43

I turned 43 today. I find it weird that I'm even in my forties, let alone 43!!  In my head I'm about 28, and that's about where I stay.  It freaks me out a bit when I'm hanging out with 20 somethings and I'm thinking...."OMG, I'm OLD!"
Had a great day hanging out in San Francisco with a great friend and Erik!

We had a lovely time and just goofed around!

I can't be 43....................I have an almost 3 year old.  I'm 43.
43???  Yes 43!
SIGH

Fun in the Sun

My sister and her family came to visit for 10 days last week and we had a fantastic time goofing around California.
Top ten list of things we did -
10. Visited Fisherman's Wharf where it was it's usual freezing, wind - blowing spectacular self.

9. Went to Henry Cowell State Park and walked around the redwood trees (which is really quite challenging with a 2 year old who doesn't walk well and an almost 2 year old who runs circles!) The 0.8 mile walk was very beautiful, and very long.

8. We went to the beach where we saw people swimming in burkas - I wish I had a picture (but that's disrespectful right?  I really really wanted to take one).
7. On our way to the beach we came to a light next to this in Santa Cruz.  As she passed one of her "Dominatrix for Dummies" cards into the car and invited us to the show I heard my brother in law say..."I love California". 

6. Cousins getting to know each other is awesome - and sometimes very very loud.  Getting to know you in 2 year old language is often filled with tears. But look at them, seriously, twins born a year apart.

5. Getting to hang out with my awesome 99 year old Grandma and listen to her stories about the "olden days" and how she's going to "snoopervise" my Uncle in her garden.  I love her made up words.

4. Visiting Disneyland, the happiest place on Earth really makes me happy.....It made me so happy this time that we are annual pass holders now....WOO HOO!

3. My child getting to know his Uncle Gregg and loving him so much that he has to hold his hand at all times, even through meals.....awesome

2. Getting to hang out with my niece and nephew and making some awesome memories.

1. This is my take away memory from my whole trip.....too bad there is no picture.
As we stopped for lunch in the quaint little town of Solvang we chose a sweet little Danish restaurant for some Abel skivers.  Halfway through our meal Erik vomited all over the table.  Which, is mortifying enough.  However, that was not enough for the Universe to give me.  When I pulled him out of the booster I realized there was runny poop EVERYWHERE.  It was going down both legs, (he had on shorts) and into his socks and shoes.  We couldn't carry him to bathroom since then WE would be covered with poop.  We had to get him to walk (while he was screaming) and try not to call too much attention to ourselves.  Well, as he walked poop fell in little cow pies behind him with every step.  Which caused a waitress to run after me and hand me a rag to wipe up the piles.  We then took over the woman's bathroom for operation clean up.  Woman were surprised to walk in and see Mike wrangling a poop covered child.........ah, the life of parents.
All in all it was a super fun trip and so very nice to have my sister and her family here.   Wish we lived closer so we could all hang out more. 

Now, onto diet progress.  I'm down 30 pounds in 6 weeks. I should be, because I barely eat anything.  Disneyland on a diet was a challenge, and I can imagine it would be a HUGE challenge to someone just dieting but not actually forced into how much to eat based on their stomach.  I carried a lot of my food in, and shared lots of bites with my mom and Mike. Ive' learned to look for high protein appetizers and just order those. At least I'm not thinking about eating, that would make it REALLY hard. I took little steals of my sister's Diet Dr. Pepper while she was here, then I got brave and poured myself one........I took 4 sips and was over it. 
It's tough to get all the vitamins down, the food doesn't make me sick, but the vitamins do - terribly.  I hate them, but if I don't take them my hair falls out.
I'm starting to fit into the "skinny" clothes in my closet - awesome.  I now weigh less than I did when I got married. Double awesome!
I live on chicken - so please send your chicken recipes!
I dreamed last night that I was SQUATTING down to talk to a child.  Like knees bent, and not out of breath or in pain!  I hope to be there soon. 
Oh, and I didn't have any anxiety about the rides at Disneyland because I knew I was thinner than the last time I was there!
The children at school don't have any idea about my surgery but I don't hide it.  Here's the conversation I had with a 3 year old yesterday.

Child: Teacher Becky how come you're not eating bread?

                             Me: Because I had special work done on my tummy and now I can't eat bread.
Child: Is the specialness your Uterus?

Me: (????????????????????) Um, no something else in my tummy.

Child: Oh, my mom told me "uteruseses" are special, I hope you have a special Uterus.

 My special stomach and uterus hope you are all doing well! And really people, chicken recipes, please.

Life

Life's been throwing us some curve balls lately, but we are determined to throw them back!
The good news is I've been doing mostly great at my diet, except I tried to eat a sandwich (ok really it was an Egg Mcmuffin minus the meat) the other day and it came back up before it had been down ten minutes. Not ready for bread yet!!! It's o hard to break those old habits. I want a Diet Coke so bad I'm dreaming about them, but I haven't had one. Rumor is it hurts REAL bad going down.
I'm down close to 25 pounds. I find myself comparing weights to life events.
" that's what I weighed the day I got pregnant"
" that's what I weighed the day I got married"......I'm waiting to say "now I weigh what my drivers license says I do!"
In other news Erik's been through evaluation after evaluation to give him a diagnosis beyond " low muscle tone". He's has assessments from the Regional Center, as well as the school district that are very clear that he has gross motor delays but nothing cognitive or social. Kaiser on the other hand is convinced that he's very high functioning, yet on the spectrum. I disagree- am I allowed to disagree with Dr's who are assessing him on a couple hours in a clinic, and he's excited and showing off? Or do I go on the assessments of the PT and OT who've been working with him or months?
I refuse to give him a label. So I'm not going to. I'm going to wipe up the tears I shed after that appointment today, put on my big girl panties and give him the support he needs to not only function but to thrive and excel in his life. He's the same little boy today that he was yesterday before any "expert" got his hands on him, so I will continue to treat him the same.
He's my sweet little boy who likes to help Daddy wash the car......we'll take it all, every hard, joyful, tearful day, because we are better for having Erik in our lives.

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Location:Doris Ave,San Jose,United States