Thankful for Vicodin

I had a rough day yesterday. No, it wasn’t horrible, just rough. I woke up hurting (my back, what else?) So it started out poorly and got worse. While driving to the grocery store I looked in the rear view mirror as both girls screamed (or something equally distracting) and turned into the parking lot at the same time, not something I’d recommend BTW. The result was that I turned too hard & hit the curb w/my front tire. Arrg! Gave myself a flat, bah! I was so mad! Yes, it was my fault. I know better then to let the girls distract me like that, but not feeling good and all I let my guard down. I think part of the reason it made me so mad was because I knew better.

I know, not the end of the world.

In fact, I have roadside service who was very, very responsive (Thank You USAA!) and very timely (within 30 mins). Since I was at my destination I took the girls into the store, got our groceries (none of which were perishable), bribed prepared them for a wait in the car with starbuck’s cookies, and got myself a much needed mocha. We actually waited for maybe 10 minutes. DD#2 desperately needed a nap & DD1 needed lunch, but both somehow managed to hold it together till we got home. So yeah, it could’ve been MUCH worse. DD#2 slept for over 3 hours and after that I packed them up to go repair the tire (I had on the small spare), so we got to sit in the tire center for 30+ minutes only to be told it wasn’t repairable. There’s much more to all of this, but right now it’s not really funny to me (it was to others around us though) so I’ll spare you my whining the details. I took the girls home for DS to feed and headed out to Costco to get a new set of tires. They had a 2.5 hour wait, which would put them past closing, so they made me a deal that they would bump me to the front of the line today when I came back. By the end of all that my back was aching, not the awful sciatica pain that I was getting before, but the muscles all around that area on my right side were definitely in a spasm. I decided I deserved another mocha. Breakfast and dinner of champions! (Ok, so I also had two atkins bars during the day, but that was the total of my consumption for the day. I'm all about setting good example for my kids.) So this morning I woke up with the OTHER side of my lower back in a spasm!

OMG!!!

I think I must’ve been picking up DD#2 in a way that favored the right side, and tweaked my left side. Dude! Could I be any more awkward and retarded??? Sometimes I don’t know how on earth it is that DS stays married to me, I’m such a liability!

So I’m trying to remember to be thankful for what could’ve been a really horrible day was really just a very busy, tired day. All things considered, I think that’s a lot to be thankful for, don’t you?

Gift Me Baby One More Time….

Ok, my friend & I were talking about the whole gift giving thing. We’ve decided that Gift Cards should not be considered impersonal. We’re taking up the charge. I mean think about it, aren’t there people you buy for who really, really don’t need anything else in this world? Often times they’re the same people who would really like certain kinds of things, but because it’s their hobby, not yours, what they want would be out of your price range or something you just don’t know enough about to really purchase for them. I agree that gift cards are not appropriate for some people; kids for instance. You can usually figure out something to give a most kids that are age appropriate and in your price range. Include the gift receipt if you think there’s a good chance they have it already, but kids are as excited about opening something as they are the gift itself, so I think kids are out on this one. But for people like teachers, your 90YO Aunt, your teenage/tween-age cousin who you really don’t see very often, your secret Santa co-worker, etc…I think it’s entirely appropriate to give a gift card. Let’s face it; none of us need that 13th bottle of Bath & Body Works lotion, no matter how important moisturizing is to you. And I’m pretty sure you kid’s teacher already has that “#1 Teacher” mug from the last 3 years. So this year I’m starting the Gift Card rebellion of ’07! Ok, not really, but there are a few people who I’m getting them for, because I know that’s what they would appreciate and it’s not impersonal in that case. Plus I’m creative about where they’re from, so that makes them more personal. Here’s what I mean:

Teachers: Movie passes, enclosed in a “popcorn” bucket, with some
raisinettes, & microwave popcorn.

90YO Aunts/Uncles: I have several of these in my family. They do not
need another sweater or coffee mug. I’m getting one Aunt a month long bus
pass (she doesn’t drive) and a gift card to target (her favorite store).
For another Aunt & Uncle I’m getting them a gift card to a local
brewery. I’ll put enough on it for dinner, but since they don’t drive at
night any more they’ll probably get two lunches out of it.

Close family friends: Starbucks card (even if they don’t drink coffee, there are plenty of other yummy things, I’m sure they’ll find something to use it on.) A holiday travel mug is included to help make it more personal or if you know they’re really into coffee or tea you could get them a bag or the “good stuff”, and this year you can personalize your starbucks cards online, so I’m totally doing that.

So do you have any ideas for this? I’m all ears, I’m always on the look out for creative ways to give someone something they would really appreciate.

The Season of Giving

Just got home from my niece’s birthday party. This was her family party, just one of the several affairs we manage to work into what used to be a single event occasion. With the holiday season upon us (I put a serious dent into my Christmas shopping last night. Yeah, I know you’re supposed to wait till “Black Friday”, but Kohl’s was having a seriously good sale, I had a coupon I could use on top of the sale AND they were open till midnight! That’s my kind of shopping!) the whole excess of our celebrations has started. I have to admit I have very mixed feeling about it. Part of me loves it; watching the kids open all the gifts, the room so full of gifts you can even walk through and I certainly can’t complain about the fact when I’m the recipient of much of that excess. However, we’re doing our best to really outdo ourselves this year.

My niece turned 8 this month, but we started the celebration in October. My mom took my niece to the American Girl place in LA for her birthday gift. This was when I was in Miami so they took DD1 with them (my SIL went as well). They flew to American Girl Place in LA for the day. Yeah, they FLEW down for the DAY. It sounds like it was a very, very cool day, DD1 is still talking about it. But man has the bar been set high.

For G'ma, not me. I am making it very clear that I do not pony up airline tickets as gifts (unless of course it's for me, but I digress...)

At the beginning of November my brother’s family went on a Disney cruise. It wasn’t for S’s birthday, but since it’s her birthday this month, they celebrated it profusely. (I would’ve done the same BTW. Seriously, can you ever get enough free cake?) Since they’ve been home she’s had a kids party, a small birthday celebration on the actual date of her birth and tonight was the family party. Whew! I'm kinda tired just writing it all down.

Yup, the family O’Speak is not about doing things small.

And so here we go; the Holiday season….
Part of me wants to put a nix on the excess. I don’t want my kids to get greedy and end up being all about the gifts, not about the giving. We’re planning on doing many of the things that will help them to learn about how lucky they are; we’re participating in things like the giving tree and food drives. I talk to the oldest one all the time about how lucky we are to live where and how we do. Not sure she really gets it, but I'm trying to help her understand that we have been very, very blessed.

We go to church and DD1 is in classes, so they’re getting some exposure to the meaning behind Christmas. But when you’re 4, lets face it, it’s about getting stuff. At 4, Baby Jesus is cool and all, but kinda hard to be the Fat Man who leaves you shiny gifts. And that's ok, that's how it's supposed to be when you're 4, right?

Honestly, I’m a big part of the problem; I’m the one purchasing most of the gifts. I get so much joy from the excitement of the day and watching their anticipation. I’m excited for the excitement of Christmas Eve and listening to little girls sneaking down the stairs to see if they can catch a glimpse of a flying sleigh or maybe even a reindeer. When I think of that, when I remember waking up at 4 AM and sneaking out to see if Santa had made it to our house; yes, I would get up and not be able to see anything because it was so dark, but be able to tell that stockings had been stuffed and so would go back to bed knowing I’d missed him, but he’d made it again; when I think of that…then I can’t help myself. Because giving them that type of joy and being allow to be part of it, I just don’t have words to express my excitement.

The Holiday Spirit

Still not completely myself, I’m just so freaking tired. I’ve been going to work and all, but I get home and literally fall onto the couch & pass out. The headaches seem to have abated so that’s a plus. Now that work is giving me actual assignments I’m finding that being ill really cuts into my blogging time. Gonna have to work on that one.

So it’s officially the holiday season (you can tell because the red cups are out at Starbucks) which means the official season of bitching about my family has begun. Some friends and I from work were talking yesterday about the upcoming holidays and all the things we have to do related to them, especially on the day of the holiday. I would say our biggest gripe is about where we have to go and who we have to spend them with. I’m not totally dis’ing my family. It’s just the whole hurry and do this so we can hurry and do that aspect to the day. “We have to open presents by 10 so we can finish cooking the side dishes by noon, and get the turkey in before everyone shows up at 12:30…blah, blah, blah.” That part of it isn’t all that much fun, it’s just kind of stressful.

If you have to drive to various houses (I don’t, but one of my friend does) then you’re doing the drive, drive, drive so you can spend a short amount of time at each place and realize that you spent more time in the car then anywhere else that day.

I've made suggestions for things like ordering the dinner from a grocery store so everyone can relax, but I get shot down, "that's not how we do it." Well, maybe is should be. How about just hanging at home & everyone gets to play with their new toys? Maybe we could do the eating part the day before and then spend Christmas day lounging in PJs, opening gifts, playing with new stuff and knocking back leftovers & cocktails. Now, that sounds like my kind of day.

Blah, and the Blah too!

