Update and Happy Lent!

So I got a call from my brother Steve today who claimed that his wife actually reads my blog posts and she wants me to post more because aparently they're funny. So this is for you Andra!

I would like to update you since the last post, but since I have absolutely no memories, that will be difficult. A funny thing happens as you have more children. Or maybe it's just age. I'm not sure. But you start to lose you memory. It may also be sleep depravation, or my doctor claims it's hormones. Either way, you start to lose it. My children named my baby "Marbles" as in "Mommy lost her marbles when Lisa was born, so now Lisa is her marbles." I think it might be funny, or it might be an insult. Don't know. No neurons left to think with.

The baby did start sleeping through the night (defined as only having to wake up once or twice per night and give her a bottle so she could feed herself) at about 6 months, which is good for one of my kids. Now that she's nine months tomorrow, she's actually starting to actually sleep (as in not wake up for feedings) from about 11 PM to 7 AM, and then she'll either go back to sleep or play in her crib for a few more hours.

So I'm working on trying to become a human again. My dear friend Gabe who unfortunately for him has to live next door to us is a very devout Catholic, and he got me and Liz to do Lent with him this year. The bad part was, he told us to ask God what we should do or give up for the 40 days. Don't ever do that. We thought we could get away with giving up chocolate for the 40 days (difficult, but do-able). But no. Poor Liz was told to not watch movies (just cut off her right arm, why don't ya?) and I was told to put my life back together again.

For the first two weeks, I had to eat 6 times a day, drink 8 glasses of water, take a vitamin, say my prayers, and read my scriptures. The six small meals a day was hard, as I was used to eating a light lunch somewhere between noon and four PM, followed by a light dinner, anywhere from 7 to 10 PM. So actually learning to eat again was hard. I did it as a "practice" for two weeks before Ash Wednesday, and then I did it for two weeks for "Real" during the last part of February. Difficult, but by the end of the month I was starting to get a hang of it.

Then March came. I had to go print another calendar (I have a calendar with check off boxes so I can mark off what I did. Not a great reward, but it works). I felt like I was supposed to add something, so I prayed about it. Word to the wise: don't ask! So I was told that I was doing so well, that I should add to it. So I had to add take calcium, exercise, pray three times a day, do two loads of laundry and two loads of dishes, make my bed, and oh yea, I can put boxes on there so I get credit for changing Lisa and Stephanie (who is still not potty trained and I'm not even going to deal with it until I get some semblance of a life back). I also had to add boxes for when to get up and when to go to bed, and I have to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier each week. So now I have a pretty calendar posted on the fridge that is full of boxes! It's been a tough week. Darn Catholics. Word to the wise: stay away from Catholic friends during the months of February/March and if they do hit you up to do Lent, don't pray about what you should give up!