Joshua burst my bubble the other day. After a whole winter of people telling me I look like a Disney Princess (Anna from Frozen), and walking around feeling pretty good about myself……la-te-da…..

Joshua says, “You don’t really look like Anna to me.  You gotta take us to go see How to Train Your Dragons 2!  Hiccup’s mom is who you really look like!  I mean, you might look a little like Anna, but really you look like Hiccup’s Mom!!  Can we go??  Will you take us??  Will you? Will you?”

Eh. I guess she’s not such a terrible person to be compared to ……child abandonment aside…. Still, I’d rather be compared to a Disney Princess.  Let’s go back to that.

Delusions are so much nicer than reality. : )  Let’s move on…

By the way, How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes to theaters in June.  Joshua is an EXPERT on when all movies and video games marketed towards little boys are released.  We don’t even have cable, but somehow he always knows these things.

Speaking of cable, we cut our cable a month ago, and we don’t even miss it at all!  Guess how much money it’s saving us…..NONE!  Disappointing, isn’t it? Our media services were all bundled up so well, that cutting cable would save us a whopping $10 a month, and since we’re moving in June, that makes it not worth the trouble of having to hunt down the cable store and return the box.  You know?  So we just unplugged it from the wall.

Actually, Alan plugs it in once a week and watches some Revolutionary War tv show he’s into.  Ha!  So I guess we just sort of don’t have cable…..

Guess what else happened last week that I was so excited about?  The boys did so well on their report cards that I took them to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate.  Caleb had his best report card ever, all good grades, and he is now on grade level for his reading.  WAhoo!!!  Go boys, go!  Yeah, Joshua wasn’t so keen on having his picture taken while eating.  In my defense, he moves too fast for me to take his picture when he’s not eating.

They had a great time. Daniel is a Chuck E Cheese Mastermind.  

You can’t make this stuff up:  Daniel walked around to all the machines, collecting the tickets that other kids had left behind.  Before kids realize the power of tickets, they often flitter from one machine to another, without stopping to collect their tickets.  Daniel is our #1 Easter egg finder and our #1 ticket earner.  The older boys earned about 15 each.  Dan earned and collected 50.  Haaaa!

He still isn’t quite crawling yet….Instead, he scoots backwards great distances, but isn’t he adorable?

He’ll figure it out soon. I keep forgetting to mention that he is down to only two breast feedings per day.  He now eats plenty of solid food and drinks whole milk instead.  He would have no part of formula, so regular ol’ milk is working just fine.

Busy, busy week ahead, as usual!  Oh yeah!  Our EFMP paperwork was approved, and we have ‘Request for Orders’ in hand.  One step at a time.  We almost have everything we need to book a moving truck!!  Hurray!!

What’s everyone else up to this week? Hope you are all having a good one.  At least it’s raining and not snowing! April showers bring May flowers!  ; )

Best quote I saw on the internet this week:  “When you have a bad day, a really bad day, try and treat the world better than it treated you.”  –Patrick Slump

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New York in the fall has nothing on DC in the spring!

Ah, Spring, that glorious time of year when I want to wear short sleeves, but I can’t find them.  My nose is stuffy, my eyes itch, and yet for some reason I feel wholly and ridiculously happy.  I want to hug the spring this year–every zyrtec requiring moment of it is pulling me out of the dark-ish zone I’ve been inhabiting for too long to admit!

This spring break started out seriously dull.  The kids were having a blast:  playing with their friends all day, no homework, no school.  “Everything is awesome.  Everything is great.”

Meanwhile, I was drowning in babies, diapers, bottles, breast milk pumping, dishes, cooking, laundry mountains, toys everywhere, and worst of all:  cleaning up under the high chair.  grrrrrrrrr-oss!!!  No matter how hard I work all day, I never put a dent in the work load, and I wasn’t taking the time to just have fun with the boys.

Enter Tuesday.  There’s something about knowing that your mom and dad are on their way to your house that just puts you in a better mood.  Phew!!!  Plus, I suddenly stumbled upon a revelation.

I was praying, something like, “Oh God, how will I ever do all of this? I am so tired.”

When suddenly He reminded me of my New Year’s Resolution:  Chill.

Oh yeah!

I’d forgotten about that.  My revelation:  if I keep making lists of 20 things to do each day, and not even including the morning chores and baby feedings on the to-do list, I will never get past ‘overwhelmed.’  I don’t want to live overwhelmed!

