She went to bed at 9:00, got up at 12:45, refused to settle back down in spite of me pulling out all the stops with all the tricks I know about how to soothe babies in the middle of the night (dry diaper, warm bottle, rocking, walking, singing, allowing a bit of fussing -- but not so much as to wake her sister!, more walking, more swaying, not interacting, finding darkest corners of the house to reduce stimuli...) All to no avail: she was ready to party!
So at 2:00 I gave up and carried her downstairs to the TV room, where I could close the door, and allowed her to toddle around, jabber away, and give the remotes a good going over while I sat dazed and exhausted, not daring to actually turn the TV on and stimulate her further! I noticed a few yawns at about 3:30 and she finally lay on the floor and feel asleep. At that point I decided to let sleeping babies lie.
So, I tried to find comfort lying down on the love seat, but mostly kept focusing on my sore kinked neck and cramped legs and the tick, tick, tick of the clock on the wall. So here I sit with baby at my feet, wondering when her 6-year-old sister will be up and ready for those promised blueberry pancakes. Soon, no doubt.
Which brings me to ruminating about my waistline. Of course I've been scrolling through late night posts on Facebook and happened upon a sponsored ad from a local women's clothing store. Here's what I saw:
Breathe Life into Your Wardrobe with a Fabulous Belt
I thought about my wardrobe, consisting almost exclusively of yoga pants and hoodies these days, when Granny Nanny care takes up 30 hours a week, my yoga classes about 3-9 hours a week, then writing, housework, errands, and coffee with friends thrown in. In the evenings Hub and I relax in what we jokingly call our "nursing home clothes" -- basically "jammie pants" and fleece pullovers. Since I quit working and going to church, I see that my wardrobe has taken a turn to the ultra-casual. No need for a belt.
But even when I used to actually get dressed, belts were never my friend. For one thing, take a look at the waistline in the graphic above. I've never, ever had that waistline. Even in my 20s when I weighed about 120 pounds, I carried any excess weight right about where that belt sits. And now, at 65 and fighting to nudge the scale below 140, one side profile look in the mirror shows EXACTLY where those extra pounds have settled. Right at the buckle. Trying to reign that mess in just accentuates my "problem area".
A belt may breathe life into some skinny lady's wardrobe, but as for me, I just want to breathe.
And sleep.
At least, that's the view from here...©
