Monday, November 18, 2013

Sleep Deprived

This weekend I got a Jawbone UP to help me with my fitness journey. It helps you monitor your activity, your sleep, workouts, food, and even tells you when you've been idle for too long. It is really awesome. I was especially excited for it to tell me how I've been sleeping.

I was pretty disturbed when it told me I only got 2 hours of sleep. In fact...it took me until about an hour ago to figure out it stopped recording at 1:17AM. That would be the time that I was up for a long time out of bed with Christopher who had a hard time getting back to sleep because he's kind of stuffy nosed. Apparently the UP is much too smart for me. Note, if I'm out of bed for an extended period of time, I have to tell it I'm sleeping again. 

Anyway, on the subject of being sleep deprived, we have got to make some changes to bedtime and sleeping with the boys. I can't take it anymore. So, we are going to be trying some crying it out type stuff. I know that they can handle being alone in their rooms, I just need to train them to get themselves to sleep. Actually, it's the going back to sleep part we need help with. 

So, wish us luck. I made an attempt at naptime and I think it might have worked...I haven't heard anything for a while...

Friday, November 15, 2013

Quick Takes - Vol 17




Christopher did really well in speech therapy yesterday. He made eye contact various times throughout his appointment and he even made some different sounds. Like, he was trying to mimic the therapist. It was great! Today, when Jason's mom came over to visit she brought him part of his book that he had left at their house and he kept coming over and touching her with it. It was really cute!


The therapist made some more suggestions for things to do for Christopher. One of the things she suggested is that he might be getting over stimulated by so many different things to play with and suggested putting away some toys. I put up 3 bins of toys and left out some of the things the boys play with the most frequently. He seemed excited by all the room in the playroom anyway.


I made an attempt at putting Dominic in underwear today with a couple trips to the potty. I'll let you guess how that went.

I was thinking that I wasn't going to do naps this for the boys today because they've been sleeping pretty poorly lately. But the boys had different plans...
 




Dominic really likes Monsters University and Monsters Inc and there is this part in Monsters University where they are at a party and dancing. Dominic loves it and he really gets into the dancing part. It is pretty adorable.



I mentioned yesterday about my workout routine, I've been really enjoying the water aerobics this week. But let me tell you, that is HARD. I was so sore yesterday morning that I couldn't get up for my cardio. Yikes. And this is done in a therapy pool, so it is very warm and I am always sweating at the end of running laps.


A friend of mine sent me a text message today asking me to pray for her friend's daughter who is spending some time in Children's hospital because she has developed Stevens-Johnson syndrome. If you've never heard of it, don't worry, I hadn't either. She had bronchitis and was given an antibiotic, and she had this severe reaction to it. She was told at their local hospital that they thought it was chicken pox (in her mouth) and sent her home. The poor girl has been put on a feeding tube and already undergone surgery. Please pray for her and her family. There are 6 little ones and now another kiddo has bronchitis.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Small Success (Vol 3)




Small Success Thursdays at CatholicMom.comI'm linking up with the ladies at Catholic Mom to celebrate all the little things this week that add up to big successes. Come on over and join in!

1) I've managed to work out every day this week. It's been my plan obviously, but usually there's a bad night of sleep and my plans fall through at least one of the days. Well, despite that Tuesday and this morning I didn't make it up to go to the gym, I still managed to go to water aerobics (and will tonight too). 

2) I've been praying for peace instead of what I want this week. I want, so badly, to get pregnant again. To grow our family. I've really been struggling with wanting to "make" God's will my own. And I don't mean to bend my will to His. ;-) So, this week I've made a conscious effort in my prayers to ask for peace in waiting for His will and His timing with our family. It has really helped. Sometimes it seems in the asking we're already getting our answers.

3) I have been so productive this week. I managed to get the fans cleaned, I baked some homemade nutri-grain bars for Christopher (which he won't eat, of course), made some quick jam, laundry everyday and dishes sometimes multiple times a day even!

So what are some of your successes this week?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Wordless Wednesday - Success (Eye Think You Can See What I'm Talking About!)








Plugging Through the Plateau

I mentioned recently that I'm kind of hitting a wall, or a plateau, with my weight loss. I'm fluctuating between 258 and 261. It's frustrating, but I have a plan. Sometimes when you are doing the same workout routine your body has it figured and you don't lose weight as quickly. So I'm changing things up a bit.

I am still trying to do 60 minutes (minimum) of cardio 6 days a week + 2 days of strength training. I've been doing the elliptical for my cardio, sometimes adding in my stationary bike. I've tried to do some jogging/walking on the treadmill, but it really hurts legs for some reason. So M-F I will go in at 5AM and do 45 minutes on the elliptical, adding any bike I can get in throughout the day. TWTh I will also be doing 60 minutes of water aerobics in the evenings. M evening I will do my arm strengthing and F evening I will do my leg strengthening. Sat I will try to get in my 60 minutes of cardio any way I can.