Why is it that I have to keep learning these same lessons over and over again?  Isn’t that the definition of a fool?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  the to do list should have the 6 most important things to do that day.  I am going back to that.  My list looked something like this for Wednesday:

1. Get everyone ready for the day. (an accomplishment in itself)

2. Dishes

3. Laundry:  Just do your best.  ; )

4. Feed everyone:  three meals, 2 snacks

5. Target trip

6. De-clutter for 1 hour.

Now this is a list I can handle!!  In addition to giving myself attainable goals, I also set myself up for success by taking my prescribed medication:  iron with vitamin C.  These aren’t intellectual breakthroughs, but when you’re going through a time in life that is just difficult, for one reason or another, clinging back on to these simple truths means a lot.

God has set my feet back on the rock.  This song is in my head!!!

The post Spring Break Just Got a Whole Lot Better! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

BEFORE

What I look like, every single time, right after giving birth:  This was a few days after I had Caleb. I weighed about 170 pounds in this photo.

And this is what I normally look like:

That’s a 35 pound difference.  (After all, a few pounds actually DO belong to the baby.)

  This is not my favorite topic:  weight loss.  I don’t like discussing it because it often makes us feel bad. Maybe it’s just me, but when I’m going through a heavy phase, hearing skinny people talking about their weight really gets on my nerves.  It can be a sensitive issue, and I like to make people happy, not sad, so I’m going to address this just this one time.  After this, you’ll read no more weight loss posts from me.

Being the vain person that I am, I do eventually always buckle down and get the baby weight OFF.  That may be easy and happen naturally for some of you.  If you gain 20 pounds, then what work do you have to do?  This post is for the women like me:  the ones that gain 40+ pounds no matter how hard we try to eat right and exercise.

I always feel like people come and visit me right after I’ve given birth, expecting to see me looking thin already.  Instead, they meet a chubbier version of April, that still looks pregnant, but the fact is that WEIGHT LOSS TAKES MONTHS, NOT DAYS.

When I’m pregnant, my body handles food and exercise completely differently.  It clings on to every bite I eat.  I have gained 55 pounds every single time, save this last time.  This time I gained 40ish.

By the time the baby is 9 months old, I almost always have it whittled off.  I can’t tell you how to get stick-skinny because I’m not stick-skinny, but I can definitely tell you how I lost 40-55 pounds.  ; )

Oh!  And you have to give the tummy circumference extra time.  After giving birth more than once, it may take you up to two years to get your middle shrunk back all the way, and you may always have a little extra skin.

APRIL’S RULES FOR WEIGHT LOSS:

1.  Breastfeeding.  If you can, at least give it a try.  It takes a while to see results, but eventually you should.  I have friends that didn’t have to do anything more than breastfeed.  I have other friends that breastfeeding did not help at all with the weight loss.  It definitely helps me lose the weight faster because it burns so many calories.

2.  DO NOT SIGN UP FOR A DIET PLAN.  Boooooooooo diets!!!  Don’t do it.  Crash diets do not work, and any weight you lose from the one month you’re able to stick to your crazy diet plan will just come back when you wake up and realize that that Nutrisystem food tastes disgusting.  (It does.  I’ve tasted it.)

3.  DO make permanent changes in what you buy at the grocery store, and try to get your husband on board.  (That’s the tricky part.)  One year after having Daniel, I realized that I had actually gained a bunch of weight while my husband was in Afghanistan for 6 months.  This was not pregnancy weight.  This was sedentary lifestyle weight.  I knew I had to get it back in gear.  First I read this book:

  She will drill into your head great fundamentals of eating right.  For me, it was a great reminder that I do not have to have dessert every day.

Then I made these dietary changes:

a. I cut out soda.  (except for a treat once every couple of weeks)

b. I stopped buying any junk food at all.  Not even Oreos.  Since that time, Alan has added back in buying ice cream (ugh).  I guess I need to get back on his case.  If it’s not in your kitchen, you can’t eat it.  It’s really that simple.

c.  I replaced the junk food with these snacks:

-greek yogurt

-yogurt covered raisins

-popcorn  (Read the label.  It’s not bad.)

-almonds

-100 calorie granola bars

-blackberries

-cheese

-cheese and crackers

-cereal

Pssssst!  You know all those articles that tell you not to drink juice, etc.  Well, okay, fine, it’s worse than water, but it has HALF the sugar of soda.  Also, coffee is extremely beneficial to your health, and it fills you up too!

4.  Oatmeal makes a great meal, any day, any time.  That wasn’t really a change, as I’ve always eaten oatmeal, but I just wanted to put that out there. ; )  It doesn’t have to be complicated and time consuming to be healthy.  These health magazines make it way too hard with all the complicated recipes with ingredients you’ve never heard of.  Instant oatmeal is just fine.

