Biggest Losers

 Ben has lost 34 pounds since March-- how awesome is that??? I have lost 28 since I had Minnie and really want to take off these last 6 before her birthday-- an arbitrary deadline, to be sure. The very weirdest thing is that I really don't miss eating like a crazy giant.

These pics were taken a year apart:

A few things that have helped me besides having Ben also eating healthy:

1. No alcohol: I don't miss it, and it's easier to make good food choices without it.

2. Chocolate chips: I eat them by the tablespoon, and they are the best sweet treat

3. A bedtime snack: It is so much easier for me to eat reasonable dinners when I know I have a small snack (usually a packet of lower sugar oatmeal with 1tsp of peanut butter and a few raisins) to look forward to after my shower.

4. Drinking a gallon of water every day: who can be hungry with that much water?!

5: TONS of exercise: my walk is Minnie's nap, so I can't miss it, and I love listening to audiobooks while we stroll. My Apple watch has been great to track exercise and motivate me to keep going, too.

What about you? Healthy habits to share?

Big Baby

Minnie is doing SO MANY NEW THINGS all of the sudden.

For example, she is walking with her push toy (It really helped when we moved it downstairs to the carpet. Actually, after MONTHS of complaining that the wifi sucks in Minnie's room while I work on her floor as she played with her toys, I MOVED A BUNCH OF TOYS DOWNSTAIRS and she plays while I sit at the FREAKING TABLE in a CHAIR LIKE AN ADULT.  Talk about an epiphany!)

She is experimenting with FEEDING HERSELF WITH A SPOON!

She can suddenly stand up, and she does it ALL OF THE TIME

Even when it's probably not at all safe

She smiles for all selfies:

AND SHE CAN PICK THE OUTLET COVERS off the outlets.

This morning, I heard her calling mamamamamama, and I found her STANDING UP in her bed!

And then she did this! Crawled to the door and stood up to wave at the boys on their dog walk.

 How is she this big this fast?? I mean, THIS was her ONE YEAR AGO:

Weekend Update

 We had a date night. It was a dream, even though we just went to the restaurant by our house really fast for a late dinner after we put the kids to bed. It has been... a long time since just the two of us went out.

But, I mean, she's worth not getting out much. LOOK AT HOW SWEET SHE IS OMG.

She is also the messiest eater in the universe, even though she can only eat tiny little pieces of food because if I give her normal size pieces, she shoves it all in her moth and chokes.

Lots and lots of sink baths:

Jack and Coop had their first dive meet! (Technically Dorothy is also on the team, but she is still working her way up to five dives)

Jack WON HIS AGE GROUP and got a personal best score. As you can see, he was stoked:

And this guy! At his very first meet! Got second place in his age group! He was so, so, so proud of himself.

WE WERE SO HOT. SO SO SO SO SO HOT.

Ben is not pictured because he was the announcer, something he volunteered to do for all home meets this season. Love it!

Ben and Cooper rounded out the holiday weekend with a baseball tournament, which is the most perfect Father's Day activity I can even think of. HOW CUTE ARE THEY?!?

 

3001 posts?!?!

 THAT LAST POST ABOUT HARRY'S BIRTHDAY WAS THE ONE THAT TOOK ME OVER THE 3,000 MARK.

3000 posts is A LOT of over sharing, and I know from my blog stats that some people have been here for every single one of them. Something that KILLS me when I look at my first few blog posts (besides the weird voice where I tried to write as if I were Harry) is the ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME comments from my grandma. How hip was she finding my weblog? I miss her so much. (And my grandpa who always used to read and was so confused when I posted my Jack pregnancy announcement because he thought he was back to the blog's first page).

Harry Times turns 15 on the 23rd, and I feel like I should mark the occasion somehow. Ideas?

Thanks for reading, and here's a celebratory pic of Ben and me after we CLOSED ON OUR CONDO THANK GOD.

HARRY IS 15 (FIFTEEN)! WHAT?

 

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THAT BABY HARRY IS FIFTEEN?????? I cannot.

CAN. NOT.

He had a lovely, low key birthday, starting with a breakfast party:

And presents!

(Dorothy loves a good breakfast party)

15 presents, because, you know FIFTEEN.

Blogger uploaded in random order. I snapped this pic before I went to bed. I love setting up the breakfast part on birthday eve,

We started a new tradition where I don't cook birthday breakfast, but I will order whatever the birthday kid wants. Harry wanted take and bake croissants from Pasture and Plenty, an excellent choice.

He is having a birthday party in our actual basement tomorrow night because he and Jack and some fiends are FULLY VAXXED TOMORROW! And that is also something to celebrate.

Stackable Rings and Other Memory Jewelry

 Recently, a dear friend of mine lost her dog who has been her companion of many years. Immediately, a group of friends sprang into action, trying to decide how we could help her through a difficult time. Since we are all college friends who live far apart from each other, it's hard to physically be present in times of need. One friend was able to drive in and take photos to commemorate the dog his last weekend, but the rest of us wanted to express our support with a gift of some kind. Right away, we thought about memory jewelry, and we were shocked to see just how many options exist.

For years, I have sort of poo-pooed sentimental jewelry, thinking, maybe, that it is too "mom-like," but 43 must be the age that mom-like stops being a bad thing because I have been thinking out using memory jewelry for myself as well, as a way to have a wearable reminder of all of these kids, besides the stretch marks. (J/K-- I ACTUALLY HAVE NO STRETCH MARKS, but my tummy is jello, so there's that).

Anyway, into the rabbit hole I went.

In terms of non-mom mom jewelry, these stackable rings from AU-Rate are the clear winner.

I think my favorite thing would be to do 5 of these:

But all of the stacking rings are so cute that 5 different rose gold rings in a stack would be good, too.

To commemorate a lost pet OR to really get literal about the mom jewelry thing, Lisa Leonard stackable rings are clutch.

Not going to lie, I really love these in white gold:

I also really dig the look of these necklaces, even though it's hard for me to get behind the letter necklace trend. If I had to choose, I would go with Tiny Tags

I guess whatever I choose needs to be tiny since I need to wear ALMOST A HALF DOZEN OF THEM, and it's not like I could just leave one kid off. SO I guess the old tip about getting dressed and removing a piece of jewelry doesn't apply.

After getting sucked down an Etsy vortex of jewelry made from pet cremains, we decided our friend should pick out her own memory jewelry to remember her sweet companion because the options are limitless. Still, I think memory jewelry-- particularly stackable rings-- is a terrific way to be sentimental and mom-like, but still retain a sense of your own style.

This post is part of a partnership between Harry Times and Responsival. 

Dance recital day!

 We kept Dorothy home in Zoom dance school until mid-April, and ever since she went back to the studio, she has been the happiest kid in the world. Today was her dance recital, and we were so, so proud of her. She made so much progress, especially since she got off Zoom.

The recital was outdoors, and Dorothy was the only kid in a mask, which I thought was nuts. But I let her take it off because it was 60,000 degrees outside, and her costumes both had jackets.

Ben stayed home with Minnie, and the boys and I sat on the face of the sun to watch. (And fight-- they fought SO MUCH)

Speaking of dancing! Minnie is in love with Lizzo's "Good as Hell" and dances every time she hears it. I took a short video, but these pics are hilarious: