Feingold update and gymnastics

Bubby has had regular notes home from his PE teacher since kindergarten concerning his behavior. We had a different sort of note this week- a positive one!! His PE teacher said his behavior was wonderful, even better than the average child. Talk about astonishing! We have also noticed that he is much more polite and cooperative than usual and we haven't seen a melt down in weeks, whereas we typically see that several times a week. I'm convinced!

In other news, Smoochie has been asked to move to the next class up in gymnastics. She currently goes twice a week for one hour. The next class meets from 4:30 - 7:00 twice a week!! I'm not sure a 2.5 hour lesson is appropriate for a 5 1/2 year old. Not sure how we're going to handle this situation.

Big Boys and Spring Break

Last week was Sudsy's 1st birthday. I had the extended family over for dinner and cake, which I made from scratch. For the first time, ever. I even had to make the dye to get the color blue (boiled purple cabbage and baking soda, in case you're curious). He's running now and more fun every day.






I took off a day and a half off from work to spend a bit of time with the kids during spring break. We took the kids to the rodeo, had some friends over for dinner, and basically spent time together as a family unit, which is rare with hubby and I working opposite shifts. We even managed to squeeze in a date night. Hubby took the kids swimming and to the planetarium and for a picnic at the park. It has been perfect weather. If the weather was always like this, well, we couldn't afford to live here.

Good news on the Feingold front. We are starting to see improvements. Nothing too dramatic, but definite progress. We have all messed things up more than once, so it is still a learning experience.

Feingold, day 2

I am starting to feel a bit more in control. I have lists of meals and snacks that I think the kids will eat. I have baked the birthday cake for Sudsy, bread for sandwiches, pumpkin bread for snacks, made the 'untomato' sauce and ketchup and stocked the pantry and frig full of 'safe foods'. The kids always ask if it is legal before they eat something.

I have started a list that includes the exact foods that are approved and which stores carry it. This is hard earned knowledge. I spent half the weekend grocery shopping, the other half cooking, and the third half cleaning up the mess I made from the first two activities. Yes, I realize that is three halves. It was a long weekend.

Thursday is Sudsy's first birthday!! Last week he decided to take his first steps and it was in the evening and we were all home to witness it and video tape. I can't believe how fast this year has passed. We're having a family party Thursday evening to celebrate. We are so fortunate to have this sweet, fun baby in our lives.

I don't get it

I do not understand our education system. The entire 'health' of the school is placed on one stupid test- TAKS. Bubby's in 3rd grade and this is the grade the kids get tested. For months, they have been talking about the TAKS test, taking practice tests, doing absolutely nothing except teaching to the test. They send home a 4 page instruction sheet on what to do to and what not to do in order to prepare for the test. The entire earth stops it's rotation just so the kids can take the test.

Today is the test day. We follow the instructions and send our child to bed early to make sure he gets a full night's rest. We plan to skip the morning run and have a healthy breakfast agreed upon. My alarm goes off this morning and guess who appears right outside my door, fully dressed. He woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep because he was worried about the test today.

Uncle!

I don't know who I was kidding. I can't even manage to update my main blog regularly. So, I am so sorry to announce that I will no longer be maintaining my other blog about my journey back to health. I KNOW you are all so disappointed. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I have given up on dropping the baby weight and getting my body back into peak condition. I just don't plan on blogging about it regularly. That and quite frankly there was not much to post about.

I have vastly revamped my diet and am now exercising 5 days a week. And I have toyed with the same 5 pounds for two months. Quite frustrating. Something has to give though and it will not be me. Do you hear me body??? I refuse to give up!! Yeah, so take that.

On to Plan Q

It appears that the dress-up clothes and morning runs aren't helping Bubby with his impulse control issues at school. We're still getting notes home nearly every day. Last ditch effort is the Feingold diet. Hubby and I need to have a conversation first so that I can make sure he is 100% on board. If he's not, there is no use in even trying. It is labor intensive and it will require 150% commitment from all of us. If it means that we don't have to put our son on stimulants, then I am willing to try. This is the end of the road though. I don't see any other options.

Boys and drugs

Hubby and I had another fun filled day with the principal at Bubby's school. It is actually the first such meeting this year, but if his behavior doesn't change quickly, the punishments will get serious quickly.

His behavior is completely normal, only he does it at innapropriate times. He is a sweet, funny, smart, personable kid but does not have any impulse control. We have had many, many discussions and many years of trial and error on how to help him. In my mind, this is the end of the road. We have already picked the low hanging fruit and none worked. We are throwing everything at him, including changing his diet drastically. If this doesn't work, I just don't know what we'll do. This has to work.

We know many, many of his friends that are on drugs for ADD and I don't in any way judge their decisions. We have chosen not to medicate and are very uncomfortable with the idea. I am just so afraid that if this doesn't work, we will have exhausted all other options. He is capable of so much. We really want him to succeed and he really wants to succeed. This has to work.

Just one of those days

Do you ever have one of those days when you think you just can't do it one more time? Everything at work is irritating me. I am extremely thankful to have a job, but I just can't put up with all the BS that goes around one more day. I'm working from home today, but I desperately need a vacation. Could also have something to do with the fact that I'm on day 3 of South Beach and I am missing my fruit and wine and chocolate and bread....this detox is none too pleasant for me or those around me.

Karma bites

The accident I was involved in recently could have been avoided if either I was giving enough distance between myself and the car in front of me for the given weather conditions and or my vehicle was properly maintained. I learned from it and have been a safer driver since. I had to travel close to down town the other day to apply for my TWIC card. Another government mandate to 'help protect the safety of the American people'. Whatever. I was told I had to do it, so I did it.

On the drive home, I was traveling on a notoriously heavily policed freeway and was sure to mind my manners more than usual. I'm traveling behind a vehicle who is going the posted speed limit. A cop is off to the side, so the vehicle in front slows way down. I wait for the car on my right to pass and then move to the right hand lane. I do want to travel the speed limit. That car sees the cop and slows way down. Cop pulls off side of road and gets behind me and turns on his lights. I start moving over to let the cop pass. He keeps following so I pull off the freeway. I finally figure out he's pulling me over for some reason that I can not comprehend. I stay on the feeder, waiting for a place to pull off the road. He finally comes on the speaker telling me to pull over now. Whatever, was trying to keep this guy from getting killed by people exiting the freeway, but we'll do it his way.

So, the usual asking for license and insurance. He goes back to his car and when he comes back with the ticket asks if I was following the black BMW in front of me. I explain what happened and he cites me for following too closely and not using my blinker. The whole scene would not have happened without him sitting there waiting. I usually use my blinker, but apparently did not (of course how he saw that from his vantage point is another story entirely). My violations were not even on the preprinted top 8 violations and the cop had to right them in. What a total crock!!!!

All I can figure is this is karma for not getting a ticket for the accident. That and a total racket to raise money for the city.

What a week!

Clients meeting that lasted all day, even through lunch. Evenings spent completing my accounting for the businesses and pulling together all the documents for taxes. Met with the tax advisor. Also had to plan and execute the plan for a Super Bowl party.

I'm glad that week is over!!! Though the party was fun...will post pics soon.

If not a parent, don't read!

One day last week, hubby tells me the story of how he was awakened. I'm sure his alarm had been going off for at least 30 minutes when he started hearing sounds from Sudsy's room from the baby monitor. He also hears Bubby and decides he'd better check out what was going on. Bubby went into Sudsy's room, took him out of the crib, and was proceeding to attempt a poopy diaper change! Both boys were covered in poop and tons of poopy diaper wipes were gathered up around them. Sudsy had poop on his hands, his face, his feet....

My first thought? I hope Sudsy didn't eat poop. My second thought? You didn't take a picture??? I wonder if they have stinky diaper stickers for scrapbooking. That would have made a great page in my album! I'm sick, I know.

Vindicated! Not really.

Finally took the truck to the shop yesterday. Yes, the back brakes were bad and we already knew the tires needed replacing. So I asked hubby if I was now cleared. His answer? No, I know how you drive. Let's see how long this $3888 lesson keeps.

