Belly Envy

Greetings Cook Boy Chronicle fans (all five of you ;).  It's been 21 days since my last confession, er, I mean post.  Trust me though, there is a good reason.

Big news on the Mom front.  9 pound baby, 5.8 gallons of amniotic fluid and a 50 pound weight gain (X 3) wreaked havoc on this previously hot little body.  I decided that while I am still somewhat young, I needed to repair the irreversible damage done to my mid-section.  I'm so proud of myself for making this decision and following through on it because far too many people look back and say shoulda, coulda, woulda.  Oh, and there is no way I was going to walk around with a gaping hole in my stomach muscles and a belly that rivaled the Wonderbread factory.  

Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to surgery I go.  (*this is where you may want to cover your eyes if your of the squeamish type - ahem... Corey*)  It was a pretty massive three hour surgery - one hour per baby, I guess.  I have an incision from side-to-side (all skin about an inch above my belly button and below was removed) and three layers of stitches were placed to pull my stomach muscles back together (that were 7 inches apart by the way - no wonder my ribs were rubbing together!)  The stretched and unrecognizable tattoo that previously occupied my stomach is completely gone, all but one tiny corner anyway.  I like to think of that little corner as a sweet reminder of the dough belly that once was.  

Today is 4 weeks since the big day and I'm doing wonderfully!  I haven't regretted the decision for one second, even at the worst of it when I felt like my body was on fire.  Swelling can take three to six months to completely resolve.  When that happens, I promise to post a pic of the beautiful new belly and enviable new belly button.  

A big THANKS to family and friends for chipping in and helping out while I was down for the count.  It wasn't always easy with Mom out of commission for so long, but we all made it through - and now we've got an even happier and more confident Mommy on the backend.

Meet the Sleep Ferry

The Sleep Ferry is the honorary sixth member of our family.  She comes late at night and delivers cute little sleep coupons under the boys pillows when they are quick and cooperative sleepers.  We love seeing their proud little faces every morning when they run into our bedroom with their new coupon in hand.  

Thank you Sleep Ferry for making bed time so easy, most days anyway.

Yesss Ms. Cook

Well, it's official, I am a Sunday School teacher of eight 3-year olds and I couldn't be more excited about it!  Yesterday was the first official day but it was a weird one because there was a keeping the promise of baptism event so all the parents were invited to stay for the hour.  

The best moment of the day happened during the large group time.  There were loads of kids and loads of parents present for the lesson of the day - which happened to be "Everyone is unique."  Their way of visually proving this point was to gather one of the Kindergarten classes of 7 kids up front.  The leader slowly pulled out 7 colorful, uniquely different fish from a big mesh bag.  She asked the children to pass them down until they each had one.  Simple right?  Not so fast.  The entire crowd was watching what kind of fish the leader was going to pull next and didn't notice that the little girl on the end was desperately trying to hang on to 6 very large fish in her tiny little arms.  They were stacked so high you could hardly see her little face.  It was one of the funniest, most innocent child moments the crowd had laid their eyes on!  What a great start to what I am sure is going to be a great year of Sunday School.  

Solid Advice from a 3-Year Old

Joshua: "Mommy, if you ever get naked at Target, the police will come and get you."  Well there goes my plans for tomorrow!

Week One Down

The much anticipated first week of Kindergarten is done!  Only 39 (or something like that) to go!  I was lucky enough to be invited for the first day so Jack and I made a day of it.  We dropped his brothers off at school and raced back home just in time to meet the infamous bus driver.  We weren't taking the bus on this day but I wanted Jack to see him and for him to see Jack - and boy am I glad we did!

We still had a little time to kill before the 10am start so we headed to Caribou for a very grown up beverage.  A coffee for me and a very berry smoothie for Jack.  After an in depth conversation about where bugs go when they die and what they do up there (of which I explained that bugs have their own heaven because they are not invited to the people heaven), we headed to Jack's new home away from home.  He was excited and raring to go!  We made our big debut and the festivities were all coordinated very nicely.  After crafting a Clifford the Big Red Dog project together (see below), Jack and his classmates were escorted off to do something fun while Ms. F talked to us parents about all the boring stuff.  Upon their return, we did a scavenger hunt and visited the playground and lunch room.  We left at Noon feeling very excited - in fact, Jack didn't want to leave at all - I think he would have camped out until the next morning had he had the choice.

That's a good looking Clifford!

It took everything in me to just stand back and watch - he seemed so little.

This slide rocks!

  Next up - Some Mommy/Son bonding.  We made our way to the mall to pick up new school shoes for Jack, went to lunch at a good 'ol fashioned diner, did a little clothes shopping, hit the rides, and most importantly, got Jack's portrait drawn (as you can see above.)  Cute, right?!?  Looks just like him (albeit it does look a tad creepy in photo form.)

Wednesday was the first full day of Kindergarten, which meant the first bus ride home.  The bus ride was really the only aspect Jack was nervous about.  He didn't understand how he was going to find the right bus and get off at the right stop - he seemed to be pretty convinced he'd end up in California.  I assured him there would be helpers and I'd be waiting at the stop but nothing seemed to convince him, he just needed to experience it for himself.  Here comes the bus (btw - gorgeous day, or what?!?)

 And here comes the kindergartner.  The driver had to say his name about 4 times before it occurred to Jack that this was his stop.  He was literally glowing as he approached, and I don't mean from the sun.  It was immediately apparent what a great day he had and boy did he have a lot to share.  He started with his bus buddy - I nice young fella from his class named Malkup.  I said "Malcom?"  Jack: "No, Malkup."  Ok.  Jack and Malkup made a deal with each other that they'd sit together everyday.  How comforting!  By the way, come to find out his bus buddies name is indeed Malcolm. :)  

Jack continued to tell us about his whole day.  Another BIG highlight was the foot long hot dog, with two white packets of ketchup, and the fact that he got to eat it WHOLE!  I've always cut his hotdogs in half the long way so to Jack, this whole hotdog was the unofficial, or maybe official, leap into bigboyhood.  There was nothing he didn't like about his first day of Kindergarten and couldn't wait to go back the next day.