It finally happened. I was looking at Keri Lynn and thinking, "I wonder if she's taller than me yet."
So we stood heel to heel and Keith compared our heights. . . guess what! . . . She's taller. It's really weird to have a child to look up to. My prayer is that I'll continue to look up to her in other ways as well. She is indeed growing up into a beautiful young woman by the grace of God. I love her so much.
Last week we began the big job of going through moving boxes that have been laying neglected in the basement. Many have been boxed up for over two years when I started packing for our move! And it sure has been fun to unpack.
Kristofer sighed contentedly on Friday, "I finally feel like we're settling in!" He's a homebody like his Daddy, and likes to have familiar things around him. He also is highly sentimental. He's the first one to bring out old family videos. He likes to talk about funny family stories.
So far, we've brought out framed pictures, linens, dress-up clothes, kids' clothes. The little boys have fought each night about who will get to wear a certain pair of pajamas. They're footie pajamas, cut off at the ankle, and for some reason they both think they are the coolest PJs ever! We also unpacked our lighthouse fountain. It gurgles happily on some shelving in the family room.
So, today, after our usual clean-up, we brought up two more boxes. The first box was a cinch -- old school books that went on a shelf for future use.
However, the second much bigger box was a different story. It was stuffed with pictures and memorabilia, mostly mine, dated from high school and beyond. Let it never be said that a mother has any dignity. I heard all of the comments that we women love to here:
"Wow, Mom, you sure used to be pretty!"
"Look how skinny you were!"
"I would NEVER have worn THAT outfit! What were you thinking!" (This from Kathleen, the fashion diva.)
"Who's THAT?!" said in disgust about the guy standing with me in my prom picture.
"I LOVE this picture," says Kylie of one of my pictures taken when I was about her age. She wanted to take it and keep it in her room.
"Here's one to show Keri Lynn," this one of me in braces, "So she can see that she wasn't THAT ugly with braces!"
The continued theme of crooked teeth, "Wow! Your teeth WERE just like mine!" This from Kathleen, who's got the crookedest teeth in the country.
"I love your long hair in this one, Mom. Too bad it's so thin now. Maybe you can wear a wig."
I'm not kidding. I'm not making any of this up! I wish I could remember it all because comments were flying right and left.
And then, there were the cards and letters that Keith and I exchanged while were dating and newly married, all BEFORE kids, when there was time to do such frivolous things! The kids were all digging into the box and going through everything!
I quickly made an announcement, "THESE are private! Not for young eyes! If you see a letter, let me have it PLEASE!" as I silently prayed that I had not written anything too salacious.
I was frankly pretty surprised myself at just how many cards and letters there were. I did most of the writing, Keith not being a novelist like me. But Keith did send a good share of cards and flowers, and he did save the stuff I gave him. I noticed, upon reading a great deal of them today, that I might have sounded a trifle needy! Good grief! We must have been in love, I guess. : )
Kathleen, being highly romantic right now, sighed and handed them over as she sorted. Kristofer, I'm pretty sure, was taking mental notes from the contents of the cards he managed to sneak peaks at. He said, "When I grow up, I think I'll write letters to MY girlfriend!" He's just now starting to admit that he likes a particular girl. He won't say who, being a wise brother of nosy sisters and mother, but at least he's not gagging every time he sees or hears of anything romantic. He's another one who will be taller than me in no time at all.
I finally got all pictures and cards and memorabilia safely repacked in plastic boxes and stored safely in my closet. I would really like to go through and put them in albums. There are some precious memories in there. I realized then that when it came to putting things in albums, I didn't start doing that until we actually had children. We've got wedding and honeymoon pictures in albums, but not much more, and even those need to be redone to a keep the pictures in better condition.
I'll do that in my SPARE time. HA!
Anyway, now that I've typed on and on, I'm going to type some more with my DIET UPDATE, because it's Monday, and that's what I do on Mondays!
First of all, I would like to thank you all for bearing with me in yet another diet endeavor. I've kind of elected all of you as my Diet Coaches and Accountability Partners. Thank you!
I would like to report one more pound lost. That makes a total of 17 pounds. I was hoping for more than one pound since last week, but it was not to be. I am, though, feeling much better with the daily walks. The days are so beautiful right now as we head into spring. I think, though, that I'll need to watch my calories a little more carefully for the pounds to come off faster. At least I'm still going down! My wedding ring is starting to feel looser and I'm wearing clothes one size down! Of course, as yet, I've got a bit of the mushroom effect going with my jeans . . .
In my quest to think more like a thin person, I have another question to put out to all you skinny people out there who may still be reading this far down! What do you do about food cravings? Do you even GET food cravings? What if the cravings are really bad? Like for instance . . . . a hamburger, fries and a coke -- with something sweet at the end -- that usually adds up all together to about 2000 calories in one sitting? This is probably my biggest threat to losing weight. My gluttony when it comes to my favorite food. Hamburger, fries and a coke. Yum. All right, you skinny people, what do you do? Do you succumb and thin eat really lightly for a while? Do you only eat a little bit of the food you crave and then you're fine? Do you ignore the craving all together?
Okay, I guess I'll wrap it up now since the kids really need to get to bed.