Facebook

They should call it Black Hole. I have heard from more people from my past in the last week than I have in the last fifteen years. It's not just for kids- I can't believe how many 'old' people are on!

Circuit City

Over the past week, I have been searching for a Wii Fit. I called two different Walmarts twice a day. I bookmarked two different websites that tracked the status of Wii Fits in various stores. I didn't want to pay more than retail and I didn't want to buy an expensive bundle. Finally, Circuit City showed up as having the Wii Fit in stock. I quickly jumped over to buy and realized I had to buy two accessories in order to qualify. Frustrated and sick of the routine, I did. Four days later, the ad shows up and the accessories are $5 off each. So, I sent an email and within 24 hours, I received a reply that a credit would be applied to my card. Now that is a good company.

Of course, two days after I ordered, a friend emailed me to tell me they were in stock at Walmart and did I want her to buy it. Hopefully, mine will arrive by Friday.

We're new to all this Wii stuff as Santa brought the kids one for Christmas. So far we have We Cheer, Wii Sports and Guitar Hero only. We had a fun family game night last night where we all calculated our Wii Age for Wii Sports. Smoochie was 80, Bubby was 52, I was 37 (rock on!) and hubby was 78. Sudsy Pumpkin Pie loves to watch. We've been alternating each night with the Wii and dominoes. Unfortunately, this will all end soon as karate starts tonight and the sign-ups for baseball are Thursday.

Happy New Year!

My goodness- 2009??? Seriously? I remember partying like it was 1999 and it feels like just days ago. Of course my memory is so good I can't remember what happened days ago....

I digress- happy new year! This is my year- I can just feel it! I've started another blog to help me figure out why I can not stay on track when it comes to getting and staying healthy. Check it out here: Change the Mind, Change the Body.

In other news, I got myself into a fender bender this morning and ran smack into the back of someone who decided to stop abruptly when the light turned yellow. I've been telling hubby that the brakes felt funny in the truck and we needed to get them looked at and he finally got the message. I'll be completely embarrassed when the repair guys take a look and nothing is wrong except my driving abilities. Yes, I was following too closely and it was raining and I was thinking about the meeting I had to get to in 20 minutes. But whatever, I'm sure it was a mechanical error.

So, back to the new year. Here is why I know it's going to be my year. One of our deadbeat tenants finally moved out and we'll get that place back on track. We plan on paying off two of our real estate related loans and have a concrete plan on how to do that and get our finances back on track. I feel confident that I will stay on track with my healthy lifestyle. Best of all, I have a vision for what I want to do with my life and am putting together a plan to move towards that vision.

Talking to your kids about racism

Bubby's best friend was busted for writing a list of curse words. His dad called us to make sure we were aware of the incident as Bubby was not one of the boys caught. Turns out that one of the words on the list was the "n" word. We've been known to slip up and let an expletive fly occasionally, but this is a word NEVER used by us and we wanted our son to understand the hate and hurtfulness implied with using it. Discussing racism is probably a talk long overdue as our children see the differences in people, but don't have a concept of words used to describe them. For example, they both call black people 'brown'. Like when we asked Smoochie who she voted for in the mock election at school, she replied the brown guy not the white hair guy.

To start off the conversation, Hubby explained how hurtful it was growing up Jewish and all of the hateful words thrown at him. We also explained how it is wrong to use hurtful words and the he was never, ever to use the "n" word as it was a hateful word against blacks. Apparently it is the word of the month with the 3rd graders. He had told one of his black friends that was saying it that it was a bad word and she had asked her father if it was a bad word and he had told her no. Also, of the four boys that we making the list of curse words, two of them were black. Makes it really hard to drive the point home when he is receiving mixed messages.

I am beginning to understand what people meant when they said child rearing gets more complicated when they get older.

Quickie

Work: crazy
Holidays: ready

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies


Stockings hung by the chimney with care

Memory is the second thing to go, what's the first?

I happened to glance at my last post and noticed I used Smoochie instead of Sudsy. I presume if I can't keep the kid's real names straight, I shouldn't expect to keep their nicknames straight. In fact, it has gotten so bad that I just call them all Boo.