I’m still here. Sorry, I’m having a blah week. If I were truly creative I would somehow have found some humor in my blah and written about it. But it’s a bad case of the blahs, so not so much.
The biggest part of my deal is that I’ve been sick this week. I think (meaning I’m trying to convince myself) that it’s some kind of sinus thing. On Tuesday I woke up with a bad headache & nausea. I was also exhausted when I woke up. Not such a good way to start out a day, especially one you’ll be spending herding small children for the better part of . As the day progressed both the headache and nausea got worse, around lunch time dizzy and lightheaded decided they wanted to join in. That was right after I spent the better part of DD#1’s gym lessons having hot and cold flashes. Fun! I made myself eat lunch hoping it might help the headache and nausea; it didn’t, but it didn’t make it worse so I guess it wasn’t all bad. I found that I could keep dizzy and lightheaded out of the picture if I stayed horizontal, so I spent the rest of my afternoon on the couch in the playroom. I convinced the girls to play “house”, so I could lay there semi comatose and “watch” them. I was the sick kid & they were the “mommies” making me tea & soup to make me feel better. (When I write it down like that it sounds so cute. Wish I’d been feeling well enough to appreciate it.) I called DS & told him that while I wasn’t asking him to come home right now, if there was anyway he could come home early I would sure be grateful. I also told him I would cry if he needed to work late. He is such an awesome guy, he came home at 2:30 at which time I gratefully gave into my exhaustion and fully passed out on the couch for hours. Blah, blah, blah…more about being sick, blah, blah, blah….no, I’m not pregnant; yes, I’m sure. Anyway, I went to work the next two days because, even though I felt crappy, it wasn’t completely crappy enough to take a sick day. It was lousy enough that being at work was more restful then staying home entertaining my kids.
My mom (aka—the babysitter) is of the belief that if I stay home, regardless of reason, you should be taking care of your kids.

“I had to take care of you guys when you were little when I didn’t feel good,
and no one helped me, wah, wah, wah…”

“Well, jeez mom, perhaps that was cause you were too lame to call and ask for
some help ? Since you had two sets of capable Grandparents and about 50
bajillion cousins living less then 5 minutes away????”

Side note: On the day of the car accident when I came home early, took a vicodin & nap; I was informed that I “had a lot of nerve” for coming home early but wanting her to continue to watch the girls because my neck & back were hurting and I wanted to be drugged up for a while. She wouldn’t mind a nap too you know.”

Yeah, I’m a selfish bitch like that.

Since I know I’m not preggers I was trying to think what else it could be & it occurred to me that sinus’ could be the culprit, although no nose running as of yet. Tonight, I got a wave of the very heavy exhaustion again and a migraine about 5 PM. (It sucked because I had actually felt pretty decent most of the day.) I collapsed on the couch & sucked on a diet soda, caffeine can help migraines. I passed out about 6, and woke up a couple hours later (girls were in bed already) feeling less tired. My migraine finally broke about 11. So that was my very, very long way of telling you why I haven’t written all week AND why the heck I’m still up at 2 AM when I am feeling better. I think I’m a little amped from the soda; I had 3 by the time it was all said & done. I don’t drink that much soda in a week usually.

Ok, I also realized that the only things I was really thinking of writing about were about as boring as this post. So there you go.

There's hope! DD#2 had her 18 month check up today, so I have more to report on that this weekend. Hope your week was better than mine.

Universal Law of Mondays

There is a universal law that states: “Regardless of what time I get up to leave for work, and how much I do at night to be able to be ready to leave early, there will be obstacles that will thwart my efforts and provide that I arrive at my usual 30 minutes late every time.”

Last night I showered, blew my hair dry, pulled out my clothes, made lunches (mine and DD#1), put everything I needed to take with me by the door and filled the car up with gas. There is no reason why I should’ve been late today. Even if I were to wake up late, because of the time change I should be good, right?

Yeah, well the kids decided to wake up early (WTF?). When they get up they want my undivided attention & today was no exception. My mom usually deals with picking out clothes and getting them dressed on work mornings, but this morning I did it. I also ended up starting their breakfast & getting the dogs out before my mom showed up. None of it is big stuff, but it all steals a few minutes here and there.

To make up the time, I didn’t touch up the ends of my hair & I grabbed my makeup to go. I figured I could put it on at work. Hugs, kisses, “Have a good day! I love you!” and I’m out the door, just 5 minutes later then I wanted to get out.

I unlock the driver’s door w/the key & only the driver’s side unlocks. Hmmm, that's weird, maybe it didn’t hold it long enough., put it back in and turn, hold, hold, hold….no, nothing. Ooook, I put my stuff in the car over the driver’s seat & as I’m putting my lunch on the floor I see that the light over DD#1’s seat is turned on.

Uh oh.

I put the keys in the ignition & turn. Nothing.

Damit!

I had the battery charger in the back of the car, so I was able to get the car moving right away, but after the time it took to jump the car, I didn’t get pulled out the drive way until the usual 30 minutes late.

When I got here, I pulled in at the same time as my boss, so she’s well aware of what time I got in today. Lovely.

Just a friendly reminder; it’s Monday! Can I go back to bed now?

A Lesson in Humility, Along With A Hectic Weekend.

Quick before they notice I’m gone!

So our weekend has been fairly uneventful; thankfully. My back, while sore, is not completely out of wack & carrying DD#2 around hasn’t totally tweaked it out yet. FAC was really fun this week (lots of wine, not whine). The neighborhood recently got 3 new families and the ones closest to us were able to join in. We may have overwhelmed them a bit, but overall I think they’re thrilled that they decided to move here. Best part, they have two girls, ages 4 & 18 months! It's like I put in an order for a family with two girls the exact same ages as mine! There were so many kids (13) this week that DD#1 did play with her, but I’m not sure she really got to know her at all yet. DD#2 totally hit it off w/their #2 R. They’re both about the same size & being youngers are on the “tuff” side. They were so damn cute playing in the dirt together & “making dinner” in the play kitchen. I could’ve died. It was good to see DD#2 finally playing with a girl her age for a change. It seems like everyone has boys her age, which is fine, but I could tell she had a lot of fun w/R.

Saturday we slept in (DD#1 slept till 10 AM! Gawd that kid is awesome sometimes!) and then did some light house cleaning. In the afternoon DD#1 ended up having a playdate w/AD from down the street. It was a pretty good one (no fighting) and at the end we walked her home and I was cracking up at DD#2 as she mimicked everything the big girls were doing. How come I never haf my camera on me when she does the super cute stuff? In the afternoon my dad took us to dinner. The girls were complete angels and my dad could not get over how good they were.

Today we headed to church, and once again DD#2 was being amazing during Mass. It was really crowded so we had to sit in a pew w/other people; something I try to minimize so that I can minimize the potential annoyance of having an 18 month old around. But the baby room was full and so were the pews. It wasn’t a big deal; right behind us there was an 18 month old, 7 month old and 4 month old. DD#2 was interested in them, but not overly, so they were actually a good distraction. They were not the most well behaved kids on earth though. They weren't awful or anything, just not the angel my child was being. DD#2 was being the perfect child, and we’d just gotten past the part of Mass when everyone shakes hands and wishes each other “peace.“ DD#2 loves that part & insists on shaking hands with everyone too. Everyone finds this adorable, of course, so I was feeling pretty smug about how good my kids were by this time and fate decided to put me in my place. We’re standing and DD#2 decides to toss her cup onto the pew. It was a “disposable” cup so the lid immediately popped off dumping the full cup of water all over the pew. We were supposed to sit right about then, of course. I was able to warn the lady next to us right off, but still think it got on the edge of her jacket. It had already splashed all over the side of my skirt so I looked lovely when I got up for communion. I had nothing to wipe it up with, at first I grabbed a onsie of DD#2 from the diaper bag, but I realized I needed something more absorbent...

You guessed it, I cleaned it up w/a diaper.

Guess, making me walk out of church w/a full diaper and a half soaked skirt was God’s little way of reminding me of the humility that I might want to keep in check.

Taking it from Behind

On my way to work Thursday I was rear ended. It wasn’t a bad accident. In fact the damage to my bummer is pretty minimal. I as stopped at a red light (3rd in line) and the kid (age 17, of course) behind me didn’t stop. Thinking about it, I’m pretty sure he never hit his breaks; at least I never heard his tires. He was going around 35-40 when he hit meo , so minimal damage to the car because he hit me square, but not totally minimal to me, because he hit me hard (and the fact that I’m already pretty banged up doesn’t help.) He had insurance and pulled over to exchange information, etc…so I’m at least thankful for that. Within an hour of this accident I was starting to stiffen up. By the time 3 hours had passed my lower back & neck were quite angry about the whole deal and additionally giving me a headache. I cut my losses and left work early . At home I took a vicodin, applied ice and tried to sleep it off for a couple hours. It did help. I woke up feeling much better; probably not feeling much of anything to be honest. The minimalizing of the pain lasted until about noon today. Now I’m laying on the couch (blogging) while DD#1 colors and DD#2 sleeps. I probably wouldn’t even mention all this except that DS had to go out of town for the weekend. His Grandmother (age 92) passed this week and he has to go back to PA for the funeral. He won’t be back until Monday night. If my back is bothering me I’m out of luck this weekend, because I’m on my own.

