"Cock" Hudson is Missing!

I've finally accepted that the baby weight is no longer going to melt off on its own. The first 20 pounds or so disappeared with little help from me. Very little help. Unless you count sitting around the house, eating the occasional candy bar, and ordering pizza for dinner as help. It's the last 10 pounds that always gets me. That and the fact that I had a good 30 pounds to lose even before getting pregnant.

Enter Christie O. at Baby Tea Leaves. I happened upon her adorable and entertaining blog to discover her Hot for the Holidays contest. A little motivation could be just what I need.

But wait. What in the world does the title have to do with weight loss? Let me explain. Last night we took a family walk, which isn't uncommon. Generally we stick within a few blocks of our house. Last night we decided to venture way down the hill. Not just a hill. A HILL. Add a 15 pound 3 month old in a sling and that's quite a work out for me.

Everything went smoothly until we returned home. My son is a bit of a Cars addict. Thanks to Daddy, he has nearly every one of the little Cars toys. He can tell you exactly which ones he owns. There are probably 10 different versions of Lightning McQueen and if he can't find the exact one he wants, stand back and watch the drama unfold! Any time we leave the house, at least one of them must accompany him. Last night it was "Queenie" (Lightning McQueen) and "Cock" Hudson (Doc Hudson). We walked into the door and tragedy struck. Cock Hudson was missing.

Please, no. Anything but a missing car. I will hear over and over again how Cock Hudson is missing and he's so sad and we have to find him. So I did what any mom would do. I attempted to distract him with promises (bribes) of a new Doc Hudson car the next day.

Nice try, mama. Cock Hudson is cold and alone somewhere out there. He must be rescued!

My son and I put our sweatshirts on and once again embarked upon the great climb on the neighborhood hill. Initially, I held onto hope that we would find the missing toy. With each step, hope quickly slipped away.

Wait, what's that? It's blue. Bubble gum wrapper. Darn! Hold on. I see something shiny. No, just a candy bar wrapper. Hmmm, a candy car sounds good right now. Focus, Shell! Something else caught my eye. I willed it to be that little blue car. But, alas, it was an orange Gatorade bottle. The house that smells of all things fried marked the halfway mark and deflated all hope of finding that little blue guy. We found lots of trash, even half of a coconut. Really. Half of a coconut. Who would have thought? But no blue car.

We finally made it home, Cock Hudson-less. But at least I got in a decent work out. Daddy's mission on his lunch break today is to find a new one. Please let him be successful! I can't listen to the Cock Hudson saga all week! I miss the days when we could distract him with another toy. Or a sucker.