Closer, Progress, and Chuck E. Cheese

I know I said today was going to be a Sara's Favorite Things post but I'm over it. I don't know what my favorite things are anymore. I mean, my bed. Chocolate. Water. Books. There you go.

I wanted to give you a weight loss update, though! So I weighed myself on Friday and I'm down to...

204! I'm pretty excited. I'm so close to being under 200 and I just want to get there already. I've really cut down on junk food and soda, so I'm sure a lot of this is from that. Also, I have almost no appetite. Ever. So I'm trying to stick to the "eat when you're hungry" and that seems to be going OK. Next week though I get my labs done for that weight loss doctor, and apparently an entire pile of paperwork to complete before my actual appointment which is December 13. I'm totally nervous for it, so that's weird.

Last week I posted about my depression making a strong comeback and a few people suggested I find something I can do at home that relieves stress. Which is totally reasonable.

So I decided I would start wrapping Christmas presents.

As you can see, there is no order to my top secret closet and I really wish this was a little wider because to get yourself in here is a nightmare. Needless to say, this just made it worse so even though I got five presents wrapped, I fell in here once and since added a few more boxes. So that was a bust.

But I did leave the house this weekend and went to see my brother, sister in law, and my niece and nephew. My niece was turning five and we were going to her birthday party. Which, I shouldn't have told Penelope and Lucy about until the day we left because they LOVE their cousins and asked me EVERY SINGLE DAY multiple times when we were leaving. Rookie move, mom.

Throwback to Adriana being just a few days old and I got to snuggle her for two hours.  

Her party was at Chuck E. Cheese and Penelope and Lucy went to one of these last year for Adriana's party so they were SO excited to go again. The only game I like to play is Skee-Ball because I'm super good at it, but it was more fun because I ended up on a broken machine that wouldn't stop giving me balls to roll. I got to play like 20 games in a row and spend no tickets. Needless to say, Penelope and Lucy cashed out and bought a ton of candy. Yay.

A big hit was the dance pad. Fortunately, the money I spent in dance classes for Penelope and Lucy is well spent because they went to town on it. 

I completely love that these three are so close in age and get to grow up together. I didn't have cousins growing up, I'm a lot older than all of them, but Olivia and Jackson only have Adriana and Mason as cousins, but they still like to hang out with them. 

Lucy was IN LOVE with Chuck. Penelope mostly was into feeling his hand to see if it's furry. 

Oh, and the edible design on the cake was new for Lucy, who wouldn't turn down food ever, so she kept showing it to us. 

I finally got an updated photo of my brother and I. It's so weird how old we look. I realize we ARE older, but I always think of us as 20somethings.

I mean... this is like 2009 sometime. Ooh.. 10 year challenge! HAHA! I didn't even realize that. But this was when we went to Florida. I don't really remember most of that trip. Huh. Weird.

Anyways. 

We played pretty much every game there was and the kids all had a really good time. I love that picture because neither girl was playing anything but they both thought they were going so fast. HA!

So after the party we went back to their house and I've kind of become crafty Aunt Sara. Every time Adriana comes up here to visit, I've always had a cool craft for the kids to do. I like doing it and sure enough, as soon as we got to their house Adriana asked if I had any things to do. I definitely did. 

I should have taken a picture of the kids with their finished ornaments but I completely forgot. They ended up making three different ornaments which were all cute and killed about an hour. Then I had brought books and I read for a little while to them. 

I didn't get many pictures of Mason this time but I managed to get a quick one of Mason and Jackson!

At bedtime I told the girls I would slumber party with them in the basement last time. So we got everyone set up. 

Little girls on the floor next to each other, 

big kids on the recliners, me on the couch, and Matt on the floor by the outlet for his phone. It didn't last long because Penelope was crabby so she snuggled with Matt. It was kind of sweet because I was up a lot and one of the times I saw Adriana sitting up and Lucy scooting over and Adriana was saying, "You can hold my hand, Lucy." and sure enough- they held hands. It was pretty cute.

Our drive home was long, but totally worth it. I'm glad we got to see them. I think the next get together is probably around Christmas. No plans are in stone yet but I better start looking for some winter crafts so I'm ready!