Whew, that almost sounds like I'm some kind of athlete. It's not getting any easier; well, that's not true, I guess I'm not always sore after my workouts so that is definitely a plus. I've also noticed that I have to work harder to get my heart rate up and it goes down much faster most of the time; this is proving that my cardiovascular health is really improving. Also, yesterday I ran with Dominic from the front of Walmart to the car, while pushing Christopher in the cart, and I wasn't even out of breath! I consider that the best part of my increasing health!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Eye Just Don't Know What to Do

Gah! Okay, so I just talked to Dominic's eye doctor...well technically the technician (assistant?) about what to do with the glasses situation. Because of Dominic's myopia (nearsightedness), he is straining to correct his vision and that is causing his left eye to fatigue basically and that is causing him to have a lazy eye, or crossed eye. Pretty much the only thing that will correct his lazy eye is if he will wear his glasses. Thus, our problem.

So, her suggestions for right now are to eye patch at least 5 days a week for an hour total. When we patch the right eye it, obviously, makes him have to use his left eye only. Because oh yeah, if he continues to have the lazy eye problem, and continues to not wear his glasses...he can go blind in his left eye. As if we don't have enough to stress out about right now.





Dominic used to tolerate the eye patching like it was no big deal. But when I tried last week he freaked out A LOT. So, we'll see if I can get him to do it again. I'm hopeful. On top of that we need to try to get him to wear his glasses as often as possible. Our next option is the same kind of eye drops that they used in the office, in his right eye only three times a week. Ask me if I want to hold down the 3 year old and put drops in his eyes, then ask him to let me put an eye patch and glasses on him. No. The answer is an emphatic no. Prayers are definitely appreciated.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Weekend Recap

This weekend was the first in a while that I haven't worked at all so that was kind of nice. Jason was able to go into the office for most of the day on Saturday and get a lot of stuff done. While he was at work, I braved the local craft fair with the boys and saw a lot of really nice things, but we didn't buy anything. Dominic was fascinated with these amazing wooden trucks, but with a $300 price tag, they are definitely not going on his Christmas list. :-/



We had a nice dinner together as a family, and then some of the leftover homemade ice cream. We're having to start giving the boys baths separately because they both desperately want to lay down in the bath tub and just fight over the prime spot in the tub. Dominic is currently loving Monsters University and Monsters Inc. It's so cute listening to him say "Mike Housekey"!


It definitely seems like the most laid back weekends are the ones that stay with me. Little moments of silliness with the boys, quiet game nights with Jason (did I mention that I caught him with his hand full in Canasta? I believe he had 5 points that hand :-D), movie family times, it just stays with me. I love those quiet weekends, I'm going to stock up these memories, and hold them in my heart. 

Friday, November 8, 2013

Quick Takes - Vol 16




Since Christopher was sick Wednesday into Thursday, we missed his speech therapy appointment yesterday because the person that comes has small children at home, and she was definitely not interested in passing along whatever it was he had. Thankfully, after getting sick again yesterday afternoon, he seems to be on the mend.








 I'm still really struggling to get Dominic to wear his glasses. I am at a complete loss. And deep down, I'm wondering if maybe the reason that he doesn't want to wear them is because they aren't a good fit but he can't verbalize that? The reason I say this is because he is supposedly extremely far-sighted (that's the one where he can't see up close right?!), but one of the things we've been trying to use as "glasses time" is when he's on the tablet. But it struck me last night, that he shouldn't be able to see it or do much with it except with his glasses on. But he's putting together puzzles and all sorts of things on that thing. Now, the eye doctor told me last week that he can self-correct, and that is actually what is causing his left eye to turn in, because he is straining it. So last week they put in an eye drop that basically numbed his eye muscles so that he could not self correct, but he still won't wear the glasses. Not during that whole time, not while looking at things up close or far away. So, it doesn't seem to me that he's struggling with that? But what do I know?!


Have I mentioned I know a lot of pregnant women right now? A lot! One of the ladies that I know that is pregnant is a good friend of mine and she is pregnant with #3. She is the one who gave us the boys' entire wardrobes practically. She had a boy first and then a girl and they thought they wouldn't have any more kids after that, but God turned their hearts a bit and now they are excited to welcome another boy! So, now I need to get organized and put together all the clothes and take them back to her! Good excuse to see her new house!


Speaking of Christopher's speech therapy; I took a bunch of pictures to make a flash card book with vocabulary and also to help with communication, so he can "tell" us what he wants. But we went to pick up the pictures earlier this week and they are awful. Like really bad, I don't even know if he would know the slice of cheese is a slice of cheese. So, I guess I better use the real camera to do it...


