What's Up ???

Thanks to all you nice people who have emailed to ask "What's Up? Where are you?"

Life has been a little crazy. Well ... to be honest, life is a little crazy around here most of the time ... we've now just added a little more.

Here are the happenings around here ...

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We had word about 10 days ago that my daughters teacher has cancer and will be leaving school this week to get treatment. Her prognosis looks good but we are all working to do things for her that we think she will need help with.

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We are still getting the house ready to sell. We finally got word Friday that we did not get the job in Austin. But the folks in Austin asked him to interview for another position. So we are remaining hopeful for an Austin move.

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A neighbor of ours has complained to the city that we have an annoying barking dog. We suspect who the person is but we are trying to resolve that, too. For the record ... our dogs are never outside unattended, they are in the house at night and when we are gone. This neighbors problem is kids. They are an older couple who moved in to a 5 bedroom home in a neighborhood filled with kids. They have yelled shut up to my kids when they are playing in the backyard ... I know ... lovely.

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Jack is fully potty trained and we are officially a diaper free zone. He has had a total of 3 accidents. Once he was confident he could go without a diaper, he never looked back. After about a week, he refused to wear a pull up at night also.

He is the only one of my three kids who gets up at night to go to the bathroom if needed. Both girls will call me (which I have to admit is rare but still they won't go on their own).

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That is about it for now. Hopefully, I'll be back on track after our vacation.

Happy Easter Everyone...

What "Makes My Monday" ?

Today I'm joining in with Cheryl atTwinfatuation

What Makes My Monday ???

Blooms on our trees ...

Why you ask?

Because our backyard goes from this ...

Ahhhh   ...    To This ....

 

and that

Makes My Monday !!!

Hello spring ... It's nice to have you back

This is where my post originally ended when I wrote it on Friday ... while it was 68 degrees ... It's funny how you can sometimes forget that you moved to Alaska.  This is what we woke up to Sunday morning

Here's one more ... in case you missed it ...

5.5 INCHES ....

But we got to show daddy how to make a snowman ... and it turns out ... he's pretty good at it ...

So ... happy kids and happy daddy ...

Makes My Monday ...

But wait ... there's more ....

And then daddy and the kiddos went shopping and returned with these ...

How great is that ??

Hope everyone has a good Monday.

Do Your Ears Hang Low? ... Do They Wobble To And Fro?

Yesterday, I read this post How To Raise Kids Who Love Their Bodies and felt compelled to link to it. Thank you Maryann for giving me permission to do so. I hope everyone who reads this will link to the article as well ... I think it's such an important issue. With so much talk on our blogs about dieting, I'm hoping we can change the discussion a little ... Here's a little of my story ...

One thing that most people don't know about me is that I'm a fanatic about my health. Especially now that I have children.

I have always been an exercise nut. In my late teens and early twenties I was all about Jazzercise. I took multiple classes a week and at least 2 days a week I'd take back to back classes

That eventually changed and I discovered an over 30 women's soccer league. I joined when I was 29 and started my first game just a few weeks after my 30th birthday. To say I love soccer would be an understatement. In those days I started work at noon, but being a morning person, I was up at my usual 4 am. I'd wait until the sun was up, grab my soccer ball and head out to practice on my own. Once I did that, I'd go for a run ... and I'd run until I couldn't anymore ... then run home. At least 5 miles a day.

You get my drift at this point ... I never had a weight issue. I never was on a diet. I was so active I never had to think about my weight.

I had to stop playing soccer (I was about to move and I was having serious knee issues) and immediately started gaining a little weight ... only I didn't really notice. Bike shorts and long, cute t-shirts were what everyone was wearing then (well ... to be honest here ... I was still wearing them ... maybe not everyone else).

About half way through my soccer career, I was advised by my doctor to stop being a vegan. I was negatively affecting my health (that will be a story for another day).

Anyway, over the next few years I was never able to establish a fun way to exercise anymore and it started to become clear that my eating habits were as poor as the rest of my family. They had all been dieters my entire life. I just always thought that I was immune to gaining weight. I somehow never connected it to all my exercise.

So, there I was, 20 lbs over weight with no idea of how to diet. I went into my first pregnancy at 42 with this extra weight ... then 6 months after the birth of my first child ... became pregnant with my twins.

Then before I knew it I was 44 years old, had 3 kids under the age of 2, tired beyond belief, dealing with PPD ... need I go on? My weight was terrible ... and I was not caring ... I just needed to be able to get through a day.