The biggest issue over this is that I didn’t get to post about our Halloween. Now it seems so long ago that it hardly seems relevant. BAH!

Here the Reader’s Digest version so I can feel better about it:
Trick or Treating was fun. The big kids were frenzied and we were constantly yelling, “Don’t Run”, “Wait for us!” and “Slow Down”. A couple times one of the kids bit it because the house was dark & they couldn’t see the step the just tripped over. A few skinned knees, but otherwise no one was worse for the ware. And no candy was lost in the chaos. DD#2 got into the swing of things by house two and FILLED her bucket. Her petit-ness worked in her favor and people were amazed to see someone so small and cute toddling up to their porch, “Twik o Twet!” and their hearts just melted. A “Tank You” (without being prompted) and they’re signing their mortgages over to us. So both girls had a blast. DD#1 asked to come home about 5 minutes after her normal bedtime, but I made her keep going to houses as we worked our way home (no one wants to be the party pooper!). Once home she wanted to have a piece of candy and when I said, “Yes, but just one.” She started to riffle through her treat bag. We got the distinct pleasure of teaching her how to “sort her candy” by dumping it all out on the floor. She thought that was pretty cool (cause it is) and I know will be teaching her sister the finer art of candy sorting next year. She re-sorted it the next day with her G’ma, or course.

My only complaint (you knew there was at least one) about the evening is sort of random. Our neighborhood is one that people drive into in order to bring their kids Trick or Treating. I have no issues with that in of itself. I think it’s great that their kids are able to get the experience even though they don’t totally feel safe about their own area. I get that and I’m cool with it. The thing I wasn’t cool with was the group of 10+ cars in a line going down the street following the group of 20 or so kids as they went house to house. Get the hell out of your cars people! It wasn’t even cold that night, so there was no good excuse, just laziness. It bothered me mostly because it was so dangerous to the kids out Trick or Treating. They were watching their kids, talking on the phone, etc…but someone’s kid runs into the street unexpectedly….ok that was my rant. We took lots of pix but none were as good as the ones I already posted, so you can scroll back to see Arial & Minnie Mouse.

I’m off to our Friday Neighborhood Playdate (I think I’m going to start calling FAC for Friday Afternoon Club, like in college.) Wish me luck over this weekend, if it doesn’t go well it’s going to be a really, really long weekend.

Rockin’ & Rolling

Yup, the House O’Speak was “shaking it up” tonight.

We live relatively close to the epicenter. Lost a mirror off the playroom wall. (Glad the girls weren’t in there; it shattered all over the place.) Close enough that we felt it strongly enough to stop what we were doing. If you’ve lived in “earthquake country” you are probably going, “oh, wow, that was a decent one then.“ For the record, when an earthquake hits in our area most people don’t even stop what they’re doing. You take notice, if it lasts long enough, you may even consider heading for a doorframe, but usually it’s over by then and you’re razzing the newbie from out of state who’s looking a bit green right about now.

People who have never been in an earthquake are usually the ones who are terrified of them. It's typical, you fear what you don‘t know. I am terrified of tornados and hurricanes, so there you go. Don’t get me wrong, earthquakes can be very scary and cause lots of damage. But we are very, very lucky to live in this part of the world. My family likes to say “earthquakes don’t hurt people, buildings hurt people.” My dad is a civil engineer, so designing structures to withstand movement is his job, so I know a little bit about this type of stuff. Because we live in the US where we have building codes and the money to support them; an earthquake that would kill hundreds if not thousands in another country, will break a few dishes here. I’m not trying to be flip about it, that’s the truth. If I really get thinking about it I get really angry. It’s beyond frustrating to me that we have the technology to protect all those people but because of politics and money the structures that are built end up killing people. But off my soapbox for now, that’s material for a different post.
………………………………....
It was the girls’ first real earthquake. We had gotten them to bed about 15 minutes before it hit, so they weren’t completely out. I knew better than to go running to their rooms; nothing freaks out a kid like realizing their parent doesn't have complete control of the world. I think DD#1 was asleep enough that she would’ve thought it was part of dream, but DD#2 is a pretty light sleeper so she woke up & started crying. DD#1 heard me with her and so suddenly I had lots of questions to answer. I had to explain what an earthquake was and how it’s a little scary because we’re never expecting it when it happens. I was quick to praise her, indicating she did exactly the right thing by staying in bed. Then we talked about what to do if you aren’t in bed (stand in a doorway or get under a table). It was actually good timing for the experience. DD#1 wasn’t scared at all, and told me so. Hopefully, when she feels her next one (yes, she will feel others in her lifetime, don’t stress it I’m not) she won’t be totally freaked out by it cause it won’t be new.

Guess we're just setting the mood for Halloween!

Can't Resist

We went to a pumpkin carving party this weekend. The girls wore their Halloween Costumes over so I was able to get some pix when the pressure was off, and I wasn't making them wear warm clothes underneath (it was in the 70's all weekend). I hope it's that nice on Halloween for Trick or Treating. Last night I was running around in a skirt & t-shirt, not even a sweatshirt which is odd for me. I couldn't resist sharing these.

No Presents Parties

I just read this: http://blogs.parentcenter.babycenter.com/momformation/2007/10/24/the-no-gift-birthday-party

I'm curious to hear other people's take on it. We have been invited to some kids parties with this request and we too brought a gift. I believe my choice at the first was art supplies (coloring books & pens or crayons). I too felt weird not bringing anything, but figured the mom was in a similar boat as I in wanting and needing no more toys! I felt art supplies (w/a gift receipt so they could be returned if still too much) was a happy medium. I've also bought character PJs for similar requests; needed clothes that probably cost more then mom wants to pay for a pair of PJs, but not considered "boring clothes" by child because of the character on the PJs.

When reading this post my first thought was that maybe the mom could let the b-day boy keep a few favorites and send the rest to charity? Or maybe get rid of an equal number of existing toys that way. But part of me (the consumer in me who has been told that is mean) feels like that might be a bit heavy for a little kid. I mean life lessons are great, but does his b-day party have to be one too? I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm totally guilty of both sides.

Next year I'm dodging the bullet as far as the big one is concerned; my plan for DD#1 is a "tea party". I'll let her invite 5-6 girlfriends and we'll go to a local tea room where the girls will receive a tea service catered toward kids, but served on real china & such. My SIL did this for my niece's 5th b-day & it was such a cool party. All the girls dressed up in their princess dresses & they loved the fact that they had real china, the sugar cubes were violets and that lunch/tea consisted of finger sandwiches (PB&J), mini rice crispy treats, a mini sundae & other varied sweets. They also hired "Cinderella" to come to the party and entertain the girls with face painting, an interactive story and such. The girls just about died. Yes, I want this party for me, but I think my older one will appreciate it just as much. DD#2 I'm not sure what I'll do. I'm all about the party; I love to plan a theme & decorate, be creative with my invites and the cake, things like that. But we too have more toys then I care to admit to, so a no presents party would be a nice change. What do you think? Any creative ideas on ways to circumvent the mom's (like me) who feel compelled to bring something anyway?

Got an Hour? I've got a post for you!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I’ll explain in a minute and I think you’ll understand.

At this point Miami feels a bit like a long ago event to me. So sad that those vacation feelings fade so quickly, huh? Sigh.

Vacation was glorious. I got over my Fibro episode after about a day and half and it was all good. In fact, I wasn’t spectacular about my low carb diet the whole vacation; I had vodka strawberry daiquiris (diet coke & vanilla stolli got old quick) and even had some pita one night! Gasp! The humanity of it, I know.

I found it hard to be on vacation & not eat some of these evil carb containing foods. I consider a huge part of travel to be the food. And guess what, there’s a lot of food that is based on carbohydrates. So I just tried not to go to town; I didn’t waste the carbs I was having on things I didn’t care that much about, and actually did really well. I’m guess I’m still learning how much my body will and won’t tolerate. I still haven’t quite figured out what my balance is; meaning the range of carbs I can eat each day and maintain my weight. I still lost 2 lbs on vacation, so even eating the carbs I did eat, I lost some weight. That was a bit of an epiphany. I have now hit the weight I was at prior to having both kids. Crazy, huh? I’ve dieted, I’ve exercised, and I’ve managed to lose some weight and inches in the past, but nothing like this; this is almost like it’s melting off. I won’t think about it until I put on a pair jeans I haven’t worn all summer and find that they now sit on my hips instead of my waist. The little episode in Florida also served another purpose: it confirmed that I am controlling my Fibromyalgia with diet. A few years ago, I would never have thought it possible. I was grateful that I had found a drug regimen that was working for me (many people aren’t that lucky). But I have to admit I did have a nagging worry about the long term affects of being on those drugs. Ultimately I wasn’t treating the syndrome, I was treating the symptoms. But if relief of symptoms was the best I could get I’d take it. I may not being doing much different; but now I don’t think I’m suppressing symptoms by this diet. I believe I’m actually treating my syndrome. I imagine it’s a bit like an allergy to a food. In my case it’s a group of foods. If I eat them, I won’t go into shock, but I will get sick and I now seem to know what causes it. I hope they will soon be able to discover the why. The weight loss has been an added benefit and I have to admit I’m thrilled. I hope to lose another 5-10 lbs (down another dress size) and I’d be exceptionally happy with that. I still eat a ton, so that’s the best part, I don’t feel deprived and my overall health and looks have improved. OMG, sometimes I think I’m going to wake up & realize it’s all just been a dream. And I may have to bitch-slap myself over this last paragraph. Seriously, the weight loss has been easy.

