A MUST Read: MckMama

For those of you who surf the blogging world, it's amazing how many connections there are between people and the variety of blogs out there. I don't even recall how I came upon this blog a few weeks ago, but I did so just in time.

If you are looking for encouragement...if you want to be reminded of what an awesome, miraculous God we serve...if you have a Kleenex handy... This is a MUST READ!

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

This mom gave birth to her fourth child (in as many years!) this week. This baby was basically given a death sentance just months ago while in utero. Now at birth, they can find nothing wrong with him. She's a great writer and you will enjoy the journey with her.

A Mommy Confession

No mommy is perfect. We all do our best and yet there are times we realize we didn't make quite the right decision. And times we don't do the "little things" like warm the baby's bottle or actually get the kids dressed! And times we know we should do something a little differently, but lack the motivation to change.

Today is my mommy confession! I'm sure I have a long list I could come up with but I'm going to keep it to the one thing bugging me right now.

My confession is...I have a slight addiction to "downtime" in the afternoon (on my days off) that involves the computer and the TV. I tend to go, go, go in the morning and when naptime hits...I'm ready for my own break. Being pregnant plays a big role in this too! Several weeks ago I was napping every afternoon I could, but my energy has returned some.

It was perfect when both the girls were taking afternoon naps. I'd get them down, clean up from lunch, maybe do one or two quick chores and then have "me" time. By the they woke up, I was refreshed and ready to turn back on.

But...Miss Rose doesn't take afternoon naps anymore. And she is one of those "screen kids." If the TV is on, she's paying attention to it, whether the show is of interest to her or not. Gracie on the other hand, doesn't care so much for TV and she would rather play with toys.

I've shared before how Miss Rose doesn't entertain herself so well. I confess I have NO idea how to keep her occupied in the afternoon and I feel guilty that she ends up watching A Baby Story or What Not To Wear with me. Sending her to her room to play by herself seems unfair just so I can have some downtime.

I feel guilty...but I can't wait until she's in school because she will be occupied for a good portion of the day and it will be easier to occupy her the rest of the day. Even if I wasn't wanting to sit and veg for an hour in the afternoon, I'd still have trouble occupying her while the baby sleeps.

Another aspect of the challenge is that she honestly is school-age already, just born a few months too late. If she was just two months younger she'd be in Kindergarten this year--and because she is a pretty intelligent kid--she does belong in Kindergarten already. Miss Rose has some learning activity books that she enjoys--but it's also shown me that a) It's a good thing I didn't go into teaching and b) It's a good thing I don't intend to homeschool. She gets easily frusterated with me when I try to explain how to do something correctly.

Two months and hopefully she'll be in a public school program every morning. If we don't get into that program...I think it will be time to find her a preschool program at least a few days a week.

But in the meantime...I confess...my 4.5yr old watches TV with me a few afternoons a week. I should get my lazy pregnant butt off the couch and be productive...but it just doesn't happen. And you know what, I've just come to accept it.

(p.s. as I write this, I'm watching What Not To Wear, and miracle of all miracles Miss Rose got bored, made a tent fort and is looking at her alphabet flashcards. She just read "bus". Maybe there is hope after all)

Fitness Friday: 15.5

I didn't set out to have a fantastic week of exercise, but somehow that's what happened. Not that I'm complaining...although my back is a little bit! I went to the lake Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a total of 15.5 miles. One of those days was just walking, the rest were running. Well, now when I say running--I'm running intervals; run for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute. It really helps me keep going and still complete my usual miles. In the end, it really doesn't add too much time overall.

I've come to the conclusion that with exercising while pregnant (especially as I get further along), yes it's a little harder, it takes a little longer and I'm a bit more tired after. But I can still do it, and so I do. I've gotten used to running being pretty standard as I've been running consistently for about 1.5 years now. As my body is more challenged, part of me wants to give it up. But I'm addicted!!

Running/exercise is my happy pill. I need that adrenaline. And I love to eat, so it's my ticket to eating more of what I want and not worrying as much about the calories. Plus I can include my kids. I realize my running days may be put on pause at some point in my pregnancy. Following my c-section, I definately will be on hiatus. But so far, I'm pretty happy being able to continue.

Exercise clothes are becoming a problem! My shirts are riding up my belly and I am not sure how much longer my pants will fit my waist. And maternity exercise clothes are SO expensive. I found a shirt at Ross today that's one size bigger and should work for a while. I think I'll end up getting another pair of running capri's in a bigger size and stretchy waist.

I'm also looking at some maternity belts to give my belly and back some extra support while running. It won't look cute, but I know it will help! I also got an exercise ball today so I can work on my abs and core, which will alleviate the pressure from my back.

I'm not sure what next week holds for exercise. Much of it depends on my schedule. I DO know my body will be enjoying a day of rest tomorrow after 3 straight days of exercise.

Enjoy your weekend!

