Mach 1 Mud Run

Johnny and I completed the Mach 1 Mud Run in Corona a few weeks ago with my sister Jeanine and her husband Kevin. It was so much fun. I am not a great runner so we walked a lot which I'm sure drove Kevin bonkers, but it was a good time and I'm glad we did it together. Now I need to train so I can run at the mud run!

Garrett's New Obsessions

When we are home I spend all of my time dealing with Garrett's new obsessions. He likes to climb on the table or attempt to go out the window,

dump the garbage (hence why we keep it up on the table now),
try to climb over the baby gate to fall to his death,

play in the toilet, or empty my cooking supply drawer. 
Busy, busy, busy constantly. He even unplugged the night light from the charger somehow and zapped himself sucking on the end.

All work and no play makes Melody a dull mommy!

Johnny is working away from home every week now. Its hard feeling like a single mother 24/7, but I am getting better at it.

Here are a few things I have changed that have helped...

I rarely cook anymore. I don't eat much and neither do the boys it seams so I stopped stressing about it. I make a family meal on Sundays which we eat leftovers from multiple times each week. We also have lots of yogurt, string cheese, tuna, eggs, taco salad, pancakes, and more often than not lunch meat with crackers. Fresh fruit is a must. I figure its easy, cheap, and quick. At least its not french fries and hot dogs constantly, right? Its a running joke with my sister and friends that whenever we pack a lunch to go to the zoo or museum I bring tuna salad and crackers. Less dishes for me to hand wash every night too. I bought a big package of paper plates and plastic forks. I will work harder to save the planet when Johnny is home and I have a dishwasher.

Wesley has been fighting me every nap and bed time about putting his head on his pillow and laying down. I finally took the pillow away. Problem solved. He also yells "akid" about everything. I'm assuming he thinks its a naughty word. I have decided not to care and ignore it for now. 

We started our chore/star chart again. Bingo. Daniel and Jaxon have both been trying to earn stars the last few days and its like they are different kids. Daniel even helped Jaxon read during scripture reading time last night. Made my heart melt. 

We get out of the trailer. We go to the park, pool, museum, science center, every zoo within a two hour drive, restaurant play areas, my parent's house, my sister's house, the beach, etc. Here is my documentation of such places so this post is not so boring...

By the time we leave to come home they are exhausted and I get to have some quiet time.  

Last week I might have overdone it with them, but hey after learning to boogie board and eating smores around a beach bonfire they slept until 7:30 Sunday morning which was literally a little piece of heaven on earth. Usually they are up by 6am. 

A big change that has also helped is to stop packing. I don't pack my bags to spend the night anywhere. I just throw the bathroom bag in the car on top of my laundry baskets and take off. I wash clothes where ever I can (mostly at my various family member's homes). Most of the pictures I take show my kids in the same clothes all the time but it saves my sanity. I hate coin laundry!!!

I have started to listen to The Garden by Michael McLean regularly. Its a musical allegory of the Garden of Eden when Christ suffered the Atonement. My boys ask questions about it and its nice to explain the Atonement to them based on the music they hear while we drive. They like to listen to the songs Satan (or the snake in the grass as is the character in the musical) is singing. Go figure. Boys! I also read an article by David Bednar in the April Ensign Magazine called The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality. I had met with the Stake President to renew my temple recommend and he counseled me that I was struggling because I needed to let the Atonement work in my life. He was referring to the "strengthening and enabling" power referred to in this talk. For a while I have felt overwhelmed. I have beat myself up thinking that if I had planned better to spread out my kids or not had so many I would be a better mother having more time for each individually. Two of the four were not planned. Maybe we got ourselves into this difficult situation by being foolish, right? I would go to bed overwhelmed, frustrated, angry, and wonder if I had even told my boys how much I love them that day. I believe the Lord knows me and what I am capable of, but I was feeling so abandoned in my struggles. I was forgetting to lay my troubles at His feet and truly believe he would make me capable of meeting the needs of my children. I'm doing better now, far from perfect, but better. I think we are at least moving in the right direction. Baby steps.

If anyone has any other grand ideas I should try please let me know. I obviously need all the help I can get! 