So back to vacation; we had a couple glorious days of laying on the beach. I know, not very good for your skin in the long run. But the short term…Dude! I have such an awesome tan! Personally, there isn’t much more relaxing than sitting on the warm sand of the beach while a cabana boy brings you cocktails. Bliss.

I knew I needed a vacation, I just didn’t realize how badly. It was lovely, and it was nice to have so much time with DS, just the two of us. We did realize that we spent a lot of time watching families with kids the same age as ours. We both missed the girls very much. We didn’t pine over it, but we found that they were always on our mind. We stayed out late (and realized we’re kinda over that whole Spring Break scene—too much work) and slept in late. We ate dinner at 10 PM, and sat on the patio of bars watching the whole South Beach scene while sipping cocktails late in the early morning hours. (We love to be the peanut gallery.) It was fun, but we’re both very, very glad to be home. The girls were excellent at the G’parents and have actually been better behaved (knock on wood) since we’ve been back, so maybe we all needed this break.

On Monday, I got back onto work and reality hit. I was greeted by a not very nice email which pretty much stressed me out for the next 24 hours. The fact that it stressed me out added to my stress; honestly, I don’t want to care that much when it comes to this job & this place. While I’m not going to go into details the email was somewhat of personal attack & that’s a lot of why it stressed me out. I spent most of my Monday stressing about how I wanted to respond to it and crafting that response. Tuesday morning I was able to mostly put it out of my mind & focus on my girls and today I greeted by what might be somewhat of an apology. Go Figure. I’m glad I was able to more or less put it away when not here (although I did notice that my need for chocolate went up exponentially,) but it still irks me that it was able to get to me to the degree it did. It also irks me that this person effective dropped a bomb & walked away with no regard for the consequences of their statements. BAH!

I was going to write yesterday, but in an effort to put that email aside I mostly stayed away from the computer. I had a lovely day of coloring and playing outside with the girls. We had lunch w/my dad (he surprised DD#1 by showing up to watch her gymnastics class) and while DD#2 took her nap, DD#1 and I colored together which was really fun. It was nice to just hang out with her and not have her whining at me. When DD#2 got up we went for a walk (it was perfect here yesterday) and ended up hanging out for the afternoon at a neighbors house. My house isn’t any cleaner, but we were all relaxed & happy and isn’t that what really matters most?

We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto!

So we’re in Miami.

Our trip was pretty non-eventful; we had a few issues w/DS’s itinerary; had the next days date on it and then upon clearing it up finding that we weren’t sitting together, but a bit of schmoozing and we had the bulkhead seats, so it actually worked out better for us. Compared to the last trip, it was heavenly.

We got here about 9 EST so by the time we got to the hotel & such everyone was ready to eat & drink. We all headed to the main hotel and had bar food for dinner. When that bar kicked us out (at like 12) we went to another real bar w/a couple bands & drank there for a while. Very fun. Very DINKs (Double Income No Kids, which was us before we hard our lovely babies) of us. Ummm, minor detail I forgot; on American (at least in coach) they don’t serve food, just drinks. You can buy food, ridiculously priced of course, but otherwise, not even a bag o’peanuts. We knew this, so in the airport I purchased a sandwich for DS & a salad for myself. Cool. Only when I went to eat my salad, no dressing. IIt was a bummer, but I had some low carb granola bars with me so I ate one of those. Of course, when we started drinking I kinda forgot to take into account that I really hadn’t eaten and started downing Morgan’s & cokes. And since after like 2 sips I was feeling no pain, I continued to drink them all night. I also forgot to order them as Morgan’s & Diet Cokes. Minor detail, which it turns out has major consequences.

Yeah, my body totally rebelled on me.

I woke up the next morning feeling dehydrated, not really hung over, but dehydrated. I started drinking lots of water & about 2 hours later got a headache. I still chalk that up to dehydration. About an hour after that, my stomach rebelled. I’ll leave it at that, you can use your imagination. By dinnertime I was fully nauseous. I ordered dinner took like two bites & declared myself done. The thought of food was making we queasy by now. So we came home by 9 & were in bed by 10. I woke up every hour because I so uncomfortable & I kept the ice bucket (lined w/a plastic bag) next to the bed because more then once I thought I was going to lose it (my lunch to be specific).

DS’s conference started today, so after he left I sort of passed out for about 2 hours, which made me feel slightly more human. Now, I have those “haven’t had any sleep” body cramps. Except that mine our mitigated by the fibro, which makes them more intense & longer lasting then the usual ones. I could nap & drink lots of water, but time & consistency (low, low carb) are what will help get rid of them. I hope.
So it’s 2 in the afternoon & I just finished getting dressed. (I move very slowly when I hurt this much). I’ve had half a bottle of water since I’ve been up & I’m about halfway through a low carb granola bar (only think I had to snack on in the room). I think I’m ready to go look for something more substantial like cheese or eggs. I’ve looked up bus routes & the hours of several things I want to go do, (most are closed today) so it hasn’t been a totally wasted day. And while I’m still queasy, my stomach has stopped doing flip flops at the thought of food. We haven’t seen much of the sun, or I’d probably be down by the pool now w/a book. If we had the kids with us, we’d there or the beach for sure, it’s in low 80s & pretty nice overall. Since I don’t have the kids, I’m going to walk to the closest ATM & then walk to the nearby (about 3 city blocks) Macy’s. (My purse is killing me, I forgot how much pressure it puts on my neck. I need a stroller ;) I don’t really have a “summer purse” since I’ve spent the last two summers schlepping a diaper bag. I’m hoping to find something that won’t hurt my neck so much, but is usable. So we’ll see. If all of that goes well, I’ll probably go read at a Starbucks for a while. If I decide I’m feeling really good I’ll go check out Coconut Grove (supposed to have good shopping). So we’ll see.
Next post I’ll hopefully have some pix of the “colorful” attire we’ve been seeing down in South Beach. It’s so exactly what you’d expect from South Beach. My inner 10-year-old boy is working overtime.

Head East Young Man...errr South East, errr Middle aged couple....Whatever, Get Going Before You Change Your Mind!

I just finished putting together a power of attorney document for my kids while we’re gone. We’re headed to Miami for a week on Saturday.

No kids.

I’m not sure how I feel about it now that it’s so close to happening.

When I was making reservations I was still breastfeeding, so the thought of being able to be away from the kids for that length of time was beyond exciting. Originally, I was planning on flying out on Wednesday, DS is going for a conference and will be attending functions Monday – Wednesday. Once I started researching flights I realized it was actually cheaper for me if I fly on the weekends, even though I’m staying longer. Go Figure. Since the hotel room is the same either way we decided to go for it. We haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years! Since before DD1 was born. The thought of having that much free time was intoxicating.

OMG, I can lay by the pool and read a book! Not a short article in a
magazine, but an honest-to-goodness book. I can get a pedicure and not
have to schedule around naps and babysitting availability. We can go out
to dinner at EIGHT PM and no one will freak out.

Ok, DS might freak out, but if I get him a beer and some chips he’ll be fine.

The idea of that much freedom seemed like such a pipedream!

The plan is to hang in Miami until Thursday and then we’re going to drive down to Key West for a couple days. I’m sure we’ll take our time getting there. I’m excited because I’ve never even been to Florida before and I’ve always wanted to visit The Keys. I’m excited to get to spend some alone time with my husband, to be a couple for a little while again, instead of a “family” all the time, to travel without a hard plan, to relax without an end time to it, to be able to decide I want to go do something and just be able to get up and go do it. Oh, and to drive in the car without anyone saying anything, just enjoying the sound of each other's silence.

Don’t get me wrong I’m still nervous about this trip. For some reason, I tend to get very fatalistic about flying. I’m not really scared to fly and dude, I used to be a premier member for years on United so it’s not like I haven’t done more then my fair share of travel. But I do get nervous about the flying thing. I guess it would be more accurate to say I’m nervous about the not-flying thing. You know, crashing or something equally awful. Ok, I said it, so now it won’t happen right?

I’m also nervous about leaving the girls. I know I’m going to miss them like heck. As lovely as a pedicure on my own time and lounging by the pool with a book sounds, it ultimately pales in comparison to the giggles and hugs of my kids. I know they’ll be fine and the G’parents have some big plans for them, so they’re going to have lots of fun. But it still doesn’t make this easier. I am going to miss them soooo much. There’s a reason we haven’t had more then an overnight alone in 5 years and it’s not the babysitting issue. It’s that we really love being with our girls. In most situations, we’d rather have them with us than not. There have been opportunities to do things for a weekend here and there without them, and we’ve opted not do that. If possible, we take them with us. We don’t just love them, we like them too. Most of all we love being around them and I’m so very glad for that.

