in Memorial

We who are left how shall we look again

Happily on the sun or feel the rain

Without remembering how they who went

Ungrudgingly and spent

Their lives for us loved, too, the sun and rain?

– Wilfred Wilson Gibson

There are quite a few people I know who are in the military. My husband and brother, my friends and brother in law, and possibly soon my youngest sister. Every one of them should know how deeply I respect them for their service to our country, how much I admire them for serving and how thankful I am for that service. For those who put their country before their lives there are never enough words...

Today, take a moment and remember. At 3pm (the national moment of remembrance) take a minute and honor those who have serve and those who have died for our freedom.

Birth order

I ran across an article the other day talking about how birth order can help determine who you will be most compatible with romantically. I read it with a grain of salt but found it funny/interesting anyway.

I am a twin, and more of a middle child "third" born,... But my personality and relationship result don't match with either.

The Man is first born, he matches his fine.

Funny enough I think I'm more "last born" personality wise... and if you read it as that then we match great *chuckle*

version 1.2

Todays Doug eat Dog strip. I always did think that song was a little less then positive. The second verse of the version I used to sing the Kiddo was better, it went like this:

When the bough breaks,
the cradle will rise,
and up will fly baby into the sky.

He still loves the song, he thinks it's great that the baby gets to fly at the end.

Brain dead

Lately I've been distracted. I feel like time for me to get certain things done is running out... So in the next few days I have set myself goals, things to get done prior to June 1st. I have two nook bags 90% complete, finishing them both shouldn't take more then a couple hours but I procrastinate doing it anyway. And I have a letter to write to my Grandma, I've been wanting to write it for weeks.

Speaking of June, next week is my birthday. I was so distracted with thinking of everybody else that I forgot about it; my father in laws birthday get together is this Sunday. The Man's birthday is the end of next month. The Kiddo has two doctor appointments in June (eye and teeth)... and the list goes on. I still can't believe I forgot though, how did I get to a place where I stopped thinking about myself so completely?

On a completely random tangent. We still have not found a dog that would be even close to good for the Kiddo. We knew it would take awhile though, and the Kiddo is amazingly understanding about how long things are taking. I've never met a five year old with more patience then he has. I saw a new listing for a Tibetan Spaniel on the Humane Societies web page. She's 4. She might be a little small for the kiddo but he says she is cute and she is the right age. I couldn't get the picture to link here (click the link above to go to the listing) so I went to the dog breed info web page and copied that picture for you* They are cute dogs, and it seems like one would be good for our living situation.
*click the picture to go to the page and read about the breed

tumble down

The Kiddo is kind of a klutz. More to the point he isn't where he should be physically for his age. That is probably because he isn't where he should be size wise for his age *chuckle*. So we've been thinking of putting him into a gym class. Last year we began the debate, but could not afford it so put the idea on a back burner. Then we went to his yearly pediatrician visit this year and (I believe I mentioned this) Doc made me feel guilty about him not being in some sort of class to help with his coordination etc. So we looked into it again.

The Little Gym 6 weeks of classes (one hour long class a week): $160.00 (27 bucks a class)

Tumbling classes for our five year old. Actually, I believe, a very good idea. Like most kids his age he loves to climb and roll around, he loves to try to jump. As you know from my post last week his growth hormone shots are working well, and classes to help with coordination and physical stability would probably be helpful to balance out that quick growth.

The summer session class starts on the 14th of June so I have to decide soon (and try to come up with the money if I do decide). If I did it I would really like to get him into the summer session because it would give him whatever benefits BEFORE the start of kindergarten. And then we would have to decide if we would be putting him into the fall session tumbling class as well.

In a perfect world we'd have cash laying around and we wouldn't even have to think about it, we'd just do it. The debate and the question I pose to all of you is... would you consider the cost to be worth the benefit? I know nobody can make the decision for us, but it never hurts to get input.