I wrestled a bear today

(this scene took place on Monday)

I wrestled a bear today....in the form of my 46-inch, 52-lb 4.5 year old. Yes, she's the average size of a 6-7 year old. How, I don't know. She has grandfathers and great grandfathers on both sides of the family that are 6 feet tall. Genetics are an amazing thing. Miss Rose seems to have some of the least likely genes exhibiting themselves in her. She is only 25% Hispanic, but her skin tone is pretty much the same as her dad, who is 50%. We are both vertically challenged as Bean likes to call it, yet she is tall.


Back to the bear wrestling. Miss Rose had her Kindergarten dr. appointment today in order to be able to enroll in a pre-K program through the school district in January. This involved a full physical and some shots.


Miss Rose has known for months that this day was coming before she started school. She has terrible anticipation anxiety. I know the anticipation is worse than what she experiences and hopefully as she gets old, she'll learn how to handle it better. I had anxiety too...as I knew this wouldn't be easy.


It wasn't a good sign when I was awoken this morning by wailing from Miss Rose's room, crying for Daddy and saying she didn't want to go to the doctor. Typically she wakes up cheerful and comes in my room. It took me a bit to calm her down and it was only 7:15am. I was thankful the appointment was 8:30 so we could just get it over with.


The appointment started okay. She completed the eye exam and the hearing test (which she remembered from her 3-yr appointment). Then the nurse requested a urine sample. My kid doesn't like to pee...ever. She protests each time we ask her to try before we leave the house or she goes to bed. She can hold it forever. Being that she had peed when she woke up, I knew it wasn't going to be easy for her to pee again.


In the past few months Miss Rose has developed a new sense of privacy. Earlier this summer, she spent many hot days just in her underware. But there has been a shift and she wants to be clothed and not risk others seeing her undressed. The idea of a urine sample, even though it was just me collecting it, was an invasion of her privacy.


Attempt #1 was a failure. Tears, protests and anger were involved. So I started pumping her with water while we waited for the dr. She handled the dr's portion of the exam quite well, until it came time for him to check her private parts. It was just a cursory glance basically, but I see why it's important. We explained it was okay because I was there, he was a doctor etc. It didn't fly. It took me a few minutes to get her to lay down on the table so I could be the one to pull her pants down and then I stood next to her for the 5 seconds it took the dr. to check. Again--many tears. I definately understood why that was so difficult for her.


Then came the waiting for the shots. Four of them to be exact, in addition to a TB test and a finger prick for anemia. It took a while for the nurse to come back and of course the anticipation anxiety just grew. Finally she came in and all hell broke loose. This was an angry amazon baby bear who wanted no part of what was about to happen.


It was evident right away that sitting on the table for the shots was not going to happen. Maybe if she was the size of a 4yr old it would have been easier to restrain her up there, but not this amazon child. Let me add, the crying has already begun and never let up. And of course, with a 4 year old, the crying is accompanied by many words of protest.


Picture me, sitting on a chair, pregnant belly and all, trying to hold and restrain my huge child through a procedure she wanted no part of. The finger prick was first and wasn't too bad. Then came the TB test and there was definate restrait of the arms necessary.


For the actual shots in her upper arms, the nurse asked me to lock Miss Rose's legs with mine and continue to hold her arms. She was FREAKING out. I was seriously wrestling a bear. In addition to keep her legs still, I had to hold both her arms and cover her eyes with one hand so she couldn't pull away when the needle came towards her. This kid has strength to go with her size. There was a few times I had to quit trying to control her arms and laugh saying "are you serious right now?" I was close to asking for another nurse to help me.

Finally we got through all the shots. There were a few times that Miss Rose saw the needle and said "oh no, we aren't doing that." As if she had a choice. At least some of her comments gave me reason to laugh through the wrestling match.

I might add, the nurse had to set the tray of shots on a stool next to her. Gracie was of course there and toddling around and quite interested in all of it. There were a few times I swore she was about to pick up one of the syringes. The needles weren't exposed, but still. I'm wrestling a bear, telling the other cub to not touch and go play. One cute moment was while Miss Rose was crying on the exam table about the personal exam, Gracie was trying to give Miss Rose her shoe. I guess Gracie was convinced her big sister was upset because her shoes were off.

After many threats and bribes, I finally got a urine sample right before we left. I told Miss Rose we only needed a little bit--not the whole cup. She eeked out like 3 drops and said "okay, I'm done. That's enough. You said just a little bit." Nice try kid. If you can get a few drops out--you can get a few teaspoons out, which she eventually did. We went to a store after the appointment and all of the sudden Miss Rose was about to pee her pants. I KNEW she had pee in there.

So I wrestled a bear today, and I won. Overall the appointment took 90 minutes. It looks like she won't need shots again until she's 7 and hopefully by then she'll be able to control herself. I will definately make sure Bean comes to Gracie's Kindergarten appointment and future vaccinations for older children. These bears of ours need a team to wrestle them.

Favorite Things: Gagles of Google

Well--only one favorite thing shared so far, but hey--I'm not Oprah with limitless time and money!! But I have several on my mind...I just need to write about them.

My favorite thing for today is GOOGLE! Not just the google website, but also a variety of programs and other sites they provide. I've been using the google search engine for a few years now quite happily, but in the past year I've discovered many other Google Goodies.