My mom acts put out that I’m going to leave them for 7 days instead of 4. Apparently 4 is ok in her book, but 7 is ridiculous. Personally, I think I’ll miss them equally 2 days or 2 weeks, that’s part of why I decided it was ok to go earlier. I know I can use a recharge, so ultimately it’ll be good for all of us. Doesn’t mean it’ll be easy, but it will be good.

In case things get so busy I can’t get back on here in the next couple days, pray for really good weather in So FL for me. I totally want to lie by the pool/on the beach and get a tan. When it rains I plan on shopping, spa treatments and sitting in coffee shops while reading. All those things I never get to do anymore because I have kids. I’m bringing my laptop, so assuming I can pick up some WiFi I’ll post when I can, which with no kids around may be more then I have things to write about. Of, course I can always bore you with the details of how much I miss them. And if you have any suggestions for things we need to do/see in the Miami/Keys area by all means please post it, I would love to hear your suggestions.

So here's my Sept. scrap book pages to hold you over in the meantime (names have been changed to protect the cute) :

Did anyone see any pigs flying around today?

OMG! I have actual work to do today! At work! No, I’m not joking.

That’s why I haven’t posted anything yet. I’ve had an hour long (training) meeting, and converted several files for various people here today. Converting the files; not really all that hard, but for some reason it falls into the area of things only I can do for them (now that I think about it, it might be that I’m the only one who has all the software required for such converting; ahh, government work). But that’s ok, things to do. It's not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy getting paid for blogging and updating my scrapbook, but things to do that are actual work related things = job security or at least less job insecurity.

So now I get to go update some web pages. Yes, they do want me to work on something I was actually hired to do! I know, I know, pace myself. Don’t want to burn myself out by doing something that takes longer then 10 minutes. I could be laid out for a week if I try to tackle it all before noon. Might pull a muscle in my eye or something.

So more later today!

No Matter What You Call It, It's Still A Monday.

I had the weirdest day today.

It’s Columbus Day & being a government worker I had the day off. Being in a private preschool (although I did notice our public school was in too) DD1 did not. So it was a Friday again for me. Got her off to school and

• hit the Safeway (Trader Joe’s doesn’t carry low sugar drinkable yogurt or low carb ice cream, Rat Bastards!)
• Picked up my contacts at the eye doctor.
• Stopped by a local bakery & picked up these spice bar cookies I covet from my youth and
• dropped them off at H’s (Baby Girl has been home for a couple days now, Baby Boy is supposed to come home today sometime.) You know, nothing helps with sleep deprivation and milk production like a good home made cookie. DD2 got to see Baby Girl which was so damn cute (her little eyes & nose peeking over the top of the bassinet as she stood on tippy toes to see! Gawd! How come I never have my camera when I really need it! But that’s another post at another time.

All of that was before 10 AM. I was so productive. In fact, I was going to take DD2 for a very much needed haircut and the car for a much needed car wash, but she fell asleep before the end of the block at H’s house, so we went home for her to nap. I know, not weird yet, really good up till that point.

Some back story: At the grocery store I purchased some midol, as I’m having some major cramping and thought it might help. It was about the time we left H’s house that these drugs kicked in. OMG! I’m pretty sure what happened is that my blood pressure dropped. Basically midol is Tylenol and caffeine, so I think the caffeine may have caused the drop. In most people it would probably raise your pulse & BP, but I tend to do the opposite (if the situation would raise your BP, it would lower mine.) And everything was spinning. It was like being drunk, but without the fun drinking part. I put DD2 down for her nap & laid down, which DID. NOT. STOP. THE SPINNING. I tried calling a couple neighbors to see if they could pick up DD1 in an hour if this didn’t stop, but no one was around (of course.) I tried sleeping for that hour, and was successful, but it was a weird kind of sleep and I woke up still lightheaded, dizzy and spacey. Since I had to wake DD2 to pick up DD1 I decided I take them both for hair cuts. I was spinning, but not quite as bad at that point. I’d brought some snacks (cheese, granola bars, water…) figuring I needed to eat and/or drink something and that would take care of it. The salon is in a strip mall which also contains a teacher supply store. So first we went there & got DD1 a pack of alphabet flashcards. (She knows about half of her letters by sight & I think the others, she just doesn’t come in contact enough with, so figured we could make it into a game to help her move along on this topic.) They were also having a two books for one sale so I got suckered into a couple books for her because they had her coveted “Magic School Bus” ones. (I know the theme song to that show. Sad, very, very sad.) Then took them to get their hair cut, which was mostly uneventful. Except that they cut DD2’s hair short! I mean, I guess she needed it, but, oh man, I really hope they didn’t end up cutting out all her curls. During their cuts I noticed that the salon seemed really, really hot & stuffy to me. I had to sit while they were getting done cause I was afraid I'd start passing out. By the time we were done I was getting super lightheaded again . (In fact, I was a little nervous about driving, but figured it had more to do with the place then me.) We skipped the car wash & went strait home. By the time I got home I was in full spin mode. I set the girls up w/a Wiggles movie (2 glorious hours) in the playroom & laid down on the couch in the family room. I informed them to play & get along because mommy was not feeling good. And miraculously they mostly did. At one point, DD2 came over to me & asked for a nap (I know! I couldn’t believe it either, but I think she sensed something was really wrong with me & not to screw around.) I carefully walked her up the stairs (I knew better then to risk carrying her the way I was). DD1 watched her movie and then played w/her magnetic paper dolls. I literally laid on the couch for like 4 hours, other then getting up to put DD2 to bed and then later to get her up. The room Never. Stopped. Spinning.

FINALLY, DS got home! Thank God! We were supposed to go to some friends’ house for dinner & he asked if I wanted him to take the girls so I could actually rest! Yes, yes! Please!

So I’m home alone now, which is weird.

About 7 I realized that I still feel groggy, but not so dizzy suddenly. I decided, after something like 7 bottles of water, (I’m not kidding) that I needed to pee. I got up and found that the room had indeed decided to stay still. My mid-back is killing me because I’ve been laying on the couch all day, but at least I’m not falling over while lying down anymore. I feel shaky, like after you’ve been sick for a couple days & haven’t had anything to eat. Only, I’ve been eating and drinking all day.
Needless, I’ll be staying away from the midol from now on. In fact, I believe Red Bull and Monster are off limits too. It’s so weird; I take a vicodin for pain & need a half a glass of wine to really kick it in so that it helps, otherwise nothing. But dude, extra strong coffee; puts me on my ass!
That’s what I get for drinking decaf.

Testing, testing...

Guess what I’m doing right now? Yup I’m blogging from my couch!!! Isn ‘t it lovely? We finally got the wireless network up and running (again). Keep your fingers crossed that it lasts. Later today I will be attempting to get the CPU we’ve hooked up to the TV going so we can download our movies from netflix; then all will be right with the world.
Sorry, that’s just me geeking out a bit.
So anyway…..
Dutch listed a post about their recent prenatal screening test and boy has it lit up the wires.
It’s interesting to me how differently each of us will take something when we read it. Our personal experiences and the resulting prejudices that shape our opinions on a subjects define our reaction. All he really did was describe his experience and the conflicting emotions he had over the news he would get as a result of this test, good or bad. But many took offence at his perceived lack of empathy toward families with special needs kids. Then the comments started to get heated with the debate regarding “choice.” Poor Dutch, he was just writing about his experience and the internet attacked him. But that is how it goes with the internet, you think you’re writing about this amazing dinner you made and then suddenly PETA is sending you hate mail because you were eating animals. Your most mundane topics take on a life of their own because of the way people perceive you’re writing.
His post was intended to talk about the ethics of the way in which the test is presented to parents. In his case the test was not really treated as optional. It wouldn’t have mattered to them, but that’s not his point. He also discussed the ethics of having this information, in that we are potentially creating a world in which all babies that are born are “disability free”. Is this a world we really want to live in? And while he didn’t even get to this part, my mind went the direction of the ethics of things like choosing your child’s gender, height, hair & eye color. If you’re choosing for your child to be disability free when does that move into things like we only want blue eyed, blonde haired kids? (Personally I prefer my children to have very deep blue eyes, dark brown hair and olive colored skin, but that’s me & I didn’t really get a vote on the subject. Just got to buy the lottery ticket.) Do we circle back to certain hair, eye & skin colors becoming a “disability”?
Eventually, the topic turned back to his intended subject: our medical system. Maybe that’s not exactly what he meant, but that’s where it headed. Much of his concern related to the way in which the test is presented to parents as a standard test, when really it’s a screening. There’s a big difference, I know because I came back high risk for Down’s in a screening. But it isn’t presented that way. In fact, because it is a screening and not a true test of potential issues (a screening to determine if you need the actual test) the information you are provided with is really not complete. And the doctors who are delivering the news don’t really get any training in how to deliver less then great news, which is a large part of what he was driving at. How ethical is it for a doctor to tell you you’re high risk for Down’s or other chromosomal abnormalities when they really don’t know? How ethical is it for a doctor to tell you you’re high risk, but not inform you that what they are giving you is a score based on many factors including external ones (like your age) that existed before you ever walked through the door? How ethical is it for parents to make life changing decisions about their unborn child without being given all the information? Because that’s really what’s going on.

