Enough Sweets!

August is birthday month, there are 5 people in our family that have birthdays (1 neice, 2 nephews, and both of my parents). My dad's birthday was a big one, the big 6-0. A great tennis score and hopefully a great age, thankfully he still plays great tennis at his age. We had a party for him the night before his birthday and it was full of surprises, which is pretty different for him (usually his Christmas present is something he picked out himself, oftentimes even bought himself). But this year Mom really outdid herself and planned a surprise trip to the US Open in New York City, booking the hotel, flights, and tennis match tickets in secret. She had a great scavenger hunt that led back into the kitchen where we had set up the adorable tennis court cake my sister-in-law made, surrounded by the "stadium" made of styrofoam and pictures of crowds. She had cut out a picture of the two of them, glued it to a toothpick, and stuck it in the top of the "stands". The tickets were rolled up next to the cake. He also received, in his scavenger hunt with 6 little helpers, a book that I put together with input from everybody else "60 Reasons Why We Love Papa". I think he felt the love, so the night was a success.

My Mom's birthday was this past Thursday, and Mandy and I managed to surprise her a little as well. We took a train ride downtown to Imaginon (this great public library in Charlotte), listened to Storytime, had lunch at Fuel's Pizza, then after some nap/rest time at her house had a picnic dinner at a neighborhood park. Since spending time her family kinda tops the chart for her I think it was a great birthday, as well. Giving gifts is NOT my specialty and it has gotten even worse now that shopping is near impossible. Mandy, however, is the world's best at giving gifts and her children have not hindered her at all....with each child she has I think she actually improves the thoughtfulness of the gifts. I basically gave Mom an "IOU" for her birthday (which I did make good on the following day), but Mandy had several presents throughout the day. She is amazing!

All of these parties coupled with my pregnant mentality of eating whatever I want has led to some self discovery. I am addicted to dessert. I like to have people over to socialize, yes, but also because it's a good excuse to make a pan of brownies. Isn't that awful? I started working out again a few weeks ago and the scale has been stubbornly not moving at all. I finally came to realize the cold hard truth - I cannot eat dessert with 1-2 meals a day and expect to lose weight. I am not 16 anymore. So, Mom and I made a pact to eat no dessert until our trip to San Francisco, starting yesterday. (We couldn't start on her birthday because Mandy brought these awesome cakepops...). We leave for San Francisco next Friday in 6 days, but don't laugh. Giving up sweets is pretty serious for me so I am taking baby steps. Today was my first true temptation (I actually felt like I was on The Biggest Loser!), take a look at the picture below from our MOPS planning meeting. I will confess that I popped 1 M&M before remembering my sweets fast but that was my only indiscretion. I feel very proud of myself for this dieting accomplishment. Hopefully I wont eat my weight in cake next weekend.......

The New Normal

I was talking to my good friend the other day that just recently had her 3rd baby, as well, and I asked her how she was adjusting. She said it well, that she was getting used to the new normal, slowly but surely. My new normal consists of a few differences that I have noticed so far. My hair is always air-dried and rarely brushed. Sometimes my makeup can last for 2 days. My pocketbook is the same thing as the diaper bag. Most of my shirts smell like spit up for a good part of the day. So does David. An afternoon or evening swim = bath. And so the list goes on.

 Here is a picture of David from our trip to camp. Steven was the speaker for Junior Boys this year so we went up with him on Sunday. Eli lasted until Tuesday night and went home with my in-laws; Sadie, David and I came home Wednesday night. It was refreshing to be up there, around so many godly young people that are on staff and a bunch of excited little boys, but it is just not the easiest place to be with toddlers. Plus I got Mastitis.....again.

 A couple nights before camp we dressed up like cows (don't make fun, these are what you call "home-made" outfits) in order to get free Chick-fil-a food. We really didn't feel that stupid as most of the people in the restaurant looked nearly as silly as we did. The only stupid people in there were the ones that had to pay for their food. This will most definitely be an annual event.

 The last night Steven was at camp we met my dear friend and her little ones for dinner and Cook-Out milkshakes...a fun evening. Here are our boys (minus David) and the girls below. Sweet friends.

 And on the days that we spend at home, we do a lot of this. Feeding babies. It's been a great summer so far, and I think I'm going to like the new normal.