Weather or not

This is what I woke up too!! Not for the first time I had the thought that I really wish I could figure a way to move us back to Arizona. I browse the job listings for the Prescott or Mesa areas on a regular basis with the hope that maybe there will be a super high paying magical job out there that the Man or myself would qualify for. Not that I want to leave my friends or the Kiddo's doctors (a nightmare of mine is to move and not find a doctor that has the active experience and training that our current one does). Still I think the chance would be worth taking, and a move closer to my family would make me happy.
Then again this rash of cold/cool weather has really helped with the electric bill. May's bill was all of 33 bucks, June's bill is the same. Today of course the heater is on, but generally it's either an open or closed windows type decision and that type of thing takes no electric at all.

Child Obesity

Lately I've been noticing a disturbing trend. Not that the trend started recently, but I haven't paid much attention to it until now.

The trend I'm referring to is groups, watchdog or otherwise, parenting our children for us. When did it become desirable to have somebody else make decisions on how we feed our children? More scary still, when did it become "needed".

I'm talking about the happy meal toy ban I read about last month. In Santa Clara County California (where else)

The proposed ban, which may be the first of its kind in the US. The proposal states that the use of toys in happy meals could actually encourage children to put a link between high calorie foods and enjoyment. The proposal makes a strict guideline on the number of calories, the amount of fats, the amount of sodium, and the amount of sugar that can be in the foods inside of these childhood favorites that carry the toys. The measure was proposed by a county supervisor.

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Ken Yeager happily endorses the measure. Yeager believes that adding a toy in a happy meal that’s high in fats, sugars, and sodium is like giving a child positive reinforcement to children to do things which will affect them negatively throughout the remainder of their lives.

Wait what? I mean yeah taking your kid to McDonald's five days a week is going to lead to some really bad health problems and eating habits. But how is that McDonald's fault? What happened to parents having a little common sense? The Kiddo gets a kids meal MAYBE twice a month IF that, so what if I want to let him have a toy and eat crazy high calories and fat in a burger and fries. How sad that the government feels like it needs to restrict how that happens, how sad that they probably DO need to restrict how that happens. How many parents do you know that take their kids out for fast food more then is reasonably healthy? I know a couple. Then again, who am I to judge them on what they think is good for their kids.

I mention McDonald's specifically (even though, *shudder*, I never eat there... not since the chicken nuggets incident when I was pregnant with the Kiddo) because today I read another news story about protecting our young ones against the evil manipulations of the devil fast food corporations.
Regardless of all, it is the parents job to raise their kids. To feed them healthy food, and to teach them how to eat properly. I admit it I DO judge people on how well they raise their kids. I know some kids are better then others, easier to handle and easier to "train". But when you make the choice to have kids you make the choice to put in the work to be a good parent. That's nieve to believe that people do that (I know they don't) and so I judge. How well do you parent? How healthy and well adjusted is your kid? How well adjusted is mine? I judge myself more harshly then I'll ever judge you, but I will judge you. Hopefully that doesn't make me too bad of a person.

one point five

It's been a month. Well a day shy of four weeks, or 28 days. I distinctly remember asking the nurse, when she was here, how soon we'd see growth. I believe she said 6-8 weeks or so at the earliest. But, because it's been a month, and because I have a slightly ocd issue with keeping medical notes and records for everything involving the Kiddo, I went ahead and stood him against our measuring chart.

I think I squealed. I'm not really a squealer but can you blame me?? Check it out!
If I did that right (and I did it twice!!) the Kiddo has grown 1 and a 1/2 inches!!! In a MONTH. That's amazing, jaw dropping, I can't quite wrap my head around it. I took a picture to prove it*

Then of course I came off my happy dance high and had the "shoot now I really DO have to buy him new cloths" *grumble*

I'm going to have him stand there again for the Man this evening. To make sure I didn't somehow screw it up. But .... I don't think I did. I think my wee little kiddo is actually growing. Wonders will never cease.

*ignore how cheesy the kiddo is in the picture. He thought I was being crazy, AND he'd only been awake for 20 minutes or so so he was still doing the squinty eye wake up face.

count...