I know this post got a bit heavy, but when I have a few minutes I will write about our “scare” during my first pregnancy. It was pretty awful. Then I think you’ll understand why I feel compelled to comment in the first place.

It's BOMBASTIC!!!

So did you know today was "the great mofo delurk" day? No one told me either. Yeah, my feelings were hurt too. And since the day is mostly over for about (or aboot if you're Canadian) half of the country I'm pretty sure most of you will not be delurking, but by all means knock yourself out. I don't mind if you're a day or two late. In fact that would be entirely appropriate for me. And now onto your regularly scheduled post...




Ever make a trip to the local cable office? Me neither, till yesterday.

We get our internet from cable & our wireless router wasn’t working with our modem. After much trial and tribulation and many phone calls to customer service it was determined that we should exchange our modem. I’ve had good intentions to do this for several weeks now. I HATE that I can’t access our internet from downstairs!

It’s the reason why I generally don’t post on non-work days. Rotten kids think I should actually pay attention to them. Jeez! They’re so demanding! They want to be fed and stuff too!

I was trying to run this little errand while DD1 was in school so I’d only have one child to torture myself (and the CSR) during my visit. It just wasn’t working out, so yesterday, with both kids in tow, I went to the Customer Service office for our cable company. (Rhymes with Bombast.)

The office isn’t far from us, so we head over there and try to find parking. Uh oh. Not off to a good start, the very large parking lot is full. Apparently the majority of the building is used for training, so I assumed (wrongly) that the majority of the cars were probably for that. Oh yeah, and the stroller never got put back in the car after our Costco trip this weekend. This was not starting off all that well. After about 10 minutes I found a random parking space, it was in their parking lot, so I guess I should consider that a plus. I carry DD2 while holding DD1’s hand through the parking lot. DD2 is getting pretty heavy these days, seems that she’s at least 20 lbs now. My point is that my back (which hasn’t been so hot lately) was not doing so hot by the time we got to the sidewalk and I could put her down, and I was starting to break a sweat (ewww). We got to the building and open the door and….the line! OMG the line! Think DMV, but with only 4 service windows. One window is only taking cash transactions and only one window has a Spanish speaker in it. Luckily those were not the same window. It did not look hopeful. The line wound around the office twice and was at the door. We go in it. It was lunch time, DD2 had not had a nap yet today. Wow, this was as pushing it as we could get.

Guess what!

Totally uneventful. Most people couldn’t use the cash only window and/or needed the Spanish speaking guy, so we only waited about 10 minutes. AMAZING! I was able to switch out our modem without incident. The lady who helped us was nice and helpful and it was just so ODD!

In fact it was BOMBASTIC! If you know what I mean.

Happy October!

Actually has been pretty happy. I had a rough weekend with my back; actually broke down & took a vicodin yesterday. That was after I was completely useless for most of the day. I think I’m feeling the after affects of it today as my blood pressure (I think) is low. I started randomly having a dizzy spell, and I got hot and then I got a headache. Bah! Very reminiscent of my pregnancy. No I’m not pregnant, don’t go there. I wouldn’t exactly be sad if I were to get pregnant, but this isn’t how I’d tell you either. DS says we’re done, so unless he changes his mind I guess we’re done. Kinda a two person thing you know.

On the other hand, Auntie H & Uncle A are now Mommy H & Daddy A! Yeah!!!! The twins were born on Saturday and are doing very well. Baby Boy was 6 lbs. 3 oz. (bigger then DD2, who was a full term single birth) and Baby Girl was 5 lbs 8 oz. Baby Boy has had a few issues that are somewhat typical (I think) of multiple births, but some have already ironed themselves out, so I’m sure it will all be happy chaos by the end of the week.

The only real new news is that I have been cropping like crazy these days and actually been approached to do someone’s baby book for them. I know! At first I was like, I don’t know, cause that feels like such a responsibility, but then I looked into what a commercial license entails, etc… and I feel more comfortable about it now. So I emailed her today to see if she’s still interested. We’ll see. I think I’m going to leave it at that so I can go crop some more AND because I still have this raging headache. I’ll leave you with one of my recent layouts to fill the usually lengthy (wordy) void.

Layout credits: All layout paper and elements are from the express yourself kit by Ronna Penner of Scrapadelic.com. Grunge mask from J. Sprague.

She's a smart one, that 4YO

Zoot was talking about how they deal with punishing their kids today and I had a lengthy comment on the topic.

I know, me, a lot to say? Who knew?

It reminded me of something funny from the other day.

Well, I think it's funny. My mom, maybe not so much.

I believe I’ve mentioned that DD2 is a bit loud at times. What I mean to say is that it isn’t uncommon for us (or complete strangers) to refer to her a baby pterodactyl on occasion. Seriously, this kid can screech! She’s especially fond of practicing this talent while in the car; she seems to feel that any ride longer then say out the driveway should be protested. LOUDLY.

I was going to insert appropriate example in video here, but it seems that upon transferring my media files to my portable drive I somehow transferred a jpeg of the first frame of the video, but not the actual video footage. WTF? So I will have to give you an example at some later date. Don’t worry, there are plenty of opportunities for examples of the Baby Pterodactyl. Just get in the car. Hmmm……Halloween costume idea…

So the other day G’ma & DD2 are picking up DD1 from pre-school and DD2 is screeching her head off. G’ma’s ears are bleeding and her head is about to explode so she yells at DD2 trying to get her attention enough to make her stop. To which DD1 replies, “But G’ma you’re yelling loudly too.”

heh, heh

The Last of MOO-hicans (I've got a million of them!)

It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it; it’s more like it just kinda makes me feel sad.

My baby is growing up.

I know, I am happy for her, but every day they both need me a little less and that can make a girl feel melancholy. (If you talk to me on Friday night after hanging with both of them ALL. DAY. LONG. I believe you will get a different kind of answer, but I digress…)

So week before last DD2 stopped breastfeeding.

Sigh.

When DD1 was done with breastfeeding (BF) it was my decision. She kept biting me, by 12 months she had 12 teeth and she wasn’t afraid to use them. (I am still a resource to a couple moms’ groups on how to heal nerve damage and cuts while still BFing the baby. There's a visual for you. You're welcome.) On her first birthday DD1 started getting sippy cups only (we ditched the bottle at the same time too). DD1 did not care. As long as she was getting the food she was happy. Actually, she was pretty happy no matter what, so there you go, a very easy going kid. Five days later I back into a full blown Fibro episode. Bah! So my b00bs no longer hurt, but everything else did.

This go around I decided I was going to continue with the BFing until DD2 weaned herself. Ok, if she was starting kindergarten I would’ve probably drawn the line. But I don’t know, being pain free is a pretty magical thing. You might be willing to BF your 8 year old too if it meant no pain. (God, I’m kidding. That would gross me out too.) My point is that I was going to let DD2 self-wean.

And she did.

She just did it a lot sooner then I thought she would.

DD2's a snuggly kid and she likes BFing. She was constantly feeling me up & asking for it. Much like a druggie needing a fix. I’m not a big fan of the “on demand” thing so she had a general schedule

(please don’t email me about what an awful mom I am because I don’t propagate the “on demand” philosophy, if it works for you great then do it. I know it wouldn’t work for me or my family. ‘nuf said.)

The last hold out feeding was the going to bed one.

It was nice. The last quiet moments of her day, rocking in the chair in her room in the dusk, watching her eyelids get heavy and her little baby hands reaching for my face to try and entice me into a game. I knew she wasn’t getting much milk anymore; if anyone else was around she would totally pop off to see what was happening (something she would never do if she were getting a lot of milk.) A couple weeks ago I went out to dinner with some mom’s from the neighborhood. I told DS to give her a bottle & she should be fine. When I got home he said she really didn’t drink it, she just played with it. So the next night I had him put her to bed again (I figured it was less likely to fly if I was around) this time without anything but a story and a kiss goodnight.

She cried and cried and cried. And then she cried some more.

Finally, it became apparent she was winding up, not down, so I went up to her room (about 30 minutes had passed). I picked her up and she stopped crying (go figure). She laid her head on my shoulder and calmed her hiccup-y cries and sniffles. (She does pathetic really well.) I sat down in the rocker & she pulled on my shirt. I told her, “No you’re a big girl now and we don’t do that anymore.” She laid her head on my shoulder and hugged me as she went to sleep. And my heart broke a little.

Sigh

I didn’t expect her to listen to me!

She’s asked for it at various times since then, (not like I would've thought) usually because she’s upset. A hug and a bink will usually suffice in those cases. If she's being a little more insistant I tell her she’s a big girl and we don't do that anymore. She just kind of shrugs her shoulders and moves on.

