Pages

Header

Figuring out how to navigate life as a Navy spouse and homeschool our three kids. Sometimes, at the end of the day, all I can manage to do is make pancakes for supper...

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Quick Update

I was looking at some old pictures and this is from last summer.  I miss my sweet girls long hair and pigtails!

The last couple of weeks have been busy as usual.  I've had a lot more ups and downs as far as my mood goes so my doctor upped my medication.  We'll see how it goes, I was totally wiped out yesterday but that could be from any number of things.

Smallest of All is mobile, I can't believe she's 9 months old!  She'll get up on all fours and rock and she is a pro at low crawling like a soldier avoiding enemy fire.  The middle child turned 3 about 10 days ago, I cannot believe how time is flying by.

I've hit a weight loss plateau.  At my weigh in last Saturday I hadn't lost any that week and the week before I only lost half a pound.  I need to reevaluate my plan and start consistently adding in strength training to the cardio work outs.

There is a lot going on in my head about how I think I want to organize and keep up with my blog.  I really want to see this journey through to its end and be an encouragement to all the other crazy busy mommies out there.  Somehow I want to figure out how to have tabs so I can have section for weight loss, parenting, homeschooling, etc...

Gotta get my little screamer down for a nap.  She keeps going for the dog's bone and the dog keeps following her around looking for spit-up...

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Sidelined By A Horsefly

After irritating my knees a couple of weeks ago I finally got back to the Couch to 5K Training program this week.  I jumped right into the Week 3 routine, I was bored with Week 1 and I wanted to get back on track to run a 5 K July 4th weekend.  My one comment is that 3 minutes of jogging is a really, really, really, really, really, really, really long time.  I know that I'll adjust and get to where it's easier but man alive I was glad to be done with my workout on Monday.  I was all set to continue on Wednesday when I was suddenly and viciously attacked by a horsefly on Tuesday while I was at the beach with the kiddos.  I was kneeling to help the munchkins get dried off and in clean clothes when the stupid creature bit me, TWICE, on the BOTTOM OF MY FOOT.  It went something like this:

Me: "OUCH, son of a gun that hurt!"

Aiden: "What?"

Me: "A stinkin' horsefly just bit my foot!"

Aiden: "What's a horsefly?"

Me: "A really big fly that bites!"

Aiden: "Did that just hurt like the dickens!?"

Me: "YES!!"

We finished up getting cleaned up and back to the car.  I placed calls to a couple of people to look up if it was safe to take Benadryl and what to do for a horsefly bite.  I had to drive with the cruise control so I could itch and put pressure on my foot, the pain and itchiness was nearly incapacitating.  By the time we arrived at Publix 40 minutes later my ENTIRE foot was swollen and painful.  I managed to get the couple of things we needed and got home to wash my foot, apply cortisone, and wrap with gauze.  The Benadryl knocked me out and I got the best night of sleep I've had in years, however the swelling persisted well into the following day and I had to push my workout until today and I'll finish out the week on Saturday.  And THAT is how I was sidelined by a horsefly.

In other news, I did weigh on last Saturday and I'm down another pound for a grand total of 21 lbs so far, only SIXTY more to go to reach my final goal!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Worth A Thousand Words

Yesterday evening marked the end of what was, all told, about two months of my sweet husband being gone.  In the scheme of military separations 2 months isn't bad, but it is just long enough to really feel like a long time.  He got off the ship a little later than planned so I had a chance to shower (YAY!) and then the kids enjoyed a "picnic" in the car on the way to base.  After a lovely evening walk on the beach to search for treasures we got to go get daddy.  The kids were so sweet seeing him, especially Emma.  All the way home she was asking things like, "Daddy, are you just going to come to my house to play with me?"  "Are you going to stay at my house for a little bit?"  Once we were home Aiden got to show off his mad reading skills and Madaline just smiled and said, "Da Da Da Da Da Da!" Over and over and over....  Can't wait for two whole days with him this weekend!

(I apologize for the lousy quality of these pictures, my phone's camera stinks.  I also apologize for the weird layout, the baby is crying and I gotta finish this up!)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others

Yesterday was one of those days that had me ready for bed at 7, and it would have happened too if things hadn't been so caddywompus.  By time time I was actually getting into bed at 11 I kept thinking of this song from Sesame Street:

One of these things is not like the others, 
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell me which thing is not like the other,
                             By the time I finish my song?

What I would like to know is if you can pick out the thing that did not belong in my day yesterday.  I'm quite interested to see if any of you can guess!

Awake at 4 a.m.
Baby throwing up all over (as I was ready for bed)
Freaked out dog that didn't want to go potty at 10 p.m.
Heard a lion roar from my back yard
Took a nap
Pulled up poison ivy that was growing in the yard

The day, with all it's nuttiness, wasn't really bad though I was just tired.  There were actually some really great moments.  I got a surprise call from my hubby and I CANNOT wait to see him today!!!  What a long month this has been with him gone!  He gets to have the whole weekend off and I am so thankful that we get to spend some time together.  I also can't wait for him to finally me my amazing sister-in-law!  My older brother and I got married 6 months apart (EIGHT YEARS AGO!!!)  and my hubby and SIL have never met each other.  That's what the lives of two active duty Navy families will do to you!  I just hope that having them in the same place at the same time won't cause a break in the Time Space Continuum....

Other bright spot, Starbucks has the Mocha Coconut Frappuccino back on their menu.  Until yesterday I had never tried one and I didn't even know they existed until I read an article about them a few weeks ago and I've been salivating about them ever since.  If you hate coconut then you won't like them but if you do: BEST. DRINK. EVER.  I am going to have to show some amazing restraint not to end up at the drive through ever opportunity I get to enjoy the chocolaty coconutty goodness.

