him one for Christmas, he will need 9/12 month ones at that point.  For now he is officially a 6/9 month size baby. 
  Joshua and Caleb were fairly easy as well.  Both Nana and Nonna have been shopping for us, so I will only have to buy pants if Joshua really has outgrown the 8 slims.  The verdict is still out on that since the boy lives in Adidas pants, and the 8s still seem to be long enough as far as those go.
  
  But, hello?  What happened to my clothing??  
  Having 4 babies in 7 years happened, a pretty common plight to women, I suppose.
   I am three months out and 28 pounds down, but since I gained 40, most of my clothes still do not fit, especially fitted shirts and pants.  That weight does not fall off over night, it just doesn’t, but this closet is serious motivation to get my butt back in gear.
   Thanks to my closet, and to my disappointing return to Yoga Monday night, I have been on a real get-back-in-shape-roll this week.  
  Yep, Monday night I started back to Yoga class.  Now if you’re picturing a relaxing evening of stretching, believe me when I tell you that’s not how I would describe this class.  Monica knows I have 15 pounds left to lose, and a postpartum gut to go with it, so she designed it to be a work-out!
  It was embarrassing.  I was a sweating, grunting, falling mess.  Forget “Warrior Pose”.  I was more like “Warrior Down”.  Help!  The warrior is shot!!!
  Oh!  Plus she has her studio wall lined with……MIRRORS.  The horror.  Have you ever had to watch yourself do Yoga, while the person beside you weighs about 100 pounds?  
   It’s rather humbling.
  But you know I’m not one to sit down and mope.  I took it as a wake-up call.  So Tuesday I went back to running, Wednesday I just walked, Thursday I ran a little further plus did an ab workout (which I should be doing about everyday), and today….well, nothing so far, but I have plans!
  I really wish I could do the Fitness at the Park class with my friends, but alas, two babies make that prospect very intimidating.
  Speaking of running, Joshua got all excited and wanted to go with me last night.  Of course, I thought that was great, but when we went outside he grabbed his bicycle.  I had to settle for him biking with me.  And you know what?  I ran faster and longer because I just didn’t want to let him down.  Ha! Isn’t that funny?  
   He was a great work-out buddy.  He purposefully rode slowly so that he could ride beside me and talk my ear off.  Of course, all he talked about was video games and Skylanders. 
  A very wise mentor once told me to always listen without complaint to little boys droning on and on about such topics because this is your chance, while you’re still ‘in’.  If you let them know now that you are not interested in what you are saying, they will internalize that, “Mommy doesn’t want to hear about the things I care about”, and then when they are older you will be left out of the information you do want to hear about!  Thank you, Tracy Brown.  
   It’s funny.  All Joshua talks about is video games, but he hardly ever plays video games.  He plays them for 5-10 minutes tops, and then he’s back out on the trampoline, playing out all that he saw on his game.
   Caleb, on the other hand, would play them all day if we let him, but he doesn’t discuss them, never buys them, and never asks for them.  So many things I don’t understand!
…..So we’ve heard some cute things lately, and of course I must share:
1.  While out running/riding a bike:
    Joshua:  Oooo.  
    Me:  Aw, poor squirrel (fresh roadkill)
   Joshua:  (stopping his bike)  I gotta see this.
   Me:  No!  Don’t touch it!  We never touch dead animals.
  Joshua:  I wasn’t going to touch it.  I just want to see it.  I gotta stay.  I want to see a car run over it. 
  Me:  Ewwww! Oh, no, absolutely not.  Let’s go.  That would be awful.  Gross, Joshua!
  Joshua:  *sigh*  That’s just because you’re a girl, and girls think everything is gross.  They’re always like “ewww gross” (in his best mimicking girl’s voice).
2.  Joshua:  I’m so excited I’m going to get a Skylanders’ Swamp game.  All my friends have Skylanders, but don’t worry, I won’t ever buy the one that burps (He said his name, but I don’t recall), because I know you don’t like that.  Even if everybody else gets him, I won’t get him because I know you do not like him.   : )
3.  Caleb drew this picture in Art Class.
    Then he came home and showed it to Alan and Joshua.  He explained that it’s a machine he designed that will do your homework for you, if you put a dime in it.  Then he got out his Legos and started to build it.  He and Joshua were very excited about this.  I don’t think it ever occurred to either of them that this was anything that couldn’t be created.
Have a great weekend everyone.  I will obviously be doing some clothes shopping!

2 comments

  • Anonymous

    A boy never outgrows (even when he is a elderly man) the need to have the undivided attention of the woman in his life. ~Daddy-O

  • Anonymous

    Great post! JD is a hoss! Good for with all your exercise…and for listening to video game ramblings. I have heard that advice as well. I think you are wise to listen-hard to do now, but big pay off later. Joshua and Caleb…love the sweet stories you've shared recently. Amy

I love comments! Otherwise, it's really just me talkin' to myself...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.