I’d say she’s taking it way better then I am.

So much fodder, so little blogging…

I have had lots of topics I should’ve been blogging about this weekend. None of which happened, of course.

Right this second my topic du jour is related to my health; specifically my fibromyalgia. In June, I started to notice that some of my symptoms were returning. As the baby was dropping feedings, I was starting to have some pain, sleeplessness, IBS, migraines…the list goes on. This happened with my last pregnancy/nursing, so I knew what was happening. I was coming out of remission.

It’s been close to two years since I’ve had to deal with my Fibro so I asked DS to get on some of his medical/drug boards (online) while I perused the public ones to see if there were any new studies/treatments that were being touted as the next big thing. As it turns out we found one. It’s not really new, but there’s a new aspect to it that we didn’t notice before. This study summary said something that caught my attention:

Many fibromyalgic patient, especially women, are carbohydrate intolerant ("hypoglycemic") and must restrict their intake of sugar and starches. These overlapping syndromes have distinguishing symptoms that must both be recognized and treated for successful therapy.

Hmmmm…in order to treat hypoglycemia all one has to do is go on a low-carb diet.

In late June I did just that. Since July I’ve lost about 10 lbs and at least 4 inches off my waist. (Maybe more, I haven’t weighed or measured myself in over a week and the skirt I have on today is looser then it’s been so…) The weight loss in itself is a big plus as far as I’m concerned, but the real benefit has been what I would tout as a HUGE reduction in symptoms.

1. IBS: Within two days of starting this diet my IBS was gone. GONE! Even when pregnant & nursing, my IBS never went totally away. That makes sense, my intestinal tract is happier when I changed my diet.

2. Muscle Spasms/Pain: For the first time in at least 5 years I am not sleeping with a neck brace on (I know I’m totally bringing back the sexy.) In the past if I didn’t wear a brace to support my neck muscles during sleep I would wake to find that my neck was in a complete spasm and it would take a couple of hours before I could move it. Meaning it would take a couple hours to get out of bed. Seriously.

3. Sleep: (always the worst part of it) Sleep has always been my biggest issue, while I can’t say every night has been super relaxing, I can say that even the nights I wake up tired I have had dreams that I remember, which means I’m hitting REM. Getting to REM has always been the problem for me, so that’s a huge deal.

There are other less intrusive symptoms some are hanging around here and there; some have not seemed to come back at all. I am on Paxil still for Post Partum Depression. (I see my doctor next week and I’m going to ask how long you’re considered Post Partum. Considering my “baby” is 17 months old on Thursday and walking and talking I’m not so sure I still qualify.) But the big deal is that I stopped nursing week before last (I’ll be writing about this soon, but right now I don’t want to turn into a blubbering mess) and all of this is still the case. Last time I quit nursing I had a full blown case of Fibro going within 5 days. ; could hardly get out of bed, pretty much not sleeping, suddenly couldn’t eat all kinds of foods (i.e. leafy greens & diary) without getting violently ill.

I do believe we may have stumbled on something here.

I still have carbs I’m just limiting them. I’m treating myself as if I’m pre-diabetic, if I have something (like my Starbucks) then I really, really try to watch my carbs for the rest of the day. If I skip that mocha my carb intake is usually between 20-40 a day, if not I’m usually around 60. Before doing this I had no idea how many carbs were in my diet, but now that I’m paying attention I can’t believe it. I would easily consume 100 carbs in one meal! (Consider the evil pasta.) I’ve really started to pay attention to not just my diet, but my kids diet too. They probably aren’t as happy about it as me, but I refuse to let them eat a kid-sized yogurt that has more carbs in it then I will eat all day (43). (Don’t worry, I found a kid themed one with only 13 grams of carbs in it. A number I can live with.) Maybe we can avoid some of these types of issues for them.

For me the diet hasn’t been hard because I can eat as much as I want as long as I keep my carbs limited. I munch on nuts all day; I eat eggs all the time, my favorite snack is really good string cheese and I can eat salami and mayo at lunch. We’re drinking whole milk and eating whole milk cheeses. Since the food tastes better (then “light” or “non-fat”) it’s more enjoyable. I guess it doesn’t make me feel like I’m missing out. Lately, I’m even allowing myself a “bite” of pasta, rice or bread if I really want it with dinner.

I’m keeping my figures crossed, but we may have a found a “treatment” that doesn’t involve pregnancy.

Pirate Speak... to help you blige rats out!

I can't take credit for these, "borrowed" them from a mate who posted them on Yahoo Answers.

Addled/ addlepate - foolish, foolish person
Ahoy! - hello
Avast! - Hey
Begad! - By God!
Belay! - Stop that! Shut up!
Bilge/ bilge rat - nonsense talking, insult
Deadlights - yer "eyes", matey!
Dog - insult (e.g., scurvy dog!)
Fair winds! - Good bye, good luck!
Gangway! - out of my way!
Grub - food!
Jack tar/ tar - A sailor.
Lad, lass(ie) - person younger than you
(Land)lubber - insult to someone who is NOT a pirate, arr! Someone who is not a sailor.
Me hearties! - Friends!
Pillage - to rob or raid.
Poxed - insult that someone looks deathly sick.
Rum - drink, or someone acting peculiar. "Ye be a rum fellow for not talking like a Pirate on Pirate's Day!"
Scupper that! - Expression of anger -- I don't know what it means exactly. :)
Scurvy - diseased, insult.
Sea dog - An experienced sea man.
Ship-shape - organized, under control.
Loaded to the Gunwales - drunk :)
Messdeck lawyer - A know-it-all.
Squiffy - buffoon.
Waister - an incompetent sailor.
Shiver me timbers! - Surprise or way to lure someone for sex. "Wanna shiver *me* timbers, mate?"
Sink me! - Surprise.
Swab - A disrespectful term for a seaman. (e.g., "Ye cowardly swabs!")
Walk the plank - fictional term actually from story books. You know what it means...
Wench - female. (e.g., "Ye be a saucy wench!") One who may be promiscuous.
Yo-ho-ho - meaningless, but fun to say!
Aye! - Yes, I agree with all you said and did just now!
Aye aye! - Right away, sir!, when my break is over...
Black Spot - To "place the Black Spot" on another pirate is to sentence him/her to death or warn him of such.
Booty - loot! Gold! Treasure!
Buckaneer, bucko - friend. "Ay, ye be a good bucko!"
Cap'n - Captain.
Doubloon - Spanish gold coin.
Feed the fish - to throw someone overboard dead or alive.
Grog - An alcoholic drink.
Gun - cannon.
Hands - crew of a ship, sailors.
Shark bait - a lazy/worthless sailor.
Splice the mainbrace - To have a drink, or several drinks.
Swag - loot.
Nipperkin - A small drink.

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

`Tis International Talk Like a Shipmate Tide!! I`ll be aft wi' more later!

More here: http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

and translater (for all you blige rats!) here: http://www.syddware.com/cgi-bin/pirate.pl

Did you feel that?

So tell me did you feel the earth move yesterday? ‘round 9:30. Yeah, that was us.

We went to church.

Opps! Sorry about that, didn’t realize you were drinking something. I hate it when I shoot soda out of my nose too. Next time I’ll try to remember to tell you sit down or something before I hit you with news like that.

So yeah, we went to church yesterday. I don’t remember if I mentioned that I signed up DD#1 for the Sunday School (it’s a regular class, that costs money, not just a show up & we’ll put your kids in front of Veggie Tails kind of thing). We even signed up at our neighborhood church. I know big move there. But I figured it was time.

I’ve gone to the same church since before I’d met DS. It was my neighborhood church and I loved it. It had a young congregation and it was a very welcoming place to go. Plus it was in the middle of our downtown, so after we’d walk to get beers or coffees or something. And let’s face it, what’s a mass celebration w/out a beer chaser? As a result my old church ended up being where DS and I got married and where both girls were baptized. So, we have lots of history there, but we don’t live that close to it any more. When you’re big on sleeping in on weekends, not being that close to your church can have a major impact on your attendance. I’m just saying. We’d tried going to churches closer to us after we’d moved from that area, but never found a place we felt as comfortable at. Plus, you know, that sleep thing. When DD#2 was born I decided we ought to look into having her baptized at our Big Neighborhood Church (BNC) and become members there. (Remember we just moved during my pregnancy.) BNC is very large, very popular (big by my standards, it’s no crystal cathedral or anything) and has a very good reputation (associated school and classes etc…have waiting lists). When I called BNC about having the baptism I found that it was a 6 month process. Being an overwhelmed mom w/two small kids, I wasn’t exactly doing this at the time when she was just born, it was a little closer to when she was 6 months old, which was right around the time I wanted to have her baptized. So I called our old church (which was still our current church) and they were all friendly and happy to hear from me. “Oh no! We don’t have anything like that (6 month wait). In fact, since you took that class w/your first child you don’t have to do it again, just pick a date.! And you’re pretty and smell good too!” (Ok, I may have embellished the last bit a little.)