I'm an auntie. First time EVER.

Way back in May when my brother told me that he was not only getting married this summer but that he'd be a daddy in November, I thought for SURE he was kidding. Not because I didn't want those things for him, but because he told me for years he didn't want kids at all. And Matt's sister doesn't want kids and his brother maybe does but hasn't met a good girl yet, so I had resigned myself to never having any nieces or nephews to spoil and love. 

But then Travis was getting married and having a baby. Well, Krystle was. I cried at their small wedding because he's my baby brother, you know? I was beyond ecstatic the entire time Krystle was pregnant and totally got to give them a baby shower. I bought tons of cute girl outfits and toys, and having her pregnant really helped me get through my miscarriage earlier this year. I figured at least one of us would have a baby, and if it isn't me, that's OK because I could still love this baby too. 

Then as it turned out, I got pregnant again, and I won't lie, I feel like I can't be super excited because I don't want to steal their thunder. They are first time parents and they should be getting showered with cute and adorable baby things, attention, and just tons of support and love. I never wanted to be that annoying sister and sister in law trying to outshine, and I just want to be 100% supportive. 

Because I get it. Being a first time parent is hard. It's not hard when you are surrounded by family who are helping you and making you feel like it's totally OK that your baby is crying because that's what babies do. They get all cute, then they cry. And that's my goal- I just want to be here without being overbearing. 

But dammit if I wasn't on the damn EDGE the day I knew Krystle was being induced. I think I only texted my brother three or four times. I almost did at least 50 but I thought no way- I would drive him crazy. But no joking, when he told my mom and I to come up to the hospital around 4:30 p.m., I got so excited and I was so thrilled and humbled he wanted us there. I totally wanted to be there but no way in hell was I going to ask. We drove there super quickly, we got semi-lost in the hospital and got there thinking it would be any minute and no. No, it wasn't any minute. 

In fact, Adriana wouldn't be born until 6:13 a.m. the next day. And you know what? That was OK. Because having had two kids of my own, I never got to see it from the other side of the bed. And it was a pretty amazing experience for me, especially when I tried to mentally take notes knowing I'd be doing this very same thing again in May. And dammit if Krystle wasn't a damn trooper, because she was. You never know how you'll be in labor until you're there and she did amazing. I can't even tell you how amazing. This girl pushed for five hours. She never gave up, she just did it. And Travis was literally the best coach. So while I'm watching life be brought into this world, and I'm so proud of her, and I'm tearing up because my brother is being an amazing dad already, I look to my mom and she's tearing up because I can't even imagine what's going through her head, and it was just amazing. I see Krystle's mom tearing up, and her dad is just being a great coach too, and honestly? I don't think a baby could possibly be brought into a room full of any more love. I really don't. And she was just the sweetest little thing. 

But shortly after she was born, mom and I left. We had all been up for well over 24 hours, we were all exhausted, but I figured I'd come back to snuggle Adriana the next day and let the new mom and dad get their wits about them. 

Me and my niece, Adriana, one day old. 

Can I just tell you that holding that baby for two hours made my uterus hurt? I had cramping, I felt movement, I think Baby Strand was jealous. I told Matt as we were leaving that if I wasn't already pregnant, I would have been the next day because if holding an adorable baby doesn't give you baby fever, you are dead inside. Plus, she clearly smiled at me. She clearly loves me. 

But they've been busy. Adriana is a week old now and I got to see her before Travis and Krystle went back home. I hope to see them before Christmas. Maybe I can sneak a weekend down there to get a baby fix and let them go on a lunch date or something. 

Visiting Auntie Sara

Matt took this picture. Can I just say she has a perfect baby butt? Totally fits in the palm of your hand. 

 She woke up as they were leaving, after she had been fed and changed (I got to change a diaper! It was kind of adorable.) so I had to get this picture of her eyes open. Such an adorable baby. After they left, Matt said he was worried I wouldn't hand her over, ha! But I did because Krystle is a natural mom and Travis is totally smitten with his little girl. I have no doubt they will do a great job. I can't wait to see her grow up and do great things.