{{Drew}} Strength and lots of ~ma for you and yours.

I was 20-30 pounds underweight until I got pregnant at 38. Never thought about it much and ignored the attempts by loved ones to fatten me up. Now I'm 50-60 pounds more than I would like to be. I don't seem to be able to comply with any rules based diet so I have resorted to eating healthy stuff, trying to exercise more, and avoiding the scale. My loved ones gave me more grief for being too thin than they do now. Of course then I would just ignore them while now I would cry.

So much ~ma to Drew and his mom. For healing, equilibrium, no events of any kind until he's back on land and can easily get back to his family, and anything else that ~ma can wish for.

Calli, that is a great epiphany and a great way to live, and you write about it so beautifully.

Buffista Baby F2F report:

Dylan came to visit. Matilda was surprised and intrigued to see him. She shared her toys with him. They had a lot to say. Food was involved. There was slounging and a rousing game of catch. They were pleased to behold each other and there was much glee.

Also enjoyed but not recorded: The 1-2-3-JUMP game with Cashmere, and Dylan's mellow and contented contemplation of Deb.

After he fell asleep, Matilda spent a lot of time elaborately tiptoing through the living room saying "SHHHH! Baby sleeping!" Except when she forgot, and started squealing with excitement over one thing or another. Fortunately, Dylan was too jet-lagged to rouse.

The tail end of the evening was slightly less successful. Dylan woke a few minutes before Jess and Ethan returned, too tired to cry properly but whimpering and snizzling most heart-wrenchingly. He was consolable, Matilda was concerned but not upset, his parents arrived (looking quite stylish) and bundled him up, and all was well until David left to drive them back to their hotel and Matilda realized that DADDY HAD LEFT WITH THAT OTHER BABY.

Cue forty minutes of hideous tantrum: roaring, crying so hard the tears were literally squirting off her face, pounding and kicking on the front door, snarling, "DADDY! DADDY!" in a horrid Exorcist!baby voice, and kicking me when I tried to comfort her (not thrashing, but deliberately, if ineffectually, kicking me in the shin, which earned her a prompt time out). She finally raged herself into a state of exhaustion and eventual coma.

I'm not holding a grudge or anything (I can remember a couple of late-toddler BELOVED PARENT IS GONE! panic meltdowns of my own, and how desolate they felt), but damn, that sucked like a chest wound.

Still, the earlier part of the evening was an unqualified success. And there are videos to come.

I had a dream that I was accused of murder. But it was weird -- within the dream, I knew the whole story, and who saw what and who actually killed the person and why, and why I was being framed, like it was a story I'd read or seen before. And so I kept running around trying to establish alibis at the times when I needed them, the person who needed to say he'd seen me just wouldn't, because it would incriminate him for something else. I woke up shaking.

(And I dislike Twinkies, for the record.)

Me too. Especially since they stopped using lard in the creme formula.

What?

Oreos, too. However, I find that I much prefer the Trader Joe's version of Oreos (Joe-Joes).

I would type more, but I am DEAD from the cuteness of Dylan and Matilda. DEAD.

I would type more, but I am DEAD from the cuteness of Dylan and Matilda. DEAD.

Tell me about it. Those are just killer.

Dammit, I'm going to be 41 in two weeks and my wee ones are well on their way to becoming adolescents-- I refuse to have my ovaries kick me that way.

I realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life on a diet. I'm currently overweight. If I go on a diet I may have a few thinner months here and there, but overall I'll still be overweight.

Rock ON, Calli. This is such a healthy way to live. I am working on getting there myself.

I'll tell you what's made me gain the most weight over the years. Dieting.

Oh, such cutie pics of such cutie Buffista babies.

Calli, that was a wonderful post. I want to print it out and frame it.

Not.enough.coffee.in the world, this morning. Making moar, now.

I was right in my prediction that Dylan and Matilda pictures would be extra deadly cute!

twinkies, I never liked them.

babies!

I eat more on Nutrisystem than I did when I was NOT in a diet. I am now not paying for the food and follwing their guidelines with my own food. In my case, I think it was that I was not getting enough protein, especially early in the day. I now have a fat free yoghurt and a South Beach bar every morning, then a serving of salad and another bar of some sort for lunch, fruit in the afternoon for a snack, then a full dinner and dessert too!

I know I can never eat in what I think of as a "normal" way again and not gain weight. of course my normal includes chocolate every day, lots of carbs and cheese. I can have those as treats but not every day.