Sugar High, Sugar Low

Just before the start of Easter weekend we got word that our mortgage and house closing would be going forward as planned. Now, it's just the underlying sense of unease that all new home-owners tell me is normal; the I-can't-believe-it-until-the-keys-are-in-my-hands feeling. I'll take that over what I felt all last week any day!

On Saturday, I went with my training group for our 5 mile run, which was mapped at 5.25 miles. When I got done I was tired, but I didn't feel like I needed to sit down or that I couldn't go another step. I picked my kids up from childwatch, wrestled with Charlie in the back seat while I changed the world's poopiest diaper and then it was off to the Starbucks drive-thru for my weekly post-run reward. Honestly, the fact that the group runs are stationed near the only drive-thru Starbucks in Central Mass is incredible motivation each week. Before we arrived, H asked if he could have a donut. I told him I'd love to get one for he and Charlie to share. 'But I want one to myself!' Fine. They sell really cute little mini-frosted donuts at Starbucks now, so I told him he could have one of those.

His response? 'Is there more sugar in a big donut, or a little one?' Well, um, the big one most likely. 'Then I want a big one.' Yeah, it's either the little one or nothing. 'Okay, the little one.' That's what I thought.

Before my run, I'd done my weekly weigh-in and realized that since I started running about a month and a half ago, I've lost sixteen pounds. While I haven't been on a diet, per se, my food choices have seemed to change on their own. I don't necessarily want to eat a burger for lunch if I know I'm going to run later in the day, or if I've already run, I remember how hard I had to work to burn the calories I did, so the trade-off no longer looks quite so appealing. Instead of the usual weekend mocha that I may have rewarded myself with, just getting a nice nonfat latte felt pretty good.

Not so for H. Lately, the kid is obsessed with sugar! Easter, Christmas, Valentine's Day and every other sugar-fueled holiday has not helped to end his love affair with saccharine goodness, so this year I asked that the Easter bunny only bring as much candy as the kids could eat in one sitting...I'm done storing the leftovers until time memorial so that they could have candy each night until they were twenty, and because I don't want to have candy in the house all the time.

After they finished their breakfast of peeps and chocolate, we got ready and headed over to a friend's house for a pot-luck Easter brunch. It was so much more enjoyable than sitting in a restaurant, paying an exorbitant amount of money for the tiny bit of food they'd eat before they were 'done' and made you eat with the goal in mind of making a quick exodus.

This time, the kids played in the basement, the adults enjoyed the offerings, and then we all went out for an egg hunt. It's quite possibly the first Easter in NewEngland in the last decade that has been this lovely, but it was seventy-five degrees! We sat in the sun while the kids played and our food settled, then headed back in for a quick dessert. My friend had made the most fun little deserts by dipping a balloon in chocolate, and then popping the balloon to make it look like half an egg. Then you fill it with chocolate mousse and, instead of cherry, each confection was topped with a peep.

By the time we got home, the kids were fast asleep. I had time to submit both posts to Green MomCentral before we felt obliged to wake them, and then it was time for the circus of the night-time routine to begin. We switched Charlie to a 'big boy' bed this weekend (aka the crib rail came down) and the first night went ridiculously well. Last night when I put him to bed, he started messing around, so I reminded him that he needed to lay down or he'd have to be in a baby crib again. He settled immediately and went to sleep...or so we thought.

After about an hour, H went in to join him in slumber only to find that he was waiting for big brother to get the party started. Guess who had to be the party pooper? Of course. So, H in our bed, and Charlie in the pack-n-play, both kids were asleep within about five minutes. But only after J doled out the worst punishment ever...'No Candy For a WEEK!' And just like that, the party was over.

*Photo credits go to Michele of mQn photography. If you're looking for great candid shots of your family, you won't find anyone better, or at a more reasonable price!