5.  EXERCISE.  Every day!!!!   I’m not talking P90X or Insanity everyday.  That is not my style.  Who has time for that?  Not a mom of lots of little ones!  You work in exercise wherever you can.  Buy DVDs that are 30 minute programs, or sometimes I just cut the long ones off at 30 minutes.    Just make sure that at least once a week you’re doing some kind of strength training.  I also do stretching at least once/week to keep back pain away.  Ever since my yoga teacher moved, I am a wreck.

WALKING IS GREAT EXERCISE!  Plus, it can give you alone time.  Whenever possible, as many days a week as Alan gets home before dark, I leave all the kids with Alan and hit the sidewalk for a 2 mile walk. Sanity time!  Remember!!  Jesus always went off alone to pray!  We should too!

In addition to that exercise, I walk my children home from school.  That adds in another mile, and when you add in pushing a double stroller, it is a significant work out.

If you really want to torch calories fast, RUN, or attend a strength training class.

My most successful weight loss was not related to pregnancy at all.  It was after that Afghanistan tour, when Daniel, my 3rd son, was a toddler.  I actually got to the point of no chubby middle section because I worked out really, really hard every single day.  I was doing a whole lot of running, and a little bit of weight lifting.

I will have to get my anemia under control before I can work out like that again!  I’m too tired to even think about all that stuff.  Meanwhile, I’ve still lost 45 pounds just breastfeeding, walking, doing yoga, and not buying cookies or soda!

6. DO NOT count calories.  Just eat somewhat healthy, and when you’re starting to feel full, you know, QUIT EATING.

7.  Sleep! Sometimes you might just be getting a late snack to stay awake.  Instead, assert your will power, and go to bed.

8.  EAT EVERY THREE HOURS, and duh, don’t skip breakfast.  Eating every three hours keeps you from getting that starving feeling that makes you pig out.  It also boosts your metabolism. Snacks should be small but nutritionally helpful.

9.  Oh yeah!  If you have a c-section OR even tearing from a natural birth, do NOT exercise until 6 weeks out.  Trust me.  I thought I could be all tough and carry around two babies at once, two weeks after giving birth, and there were busted stitches as a result.  Youch. You don’t want that. ALWAYS wait six weeks.

I wish I had more before/after pics to share, but I’m so vain that I always delete my ‘fat’ pictures…. However, I do not delete pregnancy photos, so here are a few of those:

See, I’m not one of those thin pregnant women….

As you can see, I never really posed for any ‘before’ or ‘after’ pictures, because the weight loss was always so gradual.  That’s the kind of change that lasts.  It doesn’t have to be complicated to live a healthy lifestyle.  Just get moving, and skip the non-nutritive foods at the grocery store!

The post How I Lose the Pregnancy Weight appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I’m always a little jealous of Dan and his mid-day nap.

I tend to start my days off really, really slowly.  I drag myself downstairs, or usually one of the boys drags me down the stairs.  I feed people.  I make myself coffee.

An hour later, I’m fully awake and ready to tackle the day.  I make a list and have GREAT BIG, HUGE plans to save the world and solve all of my problems that day.  I begin crossing things off my list.

Mishaps happen along the way, and by 1pm, the steam is gone, and suddenly nothing seems important anymore.  Nothing at all.

By this point, I’m thinking, “What?  No one replied to my emails?  Eh.  Who cares.”

“De-clutter 1 hour?  Are you kidding?  JD is napping, and I’m about to sit down for the first time since JD’s morning bottle!”

“Sweep the kitchen?  Nah.  It’ll just get dirty again…..”

You get the idea.  I can either drink coffee and keep going, or I can stop and rest.  Today I’m choosing rest.  : )  Blogging is my chosen rest activity.  : )

Am I the only one?  Do any of you have a mid-day slump?  You know, some countries get a siesta around this time. Can’t we vote that in for the USA???

Daniel is LOVING this! It’s so cute to listen to him answer all of the questions and try to read all the words!!!

Right now I’m doing something new.  I whipped out the “Your Baby Can Read” dvds, and thought I’d give Daniel a shot at an education.

He was all, “No baby videos!!!”  I assured him that it’s for all ages, and since it’s about reading, it must be for big boys.

I’m so glad I tried it.  He’s LOVING it.  We’re going to do this again!!  Maybe it will even work, and he will learn some words.

How sweet is this picture? JD got to spend quality time with his great-grandparents this past weekend, and it was SO SWEET how much he genuinely loved his great-grandmother!!  He just took right to her.

Getting JD to take a bottle was a serious victory. Great job, Nonna!!

One more thought before I get back to work:  the weaning is going swimmingly.  JD HATES formula, though. Believe it or not, spending all day pumping is not an improvement over spending all day breastfeeding.  Boo fun.  So here’s the weaning plan:

Step 1:  Get the boy to take a bottle.  DONE!!!  Nonna volunteered to do this for me, and I am SO THANKFUL.  I was out and about this weekend and sleeping at night, and it was all super wonderful, and surprisingly emotional!  Hormones–geesh!

Step 2:  Begin supplementing a little regular milk into each bottle.  Formula failed.  He hates it, and he knows if it’s in there, so I tried a touch of regular milk.  That worked much better.  I did my research, and a little milk at his age is perfectly fine.  He’s not ready to have cow’s milk full time, but he may be able to handle a little each day.

Step 3:  Gradually phase out all breastfeeding.  Nighttime feedings will be the last to go.  That part won’t be so difficult.  I’ve done that three times before.  Finding milk JD will drink, that is good for him, that has been the tricky part!!

Okay.  I’m going to also opt for that extra cup of coffee now.  Here’s to finishing the day strong!!  Hope ya’ll are having a great one!

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I’m back from my Alabama visit!  I caught the last flight from Atlanta to Baltimore last night.  It is a good thing too because  each flight after it was cancelled, due to the weather. And boy, do I have some tips to share about flying with an infant. Of course, I had to go and learn them all the hard way.

Best things about my trip:

• I got to visit with family.
• I got to hold a precious newborn.
• I spent time SITTING on a sofa.  : )
• The food!  Oh, the food!!!  We had Arby’s!!!  We had Swiss Cake Rolls, Fage Greek yogurt–my very favorite, but I’m usually too cheap to buy it, pizza, and oh!  Goldfingers chicken!!!  It was a party in my tummy.  : )
• We went through many of Granny’s things, mostly clothes, jewelry, and cards that she’d saved.  I brought home a few beautiful broaches that will remind me of Granny each time I wear them.

The visit part was awesome.  The flying part was where the work came in.

Have you ever flown with an infant?  It’s not really my favorite.  While waiting to board one flight, this nice, well-meaning lady came up and talked to me.  She said, “Just wait….” and I must’ve had a look on my face that let her know this wasn’t actually my first rodeo, because she stopped and said, “Is this your first?” Of course, you know I explained that I have four, but she went on to say how much easier it is to travel with just one, rather than two or more.

Well, yes, that’s true, BUT that does not negate that traveling with even just one infant is difficult–especially when you’re traveling ALONE with the infant.  Oy.  I have flown with four different babies at different times over the years–usually without Alan–but also a time or two with him.  It’s much easier when both parents are present.

Here are a few lessons I’ve picked up over the years on flying with infants:

#1. Ergo Vs. Strollers    

While I use my Ergo often, I’m not really the queen of baby carrier wearers.  I have trouble fastening them by myself.  I also have back issues, so I can’t wear them for very long at a time.

On my flight down south, I decided to only use the Ergo. I didn’t even take a stroller with me because I figured I can travel rather quickly that way. After all, I had a crazy short layover in Atlanta.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT.

If you love wearing your Ergo, fine, but I highly recommend that you have a stroller with you. Have the stroller for when your back starts to hurt so badly that you become super jealous of the people in wheelchairs.  I spent a few minutes there at the end, fantasizing over riding in one of those wheelchairs, let me tell ya!

While in Alabama, I went to the store and picked out the most awesome little almost-umbrella stroller I have ever purchased.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS:

I used this stroller on the trip home, and I didn’t bother with the Ergo.  It worked much, much better, and I won’t spend two days with an achy back as a result of it either.

#2.  Food

Food is the number one way to entertain little ones on an airplane.  JD is pretty messy with his food, so for him I used a bottle of apple juice.  My kids have to drink apple juice for their bathroom issues, so it’s a guilt-free tool for us.

JD still doesn’t really take a bottle, so he mostly gnawed on it, took sips here and there, and played with it.

Breastfeeding usually solves a lot of problems too.  Don’t be afraid to breastfeed your baby on the airplane.  People, in general, are very understanding, and if they aren’t, who cares?  Babies have to eat whether your seat mate is weird about it or not!

Which brings me to point #3:

#3. Breastfeeding on an Airplane….

Oh, the joys…I have this weird problem:  When I feel nervous or uptight, my milk STOPS.  It just won’t let down for the baby.  No milk = mad baby.