Dominic is pretty much obsessed with beef jerky lately. I've been making it a lot because it is a good snack for me (hello protein!) and Dominic has been asking for it a lot. Sometimes he says "want jerky" and other times he says "want a piece" and other times he just steals mine...




Dominic's speech is getting a bit better, but he still doesn't seem to have actual conversations. If anyone has any tips on getting him away from just repeating and actually responding appropriately, I'll take them. Of course, if you just want to tell me that this comes with time, I'll take that too. :)







For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Small Success (Vol 2)

I'm finally linking up again with Catholic Mom and putting my Small Successes to pen...type? You know what I mean.





1) I managed to get through two days of vomit. Christopher caught some kind of stomach bug and was throwing up Tuesday and part of Wednesday. We spent most of yesterday lounging on the couches and watching movies. Sometimes you just have to have days like that.

2) Did you hear about my weight loss? I'm down 20 pounds now! WooHoo!

3) I managed not to allow myself to get caught up in a debate/argument multiple times recently. If you read my blog at all you know that we have been struggling to get pregnant again. We don't use NFP to either avoid or conceive, and we always thought pregnancies would happen so fast as they did with our first two. We are now 12 months in after Christopher has been completely weaned and we still aren't pregnant. I'm adding a little PSA here, because it seems that some people need to hear this. It doesn't matter if a couple is trying for baby #1 or baby #3 or even baby #8, if they are hoping for a baby and that isn't happening, they have the right to feel sad about it. It is not helpful to say things like "just be thankful you have the boys you do" or "at least you're married!". Wanting to be blessed with more children doesn't mean that I am not thankful for the children, and the life we have, saying these things is not helpful and is actually quite hurtful. Just remember that we are all struggling with different things, and we should try to be charitable in all of our dealings. OK, that's all I'm going to say on that, or as Dominic would say "OK, all done, no more." 

So, what are some of your successes for the week? Come check out the things other moms are proud of this week!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Another Small Step

I haven't had my actual numbers for my weight loss for a little while, so I've been waiting to do an update post about it. Well, last week was my last week working with the trainer. She was absolutely awesome, but financially it is a lot of money, and my ultimate goal has always been to be able to do this on my own. I feel like Miranda gave me the tools that I needed and now it's up to me to keep using them.

At my last weigh-in I was down to 258, that is a 20 pound loss since I first began. I'm also down a total of 10.5" since I started. I'm so happy and proud of myself . I've still got a long road ahead of me obviously, but I'm on the right track!

Friday, October 25, 2013

7 Quick Takes - Vol 15



Linking up this week with Cari who is covering for Jen!


So Christopher has speech therapy twice a week, but normally it's a developmental aide (I think that's what they're called) that comes in and then once a month the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) comes in to see him. Well this week was the week the SLP came and she gave us some idea towards what is causing his issues. She thinks he might have speech apraxia. If you read that link, it is almost everything that Christopher does with regards to his speech. So she gave us some tips to help him out. But, she also caught some things that are red flags, that might lead us to a more serious diagnosis.


If you read Cam's blog, you might know the journey that she is going through with her youngest daughter, Mae. As she was documenting some of the things she noticed about Mae, I also saw some things that Christopher does that are similar. We are going to see a developmental pediatrician who might come back with a diagnosis with Christopher on the autism spectrum. But, it might not. I'm trying really hard not to stress about it because it could just be the speech apraxia and the things we are going to do to help with that developmental issue might take care of everything. I won't lie, I feel stressed and overwhelmed and unbelievably guilty. It is so easy to look at something and say it must be me, or something that I'm doing wrong; but after talking to a few friends I feel better about that. I know that diagnoses like these come to all different families with different parenting techniques.


That being said, there are some things that we don't currently do that we are going to work on implementing. We have maintained a really laid back parenting style with no real routine/schedules. So, we are going to be working on a much stricter schedule as the SLP thinks that this will really help him out. I think it will also help Dominic too, even though he just tends to create his own routine, this might help him feel a little better about things. I'm going to take pictures of things that he regularly eats at our house and create a flip book to help with his communication too. The picture with the word should help a lot. We will also be creating a picture schedule so that he knows what we will be doing throughout the day, but this probably won't make much difference for a while. But I think I will make one for Dominic too so that he can see it and knows what to expect more too. We are putting Christopher back in his high chair for meals and so far that has been helping a lot. He's been eating a lot more and he hasn't cried at all when he's been in there. It just makes me see how much structure this kid needs to function well.
He even ate with a spoon for the first time EVER!!



Whew, that was a lot of deepness...it's time for some frivolity!