Randomly from the Kiddo's room I hear him:

One plus one makes TWO... two plus one makes THREE... three plus one makes FOUR (all the way up to eleven)

then I hear

eleven minus one makes TEN... ten minus one makes NINE... nine minus one makes EIGHT... (all the way down to zero)

Of course I'm wondering what the heck is going on so I tip toed down the hall to see, he was reading a counting book, but rather then reading the words he was doing the math. He makes me happy :)

Fit

I've been a little obsessive lately about fitness and diet. There's this thing when you want to have another kid where you tell yourself that getting out of shape, getting a little more padding, is ok because once you get pregnant the body goes to heck anyway. Then after you HAVE the kid you can do the diet and work out and get yourself back to where you want to be.

Then all the sudden it's been 4 years. No new kid. And you start to wonder if maybe there wont BE a new kid. Granted we haven't had the best most stable last few years anyway so that probably isn't really a super bad thing, but still four years of trying is a long time. At some point one must accept the fact that they cant' use the "I'm trying to get pregnant so what's the point" excuse any longer.

So the Man agreed to deal with my eccentricities with food buying. Because I stopped buying him good food when I stopped buying it for myself he learned to pack a lunch. We've both lost weight. And I've learned something about what's IN food.

For example. The other day I made home made jalapeno poppers. VERY easy to make. Scrape out the seeds, stuff with cream cheese, wrap with bacon, bake at 350 till crispy and hot. To make that "bake" portion go quicker I halfway precooked the bacon in a frying pan before cutting it in half and wrapping the poppers with it.
The Man was in heaven. He said they were better then any store bought or fast food poppers he'd ever had. I had to agree. Holy COW they were good.

The next day I felt a little yucky and had gained a bit of weight. So I did some research. Apparently it's common practice to add sugar to bacon!! It probably makes it extra yummy (how could it not) but it also adds fat and calories and everything else not so good. I checked around and the generic store brand has no sugar and 1/4 of the calories per slice as the one I used.

Not that I want to become (or advocate becoming) one of those obsessive people that read labels and go all natural food or death. But if I can buy bacon with less fat and fewer calories that means I can eat MORE poppers. If I can buy the slightly more expensive ground beef with less fat that means I can eat a little more taco skillet. If I can buy the sugar free low calorie russell stovers peanut butter cups instead of the Reeses kind then I can eat two instead of one and be pretty darn happy.

So at the happy age of um ahem 28, I have finally decided that if I watch a little closer the things that I eat then maybe my waist line will stay a little thinner... and maybe that will help me feel better about the rest of life.

And while we're on the topic. Chocolate Milk... largely because of the CALCIUM and vitamin D will actually help you lose weight. Something about the calcium blocking the body from absorbing fat. We knew we were eating cheese slices daily for a reason :)

baby i

Kiddo and I did a little light reading yesterday. I decided to try and get it on video, of course he always does worse when he's distracted and NOTHING distracts him more then a camera pointed at him. Still I think you'll get a kick out of seeing him read. I have no idea why he kept reading the baby i as an L, it was driving me NUTS by the end of the book.

In other news we found out yesterday that the Kiddo's growth hormone shots have no copay at all. I'm sure you can imagine the immense relief we felt hearing that. So from here until at least October we're good to go.

and he says

Lately the Kiddo has gotten so good at playing his Playstation Starwars game that he has begun to play for stories vs playing to win (he's already beaten it twice). When I say stories what I mean is, he plays and then he talks for the characters, he makes up dialogue for what they are saying for what they are doing. It is usually quite a lengthy story and it doesn't always make complete sense.

A snippet from yesterday

"once when I was a small robot there was NO people!" ... "WHAT! No people?!?!" .. "That's right, NO people, just an R2 robot and other robots".

The story/dialogue went on to talk about how after awhile there were some people, and they had powers. They used the force to kill the bad guys, break them into pieces. And they had swords, blue ones... etc etc

If nothing else the Kiddo really does have an amazing imagination.

Speaking of imagination. Today he invented something. He came into the livingroom with his drill from his tool bench. The thing is battery operated. When you pull the level the drill goes around... sort of like the real thing. So he brings it into the livingroom, he's holding his finger against the rivits up at the top of the drill bit, and running the drill so that it spins against his finger.

