They're growing up

Our middle child, Isabella, received her First Communion along with many of her friends, in a special Mass this morning.  She looked so beautiful in her white dress and veil.  She's worked hard preparing for this day, through her religious education classes, and by working through a couple of really excellent preparatory books provided by our church.  It was a wonderful ceremony.  Her older sister, Sarah, played a hymn on her recorder for the first time during the service.  Sarah's been practicing hard, and it showed.  She played the whole song very prettily, with no mistakes at all.  Mom and Dad both had tears in our eyes.  For both of our girls, we had one of those "our babies are growing up" moments.  Pride and wistfulness, mixed into a potent emotional cocktail.

After the service the family retired to our house for some relaxing chit chat, a little lunch, and (for the kids) some much needed "cousin time."

I did another weigh-in this morning.  For the past two days, my weight's been going in the wrong direction.  Still, the illness really took a lot out of me, and I'd lost six pounds in a week.  With the gains of the past two days, I'm still down four pounds.  I think my body is waking up from the illness and soaking up energy into its depleted reserves.  I'm sticking with the plan, and maintaining faith that I'm doing the right things to bring my weight down to a healthy level.  Of course, the strawberry short cake at today's celebration isn't really "to plan," but it's a special occasion and I'm feeling celebratory.

Food log:

Breakfast: a bowl of granola, milk, lots of strawberries.

Lunch: Half a turkey-and-havarti sandwich with lettuce, tomato, a little mayo and some Dijon.  Six crackers loaded with cream cheese and raspberry chiptole sauce, a small serving of strawberry short cake (1/2" slice of pound cake, about 1/3c macerated strawberries, and 2tbsp whipped cream).

Dinner: a large salad at Soup Plantation