Okay, time for my second cup of coffee before Smallest of All wakes up and I need to check on the poor dog.  Her leg has been swelling some and if it's not improving we're going to have to head to our vet to have it checked out.  No matter what this day holds I know at the end of the day my hubby will be home!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

My Hard Work Is Paying Off

I know for me it's easy to get tunnel vision about my day to day life.  Getting wrapped up in the bickering and fighting and the constant whining can feel overwhelming and make me feel like I'm raising a litter of honey badgers not children.  And then we get thrown little bits that make it all worth while.  While the cleaning ladies were here yesterday we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch.  As we were enjoying our meal an elderly couple sat next to us and Madaline proceeded to charm the socks off of them.  All of the kids were displaying a rare feat of excellent behavior and exemplary manners.  Emma looked like she was ready to climb to the man's lap and give him her best Emma hug and Aiden was smiling indulgently at his sisters.  We had some small talk about how old the kids are and how many kids they had (who are now all grown) and as we were getting ready to leave the lady told me what a happy family we were.  She said it was so nice to see kids with such lovely smiles, just like their mom's, and that they were so well behaved and pleasant to sit next too.  The gentleman was so charmed by Emma he told her if we didn't leave soon he'd have to keep her.  For once, instead of making a comment about how this was a rare moment of calm, I just said, "Thank you!"  It was lovely to have someone notice and comment on the good, not just say, "Boy you sure have your hands full!"  As we walking out she said again how happy we all looked and I said, "Well, we have so much to be thankful for and happy about."

Monday, May 2, 2011

My Crazy Weekend

I'm finally enjoying a moment with all the kids sleeping and the poor dog quiet in her crate.  I had her out for awhile and the neurotic pacing was getting to me.  I'm thinking she's just uncomfortable and wants to be confined so she can rest.  Here are some pictures of her leg wound, don't look if you get all weird at stitches and stuff.  I'm telling people this happened while she was frolicking with another dog, she'd be embarrassed if I told everyone it was really the skink/Godzilla getting the best of her...

Here is pathetic Daisy with spooky green eyes.


Nasty cut.


Closer view of nasty cut.

Now moving on from gross out wound pictures I had a couple of parenting successes today.  I'll go ahead and brag about them so that when everything goes to crap tomorrow I'll know why. (insert cutsie winking face)  My sweet almost three year old LOVES her pacifiers.  She also loves to drink, "milk in a glass" (baby bottle) and she drags around Grandma Bear something so loved that the cleaning lady asked if it was a dog toy today.  (Emma was incensed and put that lady in her place by the way.)  The time to give up these things has long passed and I just really haven't felt like going through the process of her going through pacifier and bottle withdrawals.  Today was the day to begin the process and after having milk in her bottle this morning we packed them up in a box and she said goodbye.  The new rule is milk at meals, up to this point she has refused milk in anything but a bottle and that didn't change this evening but there wasn't a fit at bedtime when I told her no more bottles.  Score one for Mommy!  The pacifier is going to be trickier.  We gathered them up and put them in a bowl this morning with the promise that she could have them back tonight at bedtime.  Other than a meltdown around 4 she did really well.  After a few minutes of the freak out I told her we would set the timer for 5 minutes and she could haver her passi until it beeped.  She wasn't thrilled to give it up but she did and the rest of the evening went really well.  Score two for Mommy!  Tomorrow I'm going to have her cut the one off her car seat buckle.

In my adventures making baby food I made absolutely nasty summer squash which Madaline quite literally spat out at me.  (I can't blame her, it tasted like bitter grits.)  She LOVED the mashed mango and bananas that she got instead and tonight the butternut squash was a huge hit.



As busy as this weekend was it had been a couple of days since I'd checked on my garden and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw!  I'm looking forward to enjoying these veggies soon!

Cute little banana pepper!


Cherry tomatoes.


Not cherry tomatoes.


Itty bitty green beans.


Wax beans, they're almost ready!


Aww, it's just a baby squash!

And last but not least, after this crazy weekend and a pretty good but long day I just didn't want to fight with kids eating their supper.  I did the only reasonable thing, I made pancakes.  And boy, were they ever good.



Weekly Weigh In 4/30/11

This weekend ending up being far busier than I was expecting and for an added bonus I ended up with our poor Daisy at the 24 hour Animal Emergency Hospital.  We were spending the day with friends, kids playing, dogs playing and Daisy ended up with quite the laceration on her hind leg.  LOTS of stitches and several hours later she was put back together and we made it home.  She's doing well, pretty mellow on the pain meds and is enjoying taking liberties like laying on me and snuggling.  The worst part was actually getting everyone back in the house and settled.  When we have normal days I love that my kids are creatures of habit, Madaline eats at 6:30 and is in bed at 7.  By the time 10 pm rolled around last night with only a brief nap in the car seat on the way home she was beside herself.  She was so happy to see her own bed she literally rubbed her face on her sheet, grabbed her Eeyore, and didn't make a peep until this morning.  Her naps today were awesome and she was happy to go right back to bed tonight.  Routine when days are routine are awesome, when we have an unusual day, they can prove to make things more difficult.

My weight loss competition with Dad is over.  I took win with 11 lbs lost!  Dad lost 9!  I so appreciate this support he gave me with this challenge.  My weight loss total thus far is an even 20 lbs!  That's a fourth of the way to my final goal!  Here are some things that weigh 20 lbs.

One of these:


Eighty of these little guys:


About 2 1/2 of these:


Wow, I just got completely sidetracked by the news that Osama bin Laden is dead.  Somewhat more momentous news than my weight loss.  Thank you to all the U.S. Military men and women that have worked and fought tirelessly to see this day come.  Thank you to those that gave all in the fight to keep us safe and secure.  Your sacrifice is not if vain and you will NEVER be forgotten.