What happened to 2008-2009?

Maybe you've noticed that there is only one post in 2008 and NONE for 2009. Let me explain. In 2008, at the ripe old age of not-quite-forty, we conceived Gabe(the little guy in the picture). We had pretty much surrendered to the idea that three kids were it for us, but God, with the assistance of a great doctor, had other plans. So, most of 2008 I was nauseous or exhausted, and not up to blogging because pregnancy had become very scary to me due to our losses in this area. So, after teaching my kids less than I should have and taking a nap and choking down a little food, I was done.
In 2009, Gabe was born. That's enough to keep anyone busy, but my busy-ness didn't agree with Gabe, so he was diagnosed as "failure to thrive" and caring for him became an all-consuming job. After we got him back on the road to healthy & thriving, it was time to begin school and start planning on how we would manage to sell our house, as we'd outgrown it. That and the holidays polished the year off for us, and here we are. All the kids are fine, and we've just celebrated 5 months in our new home.
I know a lot more happened in those years, but that's all I can write for now.

The battle of the mommy bulge

I'm back at Weight Watchers and learning as I go. Apparently, I can have a few drinks a week AND go out to dinner once and if I do some tracking, still lose weight. I hate this battle, though. It just drags on and on and on, and the end is so far in the distance I can't even imagine it. My big fear is that this is how my kids will remember me: "Mom was always on a diet."

Anyway, I guess like the spiritual life, I just need to persevere, and focus on the here & now, which is the only time I really have, isn't it?

Busy Time

Is there ever a time of year that I won't be busy, I wonder? The onslaught of what needs to be done right now seems neverending. I just opened my calendar to November, and it's strangely blank. I'm pretty sure I've avoided filling in the things that have come up because I don't want to see how overwhelming my schedule is becoming. This year we've really tried to keep the focus on the kids' schooling, so I haven't volunteered to be in charge of anything, and I've kept my daytime commitments down to almost zero. The kids have been making steady progress, but I've not seen the expected decrease in whining. Well, I guess that's the next thing to work on, then, isn't it?

We did make time for Halloween, here's the crew before setting off for trick-or-treating.
From left to right, we have a Medieval assassin, cowgirl, cowboy, and King of the Nine riders from Lord of the Rings. They had a great time!