DD#2's baptism (a year ago) was really the last time we went to church. Durning the last year we’ve considered going, but quickly thought better of it. Having two small kids means that one of us sits w/one kid and feeds child toys and snacks, while the other takes the other kid outside because of boredom screaming. So it’s more of a child management scenario and honestly no one is really getting anything out of the service. Plus that sleep thing again.

So I called to see about signing DD#1 up for Sunday School and talked to a super friendly, super nice admin who told me she’d put us on the waiting list and send us the information. She wasn’t sure where we’d be on the waiting list, but they do usually get some cancellations around the time school starts. Funny thing, the very NEXT day she called back to say they’d had a cancellation and if we were still interested they’d put us in it. I’m pretty sure we jumped up on the list, not that we were the list. I think Miss Nicey Nice thought I was nice too and decided to move us to the top. So never underestimate the power of the gatekeeper.

The Sunday School classes start the first weekend of October, but since we hadn’t really gone to this church I figured we should go for a couple of weeks to get the lowdown on the whole deal. Of course, DS made faces the night before when we discussed it, and I have to agree that wasn’t really looking forward to setting the alarm on a Sunday, and in the end I didn’t. As it worked out we were all up by 7:30, so we really didn’t have an excuse. Turns out we like sleep, our kids, not so much.

Let me just say the girls were absolutely perfect! If I had told them they needed to behave they wouldn’t have, but since it was something new (and I plied them w/quiet toys and snacks) they were super good. It wasn't the most attention I've ever paid in church, but no one had to leave the building in the middle of the service, that's a win in my chart. I’m sure it was because it was new and next week DD#2 will be screeching her head off cause it sounds so cool in a big hall like that.

This was the conversation on the way to the church:

DD#1: Are we going to a party.

MS: No, we're going to church.

DD#1: Are they having a party at church?

MS: Um, no, why?

DD#1: Then why are we all dressed up?

Note to self: Take the kids to church a little more often so these conversations don't have to take place in front of the G'parents.

The Reason I Blog (aka--my 2nd child's baby book)

Guess who said "I love you" to me this morning?

Ok, ok I kissed her good-bye and said, "I love you" and she waved, made a kissing noise and said, "I wuv" (couldn't quite get the you in there,) but close enough to make my heart melt.

You know you've hit bottom when the topic is Dino Porn...

We had such a fun weekend, but man am I exhausted. It’s always so good to go see the M’s. Every time we visit I remember how much fun it was when they lived next door and I’m always so sad when we have to separate. (So you hear that J?! Move the hell back up here!!! We could be having SO. MUCH. FUN. if you were living next door to us RIGHT NOW!) BAH!

Anyway here’s our Saturday……

Us girls lazed by the pool. Spent so much time out there that I finally felt fried & made the girls come in for a while. (Got great tans though.) The boy’s went to watch R’s first football game(American style, of course). He totally rocked!; recovered a fumble and scored even! I think it was good that DS ended up going so he could explain the finer points of the game to M. When they came back DD#1 & DD#2 went back in the pool w/the boys & I got some rocking pix of them.

We also played on the computer A LOT; had THREE laptops going at any given time, sharing funnies, photos, movies, etc… on line with each other. In the process we enlightened them to the ways of Pastafarians and reminded them that TLAPD (Talk Like a Pirate Day) is coming up very soon. They loved it and I think we’re all getting FSM emblems for our cars. (We believe we are among chosen; my high school mascot was a Pirate, if that’s not a sign I don’t know what is.) Being Welsh they are appropriately torn between FSM and Fish n’Chips.

Later that afternoon we went to church together (youth mass) and at the end during general announcements:

Woman at Podium: “A woman’s guild is finally forming; 15 years in the making. We’ve sent invites to all 3000+ women in the church and you’re welcome to sign up outside tonight after mass or at our first event September 19.”

Me: OHMYGAWD!!! That’s TLAPD! Do you think it’s a coincidence? I don’t think so! I fully expect you to go and send me pix of you and your brethren of wenches dressed in your do-rags and eye patches!”

That was it. J COMPLETELY lost it. Then I lost it.

Like two school girls in the back of the classroom passing notes, trying to make the other laugh. We’re both totally cracking up and trying not to LOL cause that would be kinda rude in church, don’t you think? We totally had tears streaming down our faces, bodies shaking, the full deal. I’m sure the people behind us must’ve thought we were crazy. They wouldn’t be far from wrong.

The rest of the night included many jokes in Pirate Speak and we all just laughed and laughed. We hit our low point when the topic evolved into Dino Porn (don’t ask, you’d just think we’re lame, and I guess we are, but by then we were all in hysterics). My stomach hurt from laughing so much. Best work out I’ve had in a long, long time.

So I’ll tell you about Sunday tomorrow.

Going Back to Cali…

Yeah, yeah, I know we’re already in Cali. But we’re going to SoCal which, let’s face it, is really what people think of when you think of California. So we’re leaving in like 15 minutes to head down to see DD#1’s GodMum (She’s Welsh you know--makes her a Godmum, not a Godmom) and family. It might even be a religious experience seeing as she already told me she’s got a bottle of Mudslides chilling for us. WooHoo! (Qoooh we could made some of those too! Woohoos; quite popular when I was in college.)

Anyway DD#1 came in the other day and asked me:

DD#1: Mama, how come this wand doesn’t do any magic?

MS: Maybe it’s broken.

DD#1: I think you need to be a fairy godmudder to make it work.

MS: You might be right. That’s probably the trick to making it work.
DD#1: I’m going to take it wid us so Auntie J can fix it and do magic for me.

MS: That’s a great idea DD#1!

I called Auntie J yesterday & let her know her magic was expected to procured this weekend. Auntie J is totally stressed out. Hee, hee! She doesn’t want to let her down. Lucky for her we’re leaving strait from picking DD#1 from school & I’m “forgetting” the wand.

Happy Weekend!

Forecast: Gloomy & HOT

Bah! The weather here is matching my mood & that’s not good. It looks cloudy here, almost like a medium foggy (not down the ground fog so much, more like marine layer, but hanging lower). Anyway, it’s not fog or clouds even. It’s smoke. There’s a couple of fires that aren’t too far away and we’re in a weather pattern that is causing the smoke to just sit over us. Luckily, (so far) no one has lost a home or gotten injured (or worse), but we’re really not that close to either of the fires and our day is totally affected by them. Needless, I won’t be walking outside today. whine, whine, whine

Work is sucking still, BIG TIME.

I had a job once (in a previous life) that was very political and very negative. Everyone there was out to screw someone else to help themselves look good and get ahead. When something good happened, the managers’ took credit without acknowledging others’ efforts and when something went poorly…we’ll lets just say the manager’s and everyone who could would take a large step backward. Being in the thick of it, I took it all very personally. I had never worked in an environment like that before and I couldn’t understand why these people would treat each other (especially me, who hadn't done anything, but be a large target) so poorly. It became a practice in CYA, "Cover Your Ass": meaning I would document and print any and all communication I had with anyone on any topic so they couldn’t deny their involvement. Finally I started to make myself physically ill over it; with the support of DS I quit. After I was out of the environment for a while I was able to be more objective about it and realize it wasn’t about “me”. Have you ever heard the term “shite rolls downhill”? That was the problem. The CEO ruled through fear and intimidation and so everyone fell in line. It was awful.

Where I at right now is being very much like that.

Yeah, it sucks that much.

I’ve been spending my morning looking at “work at home sites”, which really improved my mood.

Hopefully a good sea breeze will pick up this afternoon and clear the smoke along w/my mood.

Hopefully.

Milestones

No, my baby does not start kindergarten this year. She’s starting Pre-K at a new school. I ended up switching her schools because this one feeds into our elementary and all the kids in the neighborhood go there. Since it’s a good school I was waitlisted and after many phone calls this summer I lucked into the director answering the phone last month. I dropped some neighborhood names and schmoozed my bum off; two days later we had apparently been bumped to the top of the list (name dropping did the trick, not smoozing). Even here in Silicon Valley, it’s all about who you know.

Tomorrow is her first day. I’m pretty sure she’s nervous. She acts really excited, but at lunch we had a MAJOR meltdown today over nothing, LITERALY. When I asked her why she was so upset she finally said cause she was so tired. I gave her the option to skip swimming, which she took so we took it easy and laid low the rest of the day. (Sort of, I got antsy and ended up cleaning out all the toys and rearranging all the furniture in the play room; good thing I was taking it easy, or maybe I would've rewired the house or something.)

This is totally one of those times I so wish I could do it for her. Or, at least, some how find the words to help her really understand that this is so not a big deal and she’ll do great. But even if I said that to her she wouldn’t believe me. All I can do is give her lots of hugs and attention and hope that kind of reassurance will somehow suffice. sigh

On a sort of similar note, she got moved up in gymnastics today! My mom had come to watch so that made it a bit extra cool. She doesn’t really understand what “moving up” means, but my mom and I did our best to make a big deal out of it, so she understands that it’s good and that it has something to do with being older. I was able to keep her same teacher so I’m not changing everything on her this month.

I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes. Hopefully she and I will be able to sleep tonight.