I know this is long ... sorry ....

I've spent the last 4 years trying to get everything under control again so I could concentrate on my health. I am much older than most mom's and I want to see my grandchildren.

The one thing I have discovered is that I had terrible role models in my parents. I'm not trying ... in ANY way to be disrespectful of my parents ... I love them all dearly ... but my dad and step mother are both overweight and have health issues because of it and my mother has always been extremely critical of all of us girls about our weight.

One moment that is burned in to my memory is this ... I was to have dinner with my mom and my siblings after work one night ... I hadn't seen her for awhile and I was looking forward to it. I was late getting off work and when I arrived my family was sitting waiting for me by the entrance ... when I got
close the first words out of my mom's mouth were, "Merri Ann you've always had those big thighs ... I don't know where you got that from ..." I was at the time wearing a size 2 pants, weighed 105 lbs, and was an exercise fanatic.

Now, here I am years later, struggling to set a good example for my children. It's imperative for me. I have 2 daughters ... and it looks like they are going to have two very different body types ... One appears to be more like my side of the family ... the other like my husband's. The reason I mention this is that my husband's family has those genes that make you rail thin your entire life. His mother, aunt, sister ... etc. They are extremely thin ... no matter what they eat.

I don't want to have a daughter that spends her life struggling with weight ....

Or, more importantly, I don't want any of my kids to EVER feel like they need to change their body ... for any reason.

As I sit here, I know that I have issues with my body image ... I'm called "Grandma" more often than "Mom" when out with my kids and I don't even want to tell you what being pregnant with twins at 44 did to my body. Every time I even joke about getting surgery to "fix" any body part ... my husband about has a fit that I would want to change my body (Thank you God for sending him in to my life).

So, here I am today, trying at every opportunity to be the parent I want to be ... waking up every day determined to do better and to be a better role model.

Please read the article at the top of the post. It is without a doubt one of the best things I have read on the subject of body image and what we are projecting to our children.

P.S. For those of you who made it this far and want to know about the title of this post ... I sooo wanted to replace the word "ears" with "breasts" ... I wanted this to be a serious post but I had to put a little something here at the end :))

There ARE People In My Family Who Are Older Than Me

Reposted from yesterday ....

Note: Today (Wednesday, March 17, 2010) I joined in with Cheryl of Twinfatuation for Wayback Wednesday. This is the first time I've tried this ... I hope it works.


Marianne's Blog Post inspired me to get this post up this morning. We were both thinking along the same lines, at the same time. Thanks for the inspiration, Marianne, to get mine done.

Yesterday, I surprised my family by scanning this old photo I found and emailing it to them. My sister responded by doing the same. We ended up each scanning several photos that most of us have never seen. Here are the photos ... Hope you enjoy them ....

This is my paternal grandparents wedding photo. She is 98 (99 in June) and he passed away before I was born.

My grandmother remarried this man. So my dad was raised around horses. He in turn raised us on a ranch with lots of animals ... mainly horses.

This is my dad and his sister at 3 & 4. They were born 11 months apart.

This is my dad's graduation picture before he entered the navy.

My mom before she married my dad and had 5 kids. She skated for years with the Holiday On Ice show.

Hope y'all enjoyed my old family photos ...

The Boy ...

My blog is going to need a name change ....

In September of 2009, only 2 in this photo were potty trained. In November, that number increased to 3 (unfortunately, it was a human). February 2010, we discovered that Girl 3 was blaming some urine on the floor on the dog ... so he has been trained longer than we thought ... and Girl 3 not as long as we thought.

Today we decided we are through with diapers ... at almost 3-1/2, the Boy has refused to part with his diapers and my husband and I decided that we were going to force the issue. If we do indeed move, that is only going to delay us having an opportunity to do this. So with spring break this week, here was our chance.

The plan was to start Saturday morning. The night diaper would come off and all the diapers would be removed from the house and we were going for it.

So, we did exactly that ... and there we were at 1 pm and he was still naked ... he was refusing to put on anything other than a diaper and we were standing our ground that he was not getting one.

Oh ... I know what you're thinking ... Where was he using the bathroom? Well ... he has no problem using the potty ... he just doesn't want to be without a diaper.

But finally, he came around ... you see ... the boy loves chocolate ... and he adores his dad. And daddy had just gone to the store with only the girls ... and he had to stay home because he was naked ... And, dad and the girls had returned with chocolate bribes.

