Oh, I'm Not Pregnant, that's Voodoo Doughnut Belly - So Stop Rubbing It, Please

(Yeah, baby, we killed those stairs today! 60 flights = 1200 stairs)

Oy vey. What a massive food extravaganza weekend that was! I am such a food addict. I took the kids (and babysitter) to Albany, Oregon for the hot air balloon festival (fun!!) and two day trips to the Oregon coast. While we were there, we got to spend an evening with my good friend Kim and her family.

We stopped in Portland at Voodoo Doughnut and I bought myself two maple bars with bacon. Granted, I worked on them all weekend and didn't finish them, but I put a pretty good dent in them. From there, it was pretty much a food free-for-all and the scale reflected the damage this weekend. Plus, I'm two days out from my period (this is *not* TMI, remember, I'm learning to track my body's signals after 10 years with the Mirena IUD) so I'm bloated up a bit. And I'm emotional. I almost wonder if it would be better to have that IUD back - was I just less emotional all month, instead of being extra-emotional for a few days a couple times a month??

Anyway. I look like I have a Buddha-belly today. I'm chalking this up to bloating. I think I am tired of being a girl, all hormone-y and such.

On to happier things! The weekend was a blast. We stayed two nights in Albany and paired that with two day trips to the coast: Lincoln City and Seaside, Oregon. A smarter planner would have just booked the second night's hotel on the coast, but that's not me. It all worked out well in the end. The weather was glorious, the balloons are wonderful, the kids had a great time. I financially devastated myself until the next pay day, but we'll survive. X has the kids the next two weekends, so that takes some pressure off me. No, it does not take much to financially devastate me: $300 in car repairs and a two-night road trip for five is my upper limit.

For five. Did I mention our nanny came with us? Kim was surprised to learn that our nanny has been living with us since shortly after we moved into the new place. I figure I blog every little thought that enters my head, and what I don't blog, I tell Kim directly! It makes me sound very upper-crust to say we have a live-in nanny, but I assure you this is not the case. She would also agree with that assessment, haha.

Bri is eighteen and has worked for me for over a year now. Her parents live out of town and she was bouncing around unsatisfactorily in a couple of unhappy roommate situations. So when we moved into the bigger house, it was becoming apparent that I should either offer her a stable home life or prepare myself for the possibility that she'd move out of town to her mom's. I offered to let her live with us, and she happily accepted.

Family portrait. Alli, 12; Reid, 6; Blake, 10; Bri, Me

She's a good kid, and a low-maintenance kid, but yes, sometimes it does feel like I added a fourth child to my care. Like our family vacation! Bri was interested when I told her my plans for a long weekend away with the kids, and while I would have expected her to relish the house to herself for the weekend...she jumped at the chance to join us. So we all packed into my little sedan and then shared a single hotel room for the weekend.

It was a mini-vacation, yes, but not exactly a *relaxing* mini-vacation, haha. Crowded. My littlest is a real stinkin' handful, I don't mind saying. I am a yelling shrew of a mother and have sworn that child will never have sugar ever again in his lifetime. Argh!!

But we had a great time. And it was a blessed, sweet relief to come back to work today. And post-WLS me got to enjoy playing "chicken" in the pool with my 10-year-old on my shoulders, and I now have the crippled neck to prove it!

My mini-me and me.