...and life goes on

OK, the pity party is over.  I feel better. 

Funny how life goes on.  I was feeling all poopy and then wham! things change.  I get a cancellation appointment with the neurologist (who did assure me G does not have a brain tumor, although he wants pictures to be 100% sure), work doesn't seem as stressful (even though it still is), and the hubs, well let's just say he got some possibly promising things going on.

Perspective is everything...and sometime I lose perspective. Hmmm...

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

G has had some health problems lately  --behavior changes, off the charts tantrums, repeated headaches that won't go away.  Needless to say, we are worried.  Thankfully my kids go to the most awesome school ever and have been evaluated by the school psychologist who has then recommended us to a child psychologist aka 'the feelings doctor'.  Plus my equally awesome pediatrician actually believes me when I tell him something is wrong and has us scheduled to see a neurologist in the near future.  Team this up with regular chiropractic visits to help his neck (which may or may not be the cause of his headaches) and other assorted appointments (do we really need to see the dentist again?) and I am going from place to place to place while trying to manage G's emotional swings and head pain and give both kids a decent quality of life that exists beyond the car.  Add into this the end of the year school stuff along with the fact that we are changing so much for next year (all positive I must say) and I am stressed out beyond belief.  Even the hubs is feeling it even though he doesn't have the schedule that allows him to deal with many of the appointments.  All of this is making both of us a little snappy...not with each other thankfully.  We just don't always have the energy to add all of the niceties that are required by some people.  Sometimes we just cut to the chase and say things as we see it rather than couching it with gentle terms and euphamisms.  I have found out that this has hurt feelings.  So here I am apologizing to people for not putting things in more palatable terms when all I want to do is cry for a really long time.  Bummer!

What's for dinner tonight?

After a not as good as it should be heart scan, my husband decided to 'get healthy'.  This involved a lot more fruit and veggies than he was eating before (read this as none), smaller food portions, and a lot more home cooked meals.  I admit that since he started going in to work and hour earlier I had not worried about making him meals as much so he ate a lot of take out and hospital food (yum!) which is ironically not very healthy. 

So here I am trying to make veggies as palatable as possible.  I win a small battle every now and then, but really feel like I am losing the war.  He just doesn't like them, can't tolerate them, no matter what I do.  Thankfully he is understanding when I sneak pureed veggies in pretty much every meal than can hide a veggie. 

I am also spending a small fortune in groceries buying out of season fruit so we have plenty of fruit on hand for him and the kids. 

My biggest success with this is the home cooked meals.  I have really committed to making him meals to take to work.  Sometimes I am cooking after the kids have gone to bed.  Other times I am making a separate set of meals while I am cooking the evening's dinner.  It is often frustrating, but I am getting a real sense of accomplishment from it. 

The best news is that he is showing results.  Since July he has lost over 30lbs and is in jeans the size he wore in high school.  His joy at being able to wear Levi 501 jeans again was too cute!

I'm not sure where I am going with this post, but I needed to tell someone about how proud I am of myself for being able to help him on this journey.  Oh yeah, and if you have any good ideas for making veggies more palatable send them to me.

I am still alive

Great--My first post in a long time and the website ate it.  Yuck!


I'm not typing the whole thing again so here's the run down...
Everyone's doing great at school and work but we are all crazy busy.


Promise to post more often.  Bye!

OK--I was wrong

All my life I have scoffed at chiropractors.  Quacks! Charlatans! Voodoo mumbojumbo!  OK, maybe not that bad, but I never considered them a real option.  Then I heard about a co-worker that took her daughter to a chiropractor as a last resort to help with ear infections...and it worked!  Hmmm, well, I didn't know what to say about that.  The hubs knew...he went right to that chiropractor to see if the guy could help with allergies.  He ended up getting his painful back fixed instead.  So now I am thinking, "maybe there is something to this."  I send Miss Miranda off to see if he can fix her wonky, pigeon toed foot that has no fix (according to every other doctor in OKC).  He says he can.  So here I go again.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works like he says it will. It can't be fun to go through life knock-kneed and pigeon toed.

What is going on??

Dare I say it?  We survived February!  I realize this is a bit premature since it is only Feb 26th, but we made it to the end.  This has been a crazy month...record snowfall with record lows, swinging to record highs and fabulous spring like weather, ending with torrential rains and another reality check...it is still winter.  We are all confused.

Spring will be here soon and with it comes spring projects.  This year is putting in a patio and sod on the upper terrace in the backyard.  This has to happen as soon as possible since right now it is just dirt; clear of grass, weeds and other annoying things that make laying a patio challenging.  Another reason for its urgency is that my children are drawn to the blank canvas of dirt and, therefore, come in coated with dirt or mud...yuck!  We are also putting up (or shall I say attempting to put up) a slide/swingset/rockwall combo toy for the kids.  This sounds like a lot of fun to play on and like a big headache to assemble, but we are doing it, hopefully,...with a little help from my handy sister.

Personality du jour

My daughter is 5.  Apparently 5 is an experimental age.  She is experimenting with different personalities.  Some days she's shy and coy.  Other days she funny and outgoing.  Sometimes the change happens in the blink of an eye.  Lately she's been using her voice in different ways to add expression to her words. She'll hear something from a classmate at school and have to try that voice inflection or phrase herself to see what it does for her.  Occasionally I have to stop her and let her know that a phrase is not OK with mom, but usually I let her go.  It will be interesting to see the person that emerges once she has settled on who she is.