Finally I say "Kiddo, WHAT are you doing!??"

He says "It's a tool for removing prunes"

I musta had a really funny look on my face because he cracked the biggest grin ever, then he pushes the pad of his finger towards my face and says "you know mom PRUNES, on your fingers"

aaaaah, he's talking bath fingers *chuckle* I suppose the running rivets probably do feel like they are "smoothing" his fingers out.
In the picture he's pulling the drill bit down for me to take the picture so you can see the rivets on the top of it.

Knees, Age, Exercise

Once upon a time, in a land very very far away and a long time ago ... I had a ballerina's butt and legs. Now I have a moms butt and legs. There's quite a few differences in those two things. Because of that, and the fact that lugging 100lbs of groceries up three flights of stairs leaves me rubbery and slouched in a chair gasping for air like a beached whale for 20 minutes, has convinced me that I should probably start getting a little structured exercise. The Man has agreed to join me.

So we are doing the Couch to 5k. I am also throwing in, on alternate days, lower and upper body exercise.

The problem I have is that when I start to do squats or lunges, my knees jump out of my body, hover in front of my face, and threaten to beat the crap out of my pain receptors with razor wire. In other words, ow, which leads to sloppy positioning and no real improvement in muscle tone.

The other day I came across an article which showed me how to do a leg and butt workout laying on my back. I tried it out yesterday and it went great. No knee pain! And the correct amount of muscle fatigue/strain this morning. So I think I'll keep this little list handy and try it for a few weeks, see if I see any improvement.

A weekend with raw Broccoli

It's been a frustrating and relaxing and delicious last few days.

We spent most of Saturday bouncing around all the pounds that were open seeing if we could find a dog that would meet all our requirements. We made it to three pounds and two pet stores (where they had rescue adoption days going on). We found ONE dog that might have worked, a boxer shepherd mix. She was a year old, about 30lbs, brindle with white feet, and the perfect size for him. We took her for a walk around the store, cuddled her and let her and the kiddo walk together too. She loved having loves and giving them, she paid attention to the kiddo and us equally. The ONLY problem with her was she was super timid, and that worried us. We weren't sure what her temperament would be if and when she got over that and so we didn't adopt her. The kiddo kept asking me when we are going to go back to petsmart to get his dog. He really liked her. I explained that she was just a little to shy for us so we let her find a different family to live with and that we'd keep looking. He was a little disappointed but moved on. Fortunately he is so easy going that he can want something without having to have it. So even though he liked her a lot he is looking forward to getting to go look again.

Saturday night the Man took us to dinner to celebrate Mothers day. We went to Sweet Tomatoes and I had the most AMAZING broccoli salad. I haven't ever really liked raw broccoli so I wasn't sure I was going to like the salad but I served myself about half a cup worth anyway. It was so super yummy!! I googled it and found the recipe online, I figure I can tweak it a little bit using truvia instead of actual sugar (and craisens instead of raisens) and drop the calories per serving about 100 points! I highly suggest you guys try this, SO good. And when you do try it, pop me a note and let me know what you thought about it!

Joans Broccoli Madness

Sunday I slept till 9, then came into the living room to find the Man and the Kiddo chatting on the couch. The Kiddo dragged me to the table to show me my "surprise" which was two new frying pans (which I really needed!). Then we all got dressed and the Man took me to an amazing little restaurant. I had a roast beef, mushroom, cheese omelet and it was so big I almost exploded trying to finish it.

All in all it was a really nice weekend. Little disappointed about the dog, but then if we do end up getting one for the Kiddo it has to be one that will work for him and our situation so I've accepted the fact that it could take awhile to do.

a random conversation

As we pull into the grocery store parking lot:

Kiddo - That was a fun visit to Grannies huh

Me - huh? Grannies?

Kiddo - Yeah, remember we did that visit?

Me - OH, yeah, that was a fun visit. I really like visiting her.

