Can't Believe It's Only Been A Week!

Wow has it been crazy around here! Lots of stuff going on, school and kids and laundry and all that jazz. Gabe has now been sleeping by himself for 3 weeks! And in that time, he's only come in and tried to sleep in our room twice! Talk about a milestone, and about time too. His disposition has gotten so much better since he started sleeping more. He's calmer and easier to redirect towards another activity. Not that it works all the time, but hey its a start.
The other kids are doing well, and we had a great visit to the Library on Friday. Gabe has been very interested in Harry Potter, as has Caleb, so we checked out a couple of the books and movies.
Things have been running smoothly around here, and going well with Mike and I. Although, right now he has a cold and is home from work. He surprised everyone at home and at work when he shaved his head Friday night. We went to his mom's for dinner, and she was less than enthusiastic about his hair cut. She used his FULL name. And then she looked at me and said, "You helped him didn't you?" I wasn't sticking around for any more of that conversation, so I hightailed it to the living room to hide from her.
We also cut and dyed mine last week, turned out well, a nice burgundy color that looks reddish or purplish depending on the light.
I'm still figuring out the new computer, trying to figure out how I can add a new profile pic, and try out my new webcam. It's easy enough on Facebook and Myspace, but it's set up different on here.

As far as life goes, we are adjusting as a family to having 2 extra people here. Adrian has been a handful, and has been hitting and yelling, but I figure that's because he's getting used to the changes around him. Jane also got her due date, May 15, which is the day before Adrian's 3rd birthday. The question now is will she go early or late?

Changes Around Here

Well things are going well, and amazingly there have been very few bumps lately. I've been trying to lose some weight for the last couple of months and I'm proud to say that its finally happening. I'm actually able to fit in a sports bra, which I haven't been able to do for quite a while. You see, when you go from a 48 to a 44, things suddenly fit. Like all those shirts I bought last year on sale, the ones I said I'd wear when I lost some boob. Now I can actually try and do that!
And, I'm actually wearing makeup! I haven't bought makeup in at least 4 years, and probably worn it only once or twice in that time period. Well, I bit the bullet and actually forked out the cash to buy some, and have been actually WEARING it! Totally amazes the hubby, and has gotten me more than a few looks from a lot of people.
And I also cut my hair. I've had long hair since before hubby and I got together. When we first started seeing each other it was all the way to my butt. It's usually stayed in the mid-back range in the last 12 years. Not anymore! It's now about shoulder length, maybe a little shorter. And tomorrow, we're coloring the gray that I started to notice yesterday. Hows that for change? I've lost about 2 sizes in the last few months. Not a lot for some people, but when you consider that I've struggled with my weight since my oldest was a baby, it's a big deal to me. I'm aiming for a size 20 by January. That's not a ton of weight loss, because I'm a 22-24 right now, but it's hard for me. That's been at the root of a lot of my problems for a long time. I'm not comfortable in my body, so its hard for me to think that anyone else finds me attractive, including my hubby. I'm finally to the point where I'm taking care of ME for a change instead of just hiding and trying not to be noticed. I normally am always home with the kids, I don't go out places, except for shopping which we do as a family. But that's slowly changing too! I've actually left the house alone a few times in the last month or so, and had FUN! Weird for me, because I always feel like people are staring at me, making fat girl jokes or something.
The best part of all of this is that hubby has told me that he's proud of what I'm doing, and that he likes the changes. It's taken a lot to even ask him how he felt, because of how low my self esteem has been for a long time. I'm not agoraphobic, but I hate being out in public. So it takes some doing for me to WANT to leave the house by myself, without using him or the kids as my shield from people's eyes.
For the longest time, I've been living vicariously through the blogs I read. I live through some of the experiences that I read others doing. I'm finally living myself, instead of wishing or thinking about it.
As a good friend of mine said: "About damn time!"

Long Weekend

Spent a busy weekend with the kids and friends. Went trick or treating with the kids, but James decided that he wanted to stay home and play video games with dad. So Jane and I took the others out and had a fairly decent time.
The kids got plenty of loot, and had a blast in the process. In fact, the boys keep putting their costumes on and running around playing ninja's.

I've had a lot on my mind the last few weeks, which has made keeping the blog up and running a bit of a difficulty. So many things that I want to post and the words just don't work. I've been trying to get all the things in my head down on paper or on here, but so far it's just not happening.