The boys and I went for a walk to the library and then the store, but they got tired on the way home and we stopped at the community building to "rest" but the boys found some water. Of course.



I haven't updated much on my weight loss lately, and I plan to do more soon, but for now I just wanted a brief update. I'm kind of stuck in a plateau right now that seems to be around 258.5-262. I'm not sure why, it might be a female/hormonal thing, because it feels like my measurements are always done right in the middle of a cycle; but I might need to pump up my exercising. I hope to figure it out soon. :)


Meanwhile, Jason has been doing the diet with me and he seems to have better luck than I do! He's dropped about 7 pounds already. Impressive since he's been so crazy at work and hasn't done his regular workouts. Of course, he does ride 3+ miles a day on his bike...


I can't think of anything else...so instead here is this video of Dominic. He has been enjoying watching this several times and he giggles at himself the whole time!



Monday, October 21, 2013

Weekend Recap

This weekend was just really relaxing to me for some reason. Saturday, started off a little worrisome as Christopher woke me up at 5AM by puking all over the bed and me. I grabbed a towel to wipe him off, but had to wake up Jason as I don't handle vomit all that well. Then I had to go to work in Las Animas and left Jason to handle any sickness. ;-) He never got sick again, but he seemed whiny all day long. He got a haircut that night too, a bit short thanks to momma.

It's a good thing that he's so cute, it helps even out the short hair.

Sunday we ended up going to Pueblo to look for some pieces for Jason's Halloween costume. The IT department is going to dress up as the people from the IT Crowd.



                                 http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Moss--Roy-and-Jen-the-it-crowd-647357_279_320.jpg

Jason is going to be Moss, the guy on the left, and I'm pretty excited to make it happen. We bought an afro wig and we are going to style it. Any suggestions on how to make that happen are appreciated. ;-)

Also, I'm debating getting a perm. Not like, an 80s perm, but something more modern. I'd just really like things to be a bit easier in the morning without looking like a frizz ball. 

Sometimes weekends can feel so rushed and stressful, so it's really nice to have a weekend that is busy-ish but doesn't feel stressful.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Theme Thursday-Orange

2 posts from me in one day? Unheard of right? It's because I wanted to do 2 link oops but I'm definitely not smart enough to combine them.

So I'm linking up here with Cari. over at the Clan for Theme Thursday.

We still had temps of over 80 last week so we are not getting much leave change yet so I wasn't going to join in yet. But when I took the boys to the park I saw some pretty leaves and even though they're more golden than orange I decided to play a little fast and loose with the rules. I hope Cari doesn't mind!

Small Successes (Vol 1)




Technically this would be a higher number, because I used to do Small Successes posts back when I first started my blog, but then it went away. Now they're bringing it back over at Catholic Mom and I'm so excited! I think it's such a great idea to celebrate our successes, no matter how small they may seem!

1) I've been working on my story; I mentioned earlier this week that I was working on something that has always been a dream of mine. I'm working on my story and there is just so much to it, but I'm loving it. I'm excited to get enough done that I can start reading it to the boys, because that's my inspiration anyway.

2) I cleaned the stove pieces this week! This seems so small, but it was a really big deal because there was so much stuck on my burners that it was causing them to overheat and cook things all wonky. At least, that's what I'm blaming the bad cooking on...

3) Christopher said "Amen" at Mass this week! OK, well, most people wouldn't have caught that, but it definitely sounded like Amen and it was at appropriate times so I'm having seriously high hopes that new sounds/words will be coming soon. He also said the "sh" noise which is new.

Go over to Sarah's blog and check out everyone else's Small Successes!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Dreaming Big

When I think about the things that I've always wanted in my life, I'm thrilled that I can say that I've reached some of those milestones.

I married my best friend; we enjoy spending time together, whether we are riding bikes, playing games, or just hanging out together on our respective electronic devices.

Jason shuffling for his big win at Canasta

I am a mom, and for the double win, I get to stay home with my kids. I get the opportunity to be with them every day and to teach them, eventually homeschooling them.




These are amazing gifts and they were some of my biggest dreams while I was growing up. In fact, if anyone knew me growing up they could tell you that it is all I've ever wanted to be. And I'm there.

I had just one real dream when it came to a job though. I wanted to write. A book, I'm not dreaming about the great American novel or anything, just an enjoyable novel. I've had storylines in my head on numerous occasions, but they've never resulted in anything. But now? Now I have this great story in my head that is prompted primarily by the two little munchkins that I'm blessed to spend my time with. I just want to put something down on paper that I can read to the boys. That involve them, and make them love storytelling.

And so I am. It's slow going, they might be 5 and 6 by the time I finish (I hope not!), but I'm doing it. I love my story idea, and I can't wait to share it with them.

It's funny how one dream can lead to another, how connected all my dreams have been.