When daddy said, "You can have a piece of chocolate if you put on your underwear" ... he ran to put them on.

So, day 1 of potty training was a success with zero accidents.

I thought this would be a great time to do a post about Jack ... the happy boy :))

Issues with his head have been a theme for the majority of his life so far ... luckily we had a Pediatrician who was VERY experienced with this issue ... she jumped on the problem early and the misshapen head and neck muscle issues were corrected in just 3 months (we have since learned that when this is left to sort itself out with just parental involvement ... it will many times lead to more issues that may rquire physical therapy and long term helmet use, instead of permanent correction). Thank you, thank you , thank you to our wonderful Pediatrician back in California.

Having a big head has other problems ... when he falls ... he ALWAYS hits his head. As a baby learning to sit, he never would put out his hands to stop his fall and that is pretty much how he is today ... we have a lot of these bumps.

He is a detail guy and insists others are also ... and, yes, they ate them all ...

He loves Thomas ... but not having a picture taken ...

He loves Spike ... but not having his mouth cleaned.

Being a detail guy, he knows what we need to have lunch in the park and packs the appropriate lunch ... He did this all by himself ... I just took it out of the lunch bag to take a photo.

This is his dad's face looking back at me ...

Jack ... the one most likely to be like his dad and we love that about him ... and we just love him, period.

P.S. Now we know that my kids WILL be out of diapers before I'm in them (I'm assuming that occasional sneezing accident doesn't count). And, my husband has informed me that I'll shortly need to change my blog name to "My Life As A MoM Over 50" ...

Our Beautiful Spring Day Adventure

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day here in North Texas ... the sky was a brilliant blue and the temperature was just perfect.

We were 15 minutes ahead of schedule getting to school, so I decided to treat myself and the kids to Starbucks ... extra strong coffee jolt for me ... banana bread for the kids. As these things usually work out ... when you're early for something there is no line ... we were second in line at Starbucks at 10 minutes to 8 in the morning on Friday ... amazing. I was so happy I paid for the 2 cars behind me so that they would have a good day, too

We drove to school singing songs in our usual fashion ... I start the song and deliberately sing the wrong words ... they correct me and laugh ... now that they are older they join in singing the wrong words to see if they can get each other to laugh.

I dropped the kids at school and drove off with my normal feeling of weirdness ... I haven't gotten used to being without the kids ... I can't relax ... I can't shake the need to be constantly aware of everything and everyone around ... you know that feeling if your a mom ... the hyper awareness you get with the birth of your child(ren).

My plan was to use the time at home to finish the taxes and any other paperwork I had time to address, pack a lunch, pick up the kids and head to the park to enjoy the first day of sunshine in what seemed like months.

But I just couldn't make myself head home ... I went to Target. I wanted to get the kids new soccer balls for the park and as I passed the baby aisle on the way out I notice that the music player my daughter has wanted is on sale so I pick that up for her. When I got home, I had just enough time to set up the player in her room for a surprise, get the park essentials ready and get back to school to pick up the kids.

At our school, no one is allowed in the building during pick up time ... everyone must pick up in the carpool lane. The kids are brought to the car by their teacher.

As I drove up to the school, the lawn service for the church next door was mowing ... the smell of the newly cut grass was intoxicating ... I love that smell ... nothing makes me think more about springtime than that ... I opened all the car windows to bask in the aroma.

I was about 8 cars back ... waiting my turn ... I moved forward toward the door and there were the kids ... as normal they waved when they saw me and yelled "Mommy" as I walked around the car to open the door.

There is always a bustle as I unbuckle backpacks and take off coats and herd everyone into the car. Because I have 3 to buckle in and not just one like most moms ... I normally shut the door without buckling anyone and pull around to a parking space so as not to hold up the line ...

Today ... my son is the first in the car ... he immediately notices that I have forgotten my promise to go home collect his stuffed toy and place it in his seat for after school ... and he starts to become completely unhinged ... he jumps out of the car back onto the sidewalk ... as I'm trying to apologise for forgetting and to hustle him back into the car, Girl 3 pushes a button in the car that activates a lever, that pinches the finger of Girl 1 ...

Girl 1 starts to scream & cry and pinches Girl 3 ... Girl 3 starts to cry .... son is on curb crying and refusing to get in the car ...

I notice that the cars in front of me have pulled off and I am holding up the line ... I shove my son in to the car and race around to drive to my parking spot where I can calm everyone down ... only he opens the car door and jumps out again. As I run around to put him back in, Girl 1 yells, "I'm going to throw up" ... that makes me stop ... I look in the car and luckily she has grabbed her vomit bowl* ... she is heaving up volumes ... thankfully in the bowl.

