God bless the helpers

Today I took on the odious task known as "party prep". Boy do I love entertaining, but do I hate cleaning everything up for it! Fortunately the gal who's house hosted my shower had offered to help, so she came by to help me scrape a year's worth of neglect off of everything in my back yard. It is a HUGE task.

Walkways have to be cleared and swept, furniture set up and scrubbed, garbage taken down two flights of stairs. Then we had to drop all of my unwanted kitchen crap at Good Will, then buy all the ice & drinks...and all this in the 90+ degree heat, in the direct sun, up and down stairs. This person is an angel sent from heaven, I swear.

Last year I did all this by myself, while pregnant. Of course I didn't know I was pregnant at the time; I wouldn't test until the following morning. I remember last year thinking, "I really shouldn't be lifting this, I really should take it easy," but luckily this little zygote had dug in and wasn't going nowheres!

I'm still always amazed when people put themselves out and help others. I mean, I love helping people, but why do I assume no one else does? My sister reminded me that our mother wasn't a helper, so we got this fear from her, that we'll somehow annoy people by asking them for things. I have a friend who I would never ask to come over and scrub my outdoor furniture, because I know she just wouldn't want to. So I guess there are people out there who are just selfish and don't ever want to be put out.

I had asked for help because I was afraid Bumpus may need attention - but short of one quick feed, it turned out he didn't; he just sat contentedly in his swing, playing with his toes. I only had to check on him from time to time to make sure he wasn't being eaten by fire ants, and that's it.

Some of you may not want to hear this, so skip this paragraph if you need to! The weight loss continues. I have now broken the 135 barrier and weighed 134.8 this morning. I feel like I'm 18 again and can eat whatever I want and still lose weight. But the big question is - what happens when I stop breastfeeding? Will I blow up like a balloon? Am I developing terrible habits? Once I have to make an effort again, will it be torture? I do worry about this. It's why I don't like extreme weigh loss, because it's impossible to maintain. But at this rate if I continue to breast feed for many more months I could waste away to nothing.

Bumpus loves rolling over onto his belly. The days of leaving him unsupervised on the bed are over! In good news, he has all but stopped screaming in the car, is very alert these days, and wants to see everything. He is a fascinating little guy, I have to admit!