Dieting, Jobs, Swimming, and 13

1. Last weekend, I tried the eat whatever junk food I wanted and then only vegetables for meals diet. I don't know if I was not getting enough calories, or just not enough proteins, fats, etc for Joshua. But he wanted to eat every hour and after two days of my veggie plus some chocolate diet, he stayed up all night crying and hungry. So I ate normally the next day and he was happy and eating and sleeping regularly. Having done this, I have come to a major (for me) decision. I am going on a real diet. I want to lose the baby weight. I still have not gotten rid of my size 6 jeans, so I will make them my goal. I was 135-ish pounds when I bought them. I am 160-ish pounds now. So my diet will be no junk food. I will eat as much healthy food as I want, and obviously enough to satisfy a nursing baby boy. The last time I was able to lose a bunch of weight quickly, I had only changed one thing in my diet. I only ate desserts on Sundays and Mondays. I lost 10 pounds in about a month. This was just before I got pregnant with Anya. At that time, I put my whole family on the diet. But right now, a major way of saving money on food is baking homemade cookies, brownies, muffins, or rolls every day. We cannot have our food budget go up to accommodate as much fruit as my kids can eat (They still eat around $200 of fruit a month) and I can't lose weight on daily cookies and bread. So I am going to eat the veggies while my kids eat cookies. We can afford the veggies because we get all sorts of veggies from Bountiful baskets and some of those go bad every week. I will snack on the surplus we don't use. So, we shall see how this goes. Obviously, I know, this is stupid to do right before a holiday and a family reunion. But it doesn't change that I need to make a life change. So I am giving up on my I want to lose weight by eating cookies method.
2. John's company is closing down Aug 1st. They were very nice and told everyone June 1st. So we have pay through August, and we will get paid for whatever holiday time John has on the books that he has not taken. So again, we are at another jobs cross roads. John has been applying for jobs, and he is now starting to get interviews. I don't think we will be tragic and without pay this time around because John has been working for good people and they let him know in plenty of time to find another job. The company is closing for a rather interesting reason. The company was funded through the military. They had five years of funding left until Congress got rid of earmarks. Apparently, the military funding was coming from an earmark on some law somewhere. So no more earmarks means no more funding. 
3. My four oldest kids have had swimming lessons last week through this Friday at the rec center (paid for in May). I have been so jealous of my kids watching them swimming and diving everyday. I think I have forgotten how much I love swimming. I have also been very impressed with the pools at the rec center, so I am going to buy a one year family pass when John has another job. The kids are loving it, even if they say differently. Adam is young enough to openly admit he loves it. Ruth, Kate, and Johnny will say otherwise, but you can tell how much they are enjoying themselves through what they say and by watching them in the pool. Which brings me to number
4. I now know that 13 is a painful age for the parent as well as the child. Yesterday I had a tough day because every time I spoke to Ruth she scowled at me. Every time Ruth walked by me she scowled. If I asked her to do anything well, I had to hide in the army barracks first. Plus, every time I talked near Kate she had to argue that I was doing the wrong thing. Joseph whined all day because he was kept up by a hungry crying baby, and no matter how hard I tried, Joshua would not nap. Adam was being aggressive with everyone most of the day too. Five all day moody kids is tough. A friend of mine told me you have to go kiss your twelve year old while she/ he is sleeping the night before the 13th birthday because you won't see that happy kid again for a few more years. I was hoping my kids would be the exception.