Ugh.

Well my weight isn't really coming off. I am back on the phenedrine or whatever it's called, but it's not really flowing off me like I would like. We'll have to see how it goes.

I have started swimming again, which is tough with my schedule of 60-80 hour weeks, and swim and dive meets that eat two whole nights a week. Literally, last week's swim meet lasted 7 hours for me. Nancy got out of it, because she was up in DC at a 3 day conference. I had the kids for three days, which isn't so horrible, but I was working from home too, so it made me run a little ragged.

Of course, I will get the "Now you know how hard it is to be a stay at home mom" line. I know it's hard! However, I added working 12 hours a day to that mix! I was stay at home mom and worked time and a half. It made things extra hard.

Back to the 7 hour swim meet. All 4 of our children are on swim team this year. O, our more athletic twin, swims in 4 events, W swims in 3, F, our daughter, swims in 3-4 events (3 last week) and R swims in only 1, as he's just 5, and only knows freestyle to where he won't get dq'ed.

So, I take them to the swim meet at 5 pm. I am also supposed to volunteer this meet! Nancy has blown off all responsibility for the swim team, citing her role as dive rep as the reason. I should note that I am scheduled to judge EVERY DIVE MEET this season, so it's not like I am getting off scott free, and I have taken on a number of her responsibilities as well. We won't get into that bone of contention here.

The point is that I have 4 children including a 5 year old, several thousand gallons of deadly water, and a crowd that includes 520 children (280 from their team and 240 from ours) and their parents and friends, so I would say 1,800 people. And, it's hot. It's about 98 when we get there. So, off we go. The first event, where F swims in a relay, is re-run because of some reason I still haven't understood. So, she swims double in the first event. That adds time to an already long event.

R's event is delayed for 40 minutes, with me having to manage 5 - 5 year olds in the crowd, as I was responsible for getting them to the queue for the blocks. There was a mad cluster at the queue, because they had sent 4 or 5 groups to the queue before realizing the scoring, and starter's "gun" and announcer's mic were dead. So, I have these 5 preschoolers asking me what's wrong and why they aren't going and that they're thirsty and have to pee and whatever. BAHHHH!

The rest of the meet goes relatively smoothly with only a few more delays, but in the end O's last event, which is the last event of the night, happens at 11:45 pm! 11:45 PM! I HAVE A FREAKING 5 YEAR OLD AT THIS MEET AND HE IS 4 HOURS PAST HIS BEDTIME! There was much crying and gnashing of teeth, as he was so tired he was just crying and pointing. My daughter literally fell asleep on the concrete edge of the pool. One second she was cheering her team, and then I looked down when she went quiet, and she was drooling onto the ground. Poor kid. Crappy meet, crappy planning, crappy execution. It happens. O had put his head into the pool for the first time at 8 am for dive practice and had pulled his head out finally about 5 minutes to midnight. Poor kid. He said his stomach hurt, so then I worried as some of their friends have had the stomach flu.

We have "Swim Meet Hangover" the next day but the older boys and F have dive practice at 8, so I send them. I make no plans to send them to swim team. They come home and are just beat. I let them watch some tv and have light playtime with friends (legos, computer, but no more trips to the pool).

Then lucky us, we have a dive meet on thursday. On thursday, it's 103 degrees and I am judging. So, I am out on the pool deck in my work clothes at 5 pm, boiling. A thunderstorm moves through so we only get in two events. The meet is rescheduled for Sunday. YAY! MORE DIVE MEET LATER! ugh. It was 102 degrees yesterday and we finished. O and F did awesome! F came in first, and O came in a very very close second. He lost to the winner by .8 of a point. I think as they move to 5 dives, O can beat him, as O has about 12 dives in his arsenal, and his competition only has 4 good ones. It will be an interesting season!

On Friday night, we went to the pool and swam laps. That was my first time in a while. I used a new technique for my arms which only involved a full reach instead of my about 90% reach prior, and I cut about 2 minutes off my time, and got more sore too, which means I was working the muscles more.

I have been making a conscious effort to be more physical and vocal in my compliments to my wife. I know that I shouldn't take our spouses for granted, and just assume that after 15 years, she knows that I still find her attractive and at the core still want to be with her, but when you have such a busy life, I thought it was hard to squeeze those things in. It's not. It's pretty easy. I think she's got the WTF reaction, now. Maybe she will get used to me saying it and come around, and respond.

What she has been lately is a very good motivational coach. I really, really wanted to lie down with our new dog after being up early to play in church - it was stressful as I was playing an instrument I hadn't even picked up since college (the bass) and had some solos. When I left, I went to the store and got some eggs, bacon, and gluten free pancake mix, and made breakfast for the whole family (two of them are GF). Bacon, eggs, hash browns with peppers and onions, and GF and non GF blueberry/chocolate chip pancakes.

After the stress and calorie fest, and knowing I would be stuck in 100+ degree heat, all I wanted to do was take a nap with Helen, our amazing, perfect rescue dog, but Nancy was all over me about swimming again. I went, and she was right. I felt better after swimming than I probably would have after a nap. I did 750 yards in a very good time for me (20 minutes) then slowed down and did another 250 yards, for a good 1000. I felt good. And it is getting Nancy swimming too, which will probably improve her confidence over her body (she thinks her legs are fat, her butt is big, blah blah blah. not true. They are bigger yes but she used to be a stick, and now she looks like a woman! This isn't BBW talk. She now weighs about 110 lbs when she used to weigh 1oo or less.

I am trying to squeeze in a swim today after some meetings. I am a little peeved that I keep getting meetings in the lunch hour. But, at 1:30 when I get out, I am leaving for the gym and they can eat dirt if they want me to stay around. I have to come back for testing in the later afternoon, and I may not want to work out tonight when I get home, as tomorrow is another swim meet, and thursday is a dive meet and wednesday night is the start of weekly cookouts at our church. I WANT MY EVENINGS BACK!