I was telling a coworker about the wonderful benefits of the neti pot and how I rarely ever get sick anymore since I started religiously running salt water through my nose. After that conversation, I was definitely due for Murphy's Law to kick in. I spent the later half of last week and part of the weekend laid on the couch with the worst cold I've had in years. Of course I was home alone with all three kids. I did start feeling better Saturday and Sunday I was back on my feet again.

Sunday evening one of my bestest friends and her family came over to visit. I really, really, really wish she lived in the area, but thankfully they moved about a year ago and are within driving distance, albeit a long drive.

This year I have kicked butt on Christmas presents. After posting last week that I hadn't started, I made a few trips around town, bought a bunch of stuff on amazon and am now nearly finished. I usually waste a lot of time second guessing and watching the sales, but I don't have the time, energy or patience for that this year. Instead I decided to save receipts and if I find a better deal later, I can always take it back. It's really taken the pressure off.

The kids are off from school this week and they spent the entire day yesterday watching home videos. They loved watching themselves and the few that I caught, I noticed that Sudsy has the same facial expressions as Smoochie but looks like Bubby.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!

An update

I've rewritten the opening sentence to this post three times. Why is it so hard to blog after you've been lazy and not posting? I guess it's the same as not running after training (and completing) a 5K. It gets a little easier every day to just not do it. Sorry Diana!! I need a kick in the butt!

So, Bubby's team one the championship. They played a perfect game and Bubby had several great plays- one being a throw from third base to first to get the guy out at first. The Aggie game was enjoyable. Not the game itself because it was a total blow out, but catching up with friends was nice.

This past weekend was fun as well. Saturday was a surprise party for a friend- her husband totally pulled it off and we were all impressed. Sunday was 'Breakfast Club'. We started this a year ago? maybe longer and we'd get together in the morning because the kids are typically well behaved then and we're no fun since having kids and can't stay up late anymore. They've turned into all day parties. The kids asked if we were spending the night.

Back to the grind at work today. I found out I'm not getting the new position I was angling for, which meant a new boss, which would have been a really, really good thing. I'm disappointed, but it probably works out for the best. Work seems to be drying up for that group so I could have been out of job before I'd even started.

Sudsy is starting to cruise. He pulls himself up and walks if you're holding his hands. We've told him that he's only 8 months old and by all means, please don't hurry to get mobile, but he didn't listen to us. Guess that proves he's our kid after all.

And just to make everyone feel better, I'm not done with my Christmas shopping. In fact, I haven't even started. My goal is to be done by Thanksgiving every year, but that looks less and less possible every day.

I'm getting more and more excited about Obama's presidency every day. I was one of the swing voters until two weeks before the election. I believe he will make a difference and will lead our country in a new, better direction. I'm positive about our future, however I do think it will get worse before it gets better.

Enough randomness for one night.

Update: And by 'swing voter', I was deciding between Obama and throwing my vote away by voting libertarian....

Busy weekend

Halloween kicked off a weekend filled with activities. Saturday morning, I managed to not only drag myself out of bed, but feed and dress the little ones and pick up my mom to get to a fun run. Friends of mine from the office have become my support and inspiration in the journey to become healthy again. We met our goal of completing the 5K run and Bubby and Smoochie participated in the 1K kids run.



My friend's daughter, who also participated in the kids run, came home with us and we spent the rest of the day playing. They jumped on the trampoline, we went swimming at the pool and then played on the playground at the fast food restaurant after dinner. We had such a busy, active day that Bubby kept insisting it was Sunday.

Sunday afternoon was Bubby's first karate tournament. There is much build up and anticipation for a 45 second spar. He was down 2-0 and then came back to win 2-3. He was so excited that he ran to me yelling 'Mom! I won!' as he tripped and fell flat on his face. Thankfully he wasn't injured although I almost injured myself laughing so hard. Not much rest coming up this weekend either.

Friday night is Bubby's championship game for baseball and Saturday we're heading to College Station to watch the Aggies get slaughtered.

The Gaggle of Kids Proud Bubby The Fall The Spar