The "Shorts of Shame"

Being a mom of 4 boys requires that I carry extra clothing everywhere we go for emergency purposes. You know stuff like blow outs, pee pee pants, spills, slides after a rain storm, spontaneous runs through sprinklers, etc. etc. etc. A wonderful lady at my mom's work sends me bags of left over clothes from her boys. Most of the stuff is amazing. Other stuff is just not my style. I adore her and the fact that she sends me stuff on a regular basis, but one item in particular has become legendary. They are ugly shiny blue workout shorts and I dubbed them "the shorts of shame." I take them everywhere and my boys love them. They fit every single one of my boys almost perfectly...kind of like in the traveling pants movie. They are silky smooth and comfortable. I even loan them out to other mom's who may have need. They are so ugly I am guaranteed to get them back without having to ask.

Before & After

I finally took the time to figure out how to import the pictures from my phone all at once. While importing them I realized why people stare at me now. I know I have been losing weight, 90 pounds in 4 1/2 months to be exact, but my family keeps telling me how different my face looks. Here is 90 pounds of progress seen just in my face. It is cute to see Garrett grow in these pictures too!

 October (almost at my largest ever).

I look more like my sister Jeanine now. 60 pounds to go!

There & Back Again...sort of...

This past month has been a frustrating whirl wind. Johnny was working in Palm Springs (two hours E of where we are now in Ontario, CA) then he was sent to Oxnard (two hours NW). Summer by the beach in Oxnard sound tempting? Yes! So we planned to move. We would save ourselves the extreme cost of Johnny living in a hotel and gas expenses plus get to be practically right on the beach. We even reserved a spot. The day before we moved Johnny was told he would be there one more week then be sent to Temecula (an hour S of where we are now). Go figure. Because we were moving I cancelled Daniel and Jaxon's summer school enrollment so other kids on the waiting list could attend...now we are out of luck! Registration for most of the activities I would have normally put them in has already past. Little League ended (thank goodness since one of the other mom's on the team hates me. We had "words" and our confrontation ended in a call to the Board President, the other mom was reprimanded, and I called CPS on her). Now what do I do with my kids all summer? So far we are rotating trips to swim, the LA Zoo, multiple Children's Museums, the Science Centers, the beach, movies, and lots of parks. Its hard! I'm tired. 

This was Daniel at the Zoo. He says his favorite animal is now the Rhino because they look alike! haha

My sister Diana brought her daughter June and our nephew Toby to the Zoo with us. It was so much fun to have all the cousins together.

Diana is going to kill me for posting this picture but she looks so good for being prego with twins. All the kids were swarming around her until a little girl arrived to order her away stating "get off my hippo."

I love it when Garrett sleeps in the carrier while we are on the go! He is so adorable. When he is awake all he wants to do is walk. My little toe head! On a super positive note I have lost 81 POUNDS in under 4 months. Don't worry I will post full body pictures after our 5K Mud Run on Saturday so you can see the full effect! I had no idea I carried so much weight on my back and thighs...that's where I notice the most difference. People tend to stare at me now. My mom says its because the shape of my face is changing. My hair is falling out in handfuls but I am told this is normal, that it will happen from usually 3-6 months post op, then will grow back. Apparently it is not supposed to be enough for anyone but me (and whoever showers after me) to notice! If you do notice, please lie to me. I'd appreciate it. Thanks so much!

I don't sleep well with Johnny gone. I stay up too late and my kids are up too early. The purpose of living in this trailer was so we could be together. Somehow he still ended up in a hotel during the week and I ended up sleeping with a watermelon. I tried to leave the watermelon on the couch until I was ready to slice it open but Wesley found great joy rolling it off onto the floor. I chucked it up onto my bed, forgot about it, then turned over in the middle of the night thinking I had a bald headed scary person invading my bed. Once I realized it was only the watermelon it was somehow comforting (in a deranged freakish kind of way) to have something next to me. 

My parents came to visit last weekend. The kids loved playing with them at the park. Garrett especially loved smacking my dad's bald head and trying to give him open mouth kisses. So cute to see him with my dad. Maybe my dad's bald head is why I don't mind sleeping next to a watermelon!!?? haha