I grab my son again ... lock the door this time ... throw him in and slam the door. As I get into the drivers seat someone yells at me that he has opened the door again ... she closes it and I step on the gas to get the hell out of there ... well ... I stepped on the gas a little too hard ... I knock down my son ... and, unfortunately for me, vomit girl gets knocked down also ... with her bowl of contents.

I pull in to a parking space ... the din behind me is overwhelming ... I go around the car, open the back door and I am hit with the sights and sounds of my son screaming and crying, Girl 3 screaming and crying, and Girl 1 crying with snot running from both nostrils, puke running from her chin ... holding a half-full bowl of vomit ... the other half spewn around the interior of the car.

I am stunned beyond belief ... I stand there absolutely flabbergasted ... What the @#$@#$%^ has just happened???

Where should I start to fix all this????

Stop the crying? Clean up the vomit? Well the smell of the vomit is about to make me spew, so I decide to tackle that first. I opened the passenger side door to first grab my trusty container of wipes out of the door ... and the container is empty (thank you to whoever did that) ... I go back to the open back door ... the noise HAS to stop ... so I yell "Everyone ... knock it off !!!!" ... finally ... silence.

The twins' two teachers come over to offer assistance ... I laugh and say "What just happened?" ... they are quick to point out that all the teachers have been talking about how weird ALL the kids have been acting this past week and it's not just mine ... I thank them and say "I can handle it from here ... go enjoy your lunch break".

I had stepped away from the back door to talk to the teachers and as I turned back my daughter heaves the contents of her bowl into the parking lot.

I really don't think I need to add anymore to this post ... the above says it all ...





* My daughter has a very sensitive gag reflex ... she throws up when she crys and when she coughs ... so we always have a vomit bowl handy ... lovely ... I know..

Moving ... Part 1

I wanted to update everyone on the latest info about our impending move.

But first, I wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive and helpful. I've gotten some wonderful emails and it has been hard to keep track of who I've given the latest info to ... so here goes....

We still have not gotten a clear go ahead to any one location, but Friday we got news that this job will be ending July 1. As is the usual, the company always qualifies this with "unless something comes up in the interim...". I really dislike that they always keep us hanging like that ... (for the record ... it doesn't bother my husband).

One of our relocation prospects is in the Northeast. The exact location is not known yet. They have several jobs going and several that are in the development stage. The hubby sees this location as the lease desirable ... he's not a big fan of the snow.

Another location is in Fort Worth ... this job would keep us in our current home. I've had a real love/hate relationship with this house and this area of Texas. I've started several blog posts about it, but I can't seem to finish them because I've never been able to put my finger on what, exactly, is the problem here. Staying put would be good for the obvious reasons ... we are established here with schools, doctors, etc. The bad is the weather, living practically on top of our neighbors, and the biggest negative is that I just have never liked it here ... I just can't explain it ... I've resisted all efforts at friendships and anything else that would make this a comfortable place for me to live ... again, I can't explain it ... I just really dislike it here.

The last location is in Austin. There is an interview on Tuesday and we are praying that this is where we end up. This seems like the ideal location for us ... we would be close to several family members in Austin, and the rest of the family is in Houston, just a short drive away. We have always felt that being geographically closer to my husbands family would be great for our children. All the cousins are in their age range. When our first child was born we decided that if she was to be an only child, we were going to move to Houston to be near other family close to here age (this was a big issue for us because we were in our 40's ... there are different realities we are dealing with because of our age)

Anyway, we are saying our prayers that today goes well and we are relocated to Austin. In the meantime, we have been prepping the house for sale. This means I have to finish any projects I've started ... the short list here is ... finish installing knobs on cabinets, finish painting garage, finish painting bathroom and installing new fixtures (I had to laugh when Helene mentioned painting her bathroom and the color being wrong ... I've repainted this bathroom 4 times and the color is still wrong ... and FYI ... I tried to link to her post but I couldn't figure out how to link to a past post) ...

And, of course, continue to get rid of all extraneous crap ... the Big 2010 Purge is still on over here. I've sold exactly one thing on Craig's List ... woo hoo ...

My stress level is increasing just writing this post ... there is sooo much to do. I'm an expert mover. I've moved a lot ... but doing it with kids is a whole different experience ...

Wish me luck ....