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.