Hi! My name is Melissa. I have three kids and a great husband. My oldest just showed me a kindergarten math book and I had no idea how to order the numbers. Ha! Anyway, I am 100+ pounds over where I'd like my weight to be and with my depression it's hard to get out of my own way to actually lose the weight. We also don't have much money so I'll be posting money saving tips that I've found and cheap, easy meals that my kids actually like. Kid One is nearing six, Kid Two is four and Kid Three is 18 months old. They are amazing and drive me crazy. We have a small house and I'm terrible about organizing and cleaning. I have an obsession with Netflix on my tablet which feeds the depression and keeps my house a mess. Depression will also be a frequent topic of the blog, because it's something not fun at all to talk about. My husband is currently employed (thankfully) but is making less than he did when he started at the company seven years ago. So needless to say, he's looking for other employment. He also works part time at the neighborhood mall. I work there as well; we switch off nights over there so we don't have to get a babysitter. We see each other in passing! That's tough but it's worth it to be able to pay our bills right now. I paid the electric bill four days early in May. It was amazing. We used to pay bills according to which one was going to get cut off next. We actually had our water cut off for a weekend. That was fun and incredibly embarrassing. I'm hoping the hubs will get a new job before school starts because I'm not going to work when KOne and KTwo start school.
So I stink at budgeting and food shopping. I do better at shopping some weeks more than others. Aldi and I have a love/hate relationship. I love their prices and quality overall but I have shopping there. Why? I go shopping with all three kids every week. The aisles are so small that it feels like the kids are all over the place. It's not so bad in WalMart or Kroger because the aisles are big but in Aldi, you're crammed in like sardines. (Totally ate those as a kid. Now I wouldn't touch them. Gross!) We have a little garden in pots on our porch. I love seeing them. We're growing peas, tomatoes and jalapenos. It's not much but I'm happy with it. Also, I have a very bad habit of discounting everything I say that's important to me. It drives my husband crazy. I'm grateful he puts up with me and also happens to love me. We've been married for seven years. The card he got me for our anniversary read, "In deepest sympathy.." He's a hoot that one.
On another note, KTwo has a speech disorder called apraxia. She also has generalized muscle weakness. (In my book that's a sign of global dyspraxia.) There were no complications with birth or delivery at all. When she was 18 months old I mentioned to her doctor that her speech had not improved since turning one. He said second kids usually talk six months later than the first. My first was a late talker so unfortunately, I put it out of my mind for a year. I didn't think about it again until we were sitting in Wendy's and I asked her to say the prayer. She said it but she only barely said the first sound of the word. I still remember sitting there. I can't believe I got so caught up with everyday life that I hadn't noticed she wasn't speaking. KOne was talking like crazy at this point and was making up for her. My child was pretty much non-verbal and I had had no idea. I felt and still feel awful. With apraxia, the mind functions normally but when they want to make a word the "lines" get crossed between the brain and the mouth. She knows she speaks differently which makes it harder. Anyway, once I realized there was a problem we got her into therapy and she has made dramatic improvements. She has so much more confidence and really tries with speaking. I'm concerned about her starting pre-k in August. Thankfully it will be at a school with other kids with slight disabilities and she'll have speech therapy there.
Weight? I'm going to go do some super sets to strengthen my back and stomach since my left foot has numb spots on it and my blood work came back normal. I can only think I have some kind of a pinched nerve and since my mother has a very bad back I'm going to go ahead and get as strong as I can. Now if I can stop eating junk and work out. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I need to get out of my own way and lose the weight. Three years of stress eating. Helped me cope but now I can't cope with the weight! How wonderfully Alanis of me.
A couple more things: I am LDS and a huge fan of Doctor Who, Sherlock and MotoGP. I'm still upset about Dovi's move to Ducati! He was becoming a contender and then had to switch. I am glad that I'm seeing Rossi doing well. I started following it when he wasn't doing so hot. Just because I'm religious doesn't mean I think I'm perfect and I'm trying to do better but fail constantly. My faith helps me tremendously and I need to do better in every aspect of my life.
There we go.