First, I LOVE gmail! My sister convinced me to give it a try several months ago. I had been pretty happy with my yahoo email for well over 5 years. However, my email address was my first and middle name and I was ready for a more "grown up" email address. I was able to use my first and last name on gmail, which seemed more professional. Here's why I like gmail
-it's very simple. At first I thought perhaps too simple...but then I realized simple is good
-you can't make folders, but you can give emails a "label" with a color and do a search by that label
-you don't have to delete ANYTHING! All you need to do is "archive" emails you don't want to see. But, if you ever need to search for an old email, it will still show you.
-replies to an email stay together--like a conversation. Since both my sisters live in other cities there are days we'll email back and forth several times. Instead of having 18 emails in my inbox from them under the same subject, there is just the original email, but when you open it--all the replies are they and you can expand or minimize them. Very handy for referencing too!
-you can also chat with other gmail people without downloading extra software

Onto the next product...

igoogle: it's like a homepage you personalize and sign into. If you have gmail, it shows up there. You add applications to your page such as...
-spanish phrase of the day
-clocks, timers etc
-news services for updates
-facebook or myspace updates
-post-it type notes

You can choose from a variety of themes for your page to personalize the look. I LOVE IT!

Google Desktop is a similar program you download. You can have a sidebar up all the time showing you the first several emails in your gmail box, and again adding from a plethora of applications and gadgets to track other things. I have this on my computer at work and have a baby countdown on it!

Picasa Web
This is a photo program you download to your computer. It finds all the photos on your computer and gives you access to them all from the program. It has basic editing abilities--cropping, changing lighting, hues, black and white, sepia etc. You can upload a set of photos to their online site and share them with others. You can also email straight from the desktop program. If you aren't a photoshop person, this is a great "photos for dummies" (like me!)

Google Calendar
Super easy to use online calendar. You can do a "quick add" and a box pops up and you can enter the date, time and event in any order and it's smart enough to figure out where on the calendar to place it. Events can be edited with a variety of other info also. Google Calendars can also be made public and available to others for group events or even tracking your family calendar.

Google Documents
Sometimes it's a pain to go through the process of making a new document, saving it and emailing it to yourself so you have access to it from another computer. Or perhaps you are keeping a list or journal you want to access...or a sports schedule. Google Documents is like an online briefcase you just have to sign into. You can create, upload, edit Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents to name a few. Documents can also be made available to others whether they have gmail or not.

Bean recently told me about some financial advice he heard on the radio--that if you were going to get started in buying stock, you should buy stock in a product or place that you like or use. If I were buying stock...Google would be first on my list!!

My New Hero

My new hero is my chiropractor. You may nor may not have noticed, but I haven't been mentioning my headaches lately. I think I did share several weeks ago that I was going to be trying a chiropractor for the first time in my life. For some reason with this pregnancy, the headaches were very intense and tylenol offered little relief.

I had 4 adjustments in 5 weeks. After my first two visits, I had a bad headache the next day, but then some relief after that. After the 3rd visit, there was drastic improvement. I have taken tylenol maybe 2x a week for the past few weeks--and that was more to guard off a developing headache--and it worked! It's been a few weeks since I've had an intense headache.

My energy level has increased and I've needed less naps. While it could be related to being mid-point in my 2nd trimester, I really think it has to do with my headaches--or lack thereof. I wasn't sleeping well due to my headaches and they were just exhausting.

I am SO thankful that I finally had the courage (and spent the $$) to try the chiropractor. He will be my lifelong friend. I'm hoping that even after the baby is born, my headaches won't come back and if they do, that he will be able to help me.

At my first visit, during the evaluation portion, there was a look of shock on his face when I told him how much pain medication I took while not pregnant and the severity and frequency of the headaches I had just learned to function with. Maybe I should have tried this a long time ago...

I've heard of taking infants and children to the chiropractor, but I was interested to read about a personal experience in my friend's blog. If my baby has similar issues that Gracie did her first few months, we will be making a visit to my new hero!

Will a new look bring Fall weather?

I decided to give myself a new "autumn" background. Now, I wonder if it will bring the corresponding weather to Southern California. I am SO ready for it to be cool. I'm not even asking for cold, just cool.

The nights are finally cooling off, which is a good sign. But many of the days it still hits 90. The last two summers the house we lived in had air conditioning. This house does not. I'm dying!! I didn't realize how spoiled I was. We used the a/c sparingly...but enough to make the house comfortable.

I'm just hoping Halloween night is cool. I bought a monkey costume for Gracie. I really hope it is cool enough for her to wear it! Yes, it was a risky move...but it just fits her personality these days so well I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately this weather pattern is typical for So Cal. Summer really doesn't hit until August or September. We're lucky to have a cold Thanksgiving! I want to drink hot tea and cuddle with my husband without a sheet of sweat developing between us.

The weather is supposed to cool a bit this weekend. That doesn't mean it will be cold, just not blazaing hot. We're going to a pumpkin patch (where they are actually grown!) today and it would be nice to not be sweating during the outing. A girl can hope, right?

So, I've changed my background. Come on FALL!!!!