Firsts

E. had a new first this past weekend (for St. Louis at least!). One of his new friends—R.—came to our house for a sleep over. (I tried to capture a photo the morning after but one of the boys refused to look at the camera ... he may be destined for a life of fame, fortune, and being chased by the paparazzi!) We had pizza and brownies and movies, but all they really wanted to do was play with Hot Wheels. Yeah, the whole time. Kung Fu Panda? No, thanks. Peter Pan? No, thanks. Not that I minded that they didn't want to watch a video; I just found it very, very odd. We did play four or five hands of UNO with the boys (E. got UNO Spin for Christmas), so that was a good change of pace from the cars zooming around. We are going to try and have another sleep over again soon. This time complete with a tent and sleeping bags set up in the living room. That was originally on the agenda, but we couldn't get to our camping gear amidst the vast amount of Christmas decor standing in our way that still needs to make its way back into hibernation. I suppose it all worked out to my personal benefit though ... putting away Hot Wheels is much easier than a tent!

S. is about to have a "first" of her own as well. I am finally breaking down and taking her to a salon to get her first haircut. She still isn't too enthused about the cute little pigtails or headbands she gets to wear, and she is still eating her glittery barrettes, which all means that she walks around the house looking like Cousin It most of the time (see glamourous photo, left). Be on the lookout for future photos of her transformation and new ability to actually see!

Only 17 more to go!
I had my 6-wk checkup at the OB this morning. It was surprisingly uneventful; I was in the examination room less than 10 minutes. They didn't even weigh me, and I had been holding off at home just for an official reading at this momentous event! So, I did the awful deed on our own scale. I was quite surprised at the outcome, especially considering that I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's holiday fare and ate approximately 31 pounds of chocolate during the month of December alone (I at least had a pound a day ... most of that in the form of fudge!). And that is on top of gaining 45–50 pounds during the pregnancy. Yes, 2008 was my "fattest" year ever. So my new goal of getting back to pre-birth weight began today and it is going to take some serious detox of my system. To start, I have decided to eradicate all of the chocolate from the house by eating it all—today. (Ever done that before? I have, and I can definitely see where this is heading.) I guess the effort for weight loss will have to officially start tomorrow instead!

My so-called social life
We have a really busy weekend coming up and I am trying to work extra hours so that I can participate in all of the happenings. A couple of friends and I are planning on doing something fun together Friday night and I really want to go. The difficulty is that I work until 9:30 pm on Friday nights. So my task for this week is to try to work extra time every day so that I could accrue enough hours to be off by 6:00 pm on Friday. How am I doing so far? Well, I am actually behind where I should normally be because of my OB appointment this morning. Sigh. However, I am still determined to try and make it! (How often do I get to get out of the house without the kids because of a pre-planned event like this?!? I won't answer that question—it is quite pathetic!)