I Can't Stop Eating

Okay, when I nursed my first son, I noticed no change in my appetite. I've always been a big eater, and so that was pretty much par for the course. You have to consider, however, that Andrew was the World's Worst Breastfeeder, and the nine-and-a-half months that I nursed him were absolutely horrid, especially the first three or four months.

So, naturally, all during my second pregnancy, my biggest prayer was that this baby would be a great eater. Well, God is faithful!! And while He surprised me with the news that Benjamin has Down syndrome, He gave me a wonderful eater. Which is actually kind of uncommon in DS babies; many of them have such poor muscle tone in their mouths that they either don't breastfeed well or not at all. In fact, there is a high incidence of feeding tubes. Yikes. I am *so* thankful for Benjamin's affinity to nurse. He has always nursed well (save being gassy occasionally, but, hey, he takes after his mother) and quickly, too.

However...all these extra calories I'm burning are making me huuuuungry! It was *really* bad the first two weeks or so and then it tapered off. But it seeems to be back. Maybe my stomach stretched internally (it certainly did externally....) and now requires a greater volume of food. I don't know. All I know is that tonight for dinner, I ate tons of food. And I'm still not full. I'm not necessarily hungry, but I'm not full. First, I had a large salad (Romaine lettuce, shredded cheese, Chinese noodles..what are those things called? Chow mein noodles..oh, I could eat the whole bag. And my new FAVORITE salad dressing. Kraft Creamy Poppyseed. Why can't I ever fall in love with healthy foods?)

While I savored my salad, I ate not one but TWO peanut butter and jam sandwiches. (Yes, I said jam. I don't like jelly; it's too gelatiney, if you'll allow me to make up a word. I like jam. Smucker's Seedless Blackberry Jam. That's what Andrew eats, too, only I make him eat the Sugar Free. He probably would look at you like you had a third eye if you asked him if he wanted peanut butter and jelly. He knows it as jam. I demand accuracy, even from my toddler. I know I'm giving him a complex, but we can all live in the nut house together. Besides, at least we can still say PB&J.) Okay, so I had two sandwiches. To my defense, it was reduced-fat peanut butter and wheat bread. Walmart bread, so the pieces were kind of small. And I had a large glass of grape Kool-aid.

Still hungry. I went back for a second salad, just like the first only slightly smaller. I swear the bag of prewashed lettuce that I *just* opened is 3/4ths gone. Maybe 2/3rds. But still. Oh, along with the second salad I had one slice of reduced-fat Colby Jack cheese and some Thin Ritz Cracker Crisps. And another glass of Kool-aid.

All of this while Matthew and I were watching "The Bucket List." I think that Jack Nicholson is one of my favorite actors. But anyway. Then I fell into a food coma and dozed off. But it was after 10:00 anyway and Matthew is getting up early (4:45...yikes again) to run, and I had to feed Benjamin. So now here I am. Feeling satisfied but not stuffed. Even after all that food. Wonder what I'll eat tomorrow as we finish the movie? The salad will be gone by noon......