Have any of you other breastfeeding mommies had this no-let-down- when- nervous problem?

On my first flight, I was walking down the aisle, looking for my seat. All I could see in the area I were men.  “Noooooo,” I thought, “Oh, please, no, oh please, no, don’t let that be my seat next to the pretty man,” because it really looked like it was.  I did not want to have to breastfeed next to the handsome man.

I was lucky.  My seat was right in front of his, right beside a SUPER sweet girl, about my age.  PHEW!!!!  She was awesome.  We had such a good time talking, I really wish I’d caught her name.  She was a kindred spirit.

All went well with the breastfeeding.

Yes, I use a nursing cover.  I forgot mine, so I had to use a blanket, which is only a little more difficult.

On my return flight, I DID have to sit next to a man, about my age, and guess what happened?  I felt uncomfortable, as he was not a dad yet, so I knew he was probably uncomfortable, and my milk would not let down.  What is wrong with me???  Am I the only one with this problem???  Tell me I’m not the only one!!!  Ugh.

THANKFULLY, the lady I mentioned before, that I’d talked to at the airport, who’d said, “just wait until you have two kids”, appeared out of nowhere, and rescued me with a strand of Mardi Gras beads!  JD  was in Heaven with those beads.  Thank you, bead lady!!!!

God provides.

I simply fed JD later, after we landed at the airport, in a carefully selected seat near a window, across from a nice grandparent-ish couple.  Halfway through the feeding, this young man behind me–that liked to look around, but I’d forgotten all about him–suddenly said, “Oh, sorry!” looking at me….apparently he’d gotten a peek.

There was really nothing to say to that…..so we’ll move on.

#4. When the baby fights sleep, and the crying begins….

The very last flight was when JD started to lose it.  Don’t worry, I didn’t cry, but JD sure did.  Whatever you do at home to quiet a crying baby is what works on an airplane too.

Joshua was the type of baby that never cried once, the airplane just lulled him to sleep, and I thought flying with babies was so easy.

JD was more difficult, but he only got really upset on the very last flight.  We were sitting by the “We’re not talking here,” type of guy.  Boo fun.  I do not like sitting by non-talkers.  Holding the baby with no one to talk to is lonely.  The talking soothes JD, so without it, I was left with sleepy-grumpy-poopy JD.

We’ll talk about the poopy part in a minute…..

As it turns out, it’s perfectly acceptable to stand up, rock your baby back and forth, and even sing to him.  : )  Can you picture it?  Yes, I had to resort to all of these things, but at least he went to sleep.

#5. Diaper changing on an airplane:

Somehow, JD always chose to do his business ON the airplane.  Great.  I handled this 3 different ways, all which worked just fine:

A.  On a flight where the back row was empty, I snuck back there and used that row to change his diaper where no one could see us.

B.  On a flight where I boarded first, so the seats around me were all still empty, I hastily laid JD in my lap and changed him right there.  Thankfully, it was just a wet one.

C.  JD went full-on messy diaper during our very last flight, so I just marched him down to the airplane bathroom.  Do the plane bathrooms have changing tables?  Um, no.  I put the lid to the toilet down, sat there, and changed a seriously poopy diaper right there in my lap.

This would’ve all been a lot harder with a Daniel-sized toddler.

#5.  EARS

If your ears are bothering you, their ears are probably bothering them.  I tried to keep a pacifier in his mouth for this, as it never happened when he was hungry. In the past, I have done the whole feeding during the descent thing.  The descent always seems to be the worst for ears. JD seemed to handle it best lying down, rather than sitting up.

***************

 Our journey was quite the adventure.  I do have this knack for getting myself into scrapes.  On the way home, I ran into a major snag when I couldn’t find my car in the parking garage.  

Advice to myself:  Always write down your parking space number.  

I spent ten minutes wandering around the 1st floor of the garage in the freezing cold because all I remembered was that I parked on the 1st floor, to the left of the elevators……I didn’t realize there are 4 different sets of elevators….

 I ended up with a cold, hungry baby, getting back on the shuttle bus, not really sure where to look next.

Guess what happened next?  Remember my post about the kindness of strangers?  I ran into some more angels-in-disguise.  Their names were Bob and Jan.  They were a grandparent-ish couple, and they asked me if they could drive me around the garage until we found my car.  We found it right away because I remembered exactly how I’d turned into the 1st floor and driven to the third row.  Phew!  Thank you, Bob and Jan!!

Again, God provides.  Be silenced, all ye who credit coincidence; there are few accidents.

Okay, so my next big goal is to start making better decisions so that I’m not constantly requiring help from strangers!!!

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