Kiddo - Yeah, I love her.

Me - I Love her too, she loves you also you know.

Kiddo - Thats good, and I especially like Uncle T and Uncle P and...

Me - What about Auntie D and Auntie Ph?

Kiddo - well YEAH I love them too, but Uncle T plays with me ALL day!

................................................................................

There you have it folks. The way into the kiddo's heart is to feed him (grannie) and play with him all day (uncle T).

Pigeons

Lady D has had to deal with me venting on an almost daily basis about the pigeons that think our balcony looks like the perfect summer home. I don't know WHY they think that, every time we see one out there we go chase it away. You'd think after several thousand daily episodes of being chased the pigeons would start to think hmmm maybe I should go elsewhere. But they don't.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is spending money I don't have to screen in the entire porch area. The Man thinks I'm getting a little compulsive and freaky about it but dang nabbit I do not want pigeon poop all over my chairs and chances bike and the floor *grumble*

Mothers day is approaching. I'm feeling lucky, I already made the Mans mom a Nook bag so we don't have to try to think of anything else to do for her! The Man and Kiddo usually let me sleep in and then take me out for breakfast. I think they might be planning on doing that again this year, one can only hope! The Man keeps mentioning a place where you can build your own omelet! I've been day dreaming about a steak and cheese omelet ever since.

In other news the Kiddo is asking the weirdest questions lately. Like what do bugs eat. And how long does a bird sleep for. And what do cows eat for breakfast. I think maybe it's a good thing we're sending him to school, and I really miss the days when people had actual BOOK sets of encyclopedia's. I think we may have to try to find one that isn't super expensive, one with lots of pictures of course. I have some really good memories of going and picking one at random and then learning something new.

Dogs

Every night when it's time for the shot The Kiddo asks if he can just go to bed instead. Then when we tell him no he asks me to hold his hand.

Every night when we throw the needles away into the little disposal bin he says "see ya needle!" and giggles like a loon.

Saturday the Kiddo had to have two shots. There wasn't quite a full dose left in the first pen so he had half out of that one, and then half out of the next. He flinched, but said "now I have a FAMILY of holes!"

He seems to be dealing with his shots. He doesn't like them, he tries to avoid them but in a passive way vs running or throwing fits. He mans up and takes them, but wants a hand to hold during the shot itself.

So I want honest opinions. The Kiddo's Pediatrician will sign the paperwork that will enable us to get him a dog if we want too. Which is great!

There are quite a few pro's to getting one. Not the least of which would be that he'll have a best friend to help him deal with stuff. Plus since we will be walking to and from kindergarten twice a day five days a week (25 minutes each way) I'm thinking any dog we get will be getting a decent walk.

I can only think of three negatives. The first being we are in a third floor apartment (ugh), but that can be dealt with and adapted too. The other being traveling restrictions. We don't have many opportunities to travel as a family so it wouldn't be a major problem really, but it's something to think about. Third is of course medical costs. That's something you can't really plan for, unless it's scheduled shots or what not... so can we "afford it"? I think we can, the scheduled stuff anyway.

The last thought is, what kind of dog? The Mans sisters Lhasa Apso just had puppies so we could get a little boy puppy "free" from her. Or we could rescue from a pound...

I keep seeing the Miniature Australian Shepherd as a Kiddo type dog, medium small size, playful, loyal, likes kids, non barker... *shrug*

sleep

I think it's a myth, at least once you have kids it is!! I cant' remember the last time I actually got to sleep in... which I'm sure you all are tired of hearing about by now :)

Anyway I saw this article on how your sleep position says something about your personality. Interesting.

What Does Your Sleep Position Reveal About Your Personality

I am a side sleeper, and while I usually lay down all curled up in the fetal position I don't actually go to SLEEP that way, generally I stretch out first and I always hug a pillow so I suppose that makes me a "yearner" sleeper. It says: Yearners are noted to be open-minded and still cynical, suspicious, and stubborn about sticking to decisions once they are made.

hmm perhaps that's why I get soooo ticked when things don't go according to my plan and time line.