Such a Slacker!

I feel awful ;) Mel from The Bubble... gave me this "Mom of the Year" award like weeks ago now...

The rules for the Mom of the Year award:
Admit one thing you feel awful about involving being a mom.

Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are no longer allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a good mom!

I feel bad that sometimes I feel like I don't spend enough "quality" time with my children. While I am home with them most days (I work 2 half days a week) it seems like I'm always busy doing something, and not spending time playing with them or interacting with them. I somehow imagined things so differently before I had children. I figured that I would spend a lot more time just playing with them. And I also figured that I would be more involved with school stuff, but unfortunately we live too far from the school...


Remind yourself you are a good mom, list seven things you love about your kids, or that your kids love about you.

These are things to remind yourself everyday that you rock!

1. I love that my two little ones snuggle up together when they are sleeping.
2. I love how sweet baby girl is! One of her favorite things to do is wrap her arms around me and kiss me all over :) and sometimes she even pats my hair!
3. I love how observant little man is! He just simply amazes me sometimes!
4. I love that little man is talking so much these days. It's so interesting to see how he sees things and understands them. It's just so fascinating!
5. I love that my 12 year old daughter is so friendly, outgoing and nurturing. While I might complain about some of her tween habbits, she is really a great kid!
6. I just can't help but love every minute of little man's singing! He just loves to sing!!
7. Equally I just can't help but love it when baby girl shakes her booty!! She really gets into it!
   

Send this to five other Mom's of the year that deserve credit for being great moms and remind them that they are the best moms they can be!! Remember to send them a note that you've selected them, and add a link to the person that nominated you.

The Mama's I choose are:
MamaNeena
Aubrey
Becky
April
Pregger TJ

What a Week!!!

Ugh. I'm exhausted and just overwhelmed. This past week has been really rough.

Both of the little ones have been sick since last Monday or Tuesday. Baby girl got sick first. She threw up a few times, nothing of much concern, not running a fever or anything, but then the congestion kicked in and she was up ALL night for 2 nights. Congested so horribly that she was choking. Oh it was awful. But of course you aren't supposed to give them anything for it... we propped her up, took her in the bathroom with the shower going and rubbed her down with baby vicks... and she is finally starting to sound better today...

Then little man started with the vomiting on Thursday. And he was running a fever, a mild one of 100. He threw up everything for a couple of days. The real kicker for him was throwing up some 7up... after that I could not get him to drink anything! I tried absolutely everything. I have about 10 juice cups in my fridge full of everything from 3 different flavors of Gatorade, 2 different juices and 3 cups of pedialite... I even tried the pedialite popsicles. He took about 2 bites and said he didn't want it. I think the poor guy was afraid that if he drank something he would throw up again.

But unfortunately that meant that he was getting dehydrated. So we ended up having to force him to drink some pedialite. OMG. Thank God we don't have close neighbors because he pitched the biggest fit. My husband and I both had to hold him, and he was screaming like we were killing him or something. It was one of the worst experiences ever. And unfortunately he was taking the motrin in about the same manner: the first time making himself throw it back up. He will take tylenol fine, but will not take the motrin. Of course the tylenol was doing little for his fever... But now that he's doing better, I've given up on the Motrin.

Since the horrid experience of forcing him to drink, he's been drinking on his own. Phew! But after the 2 or so days of vomiting, he started in with the congestion... and a sore throat. We got those suckers for kids to help with sore throats, and of course he won't eat them... I swear we wasted probably about $100 on pedialite and suckers and medicines...

The amazing thing with little man's being sick: he is *still* using the potty!!!! The poor guy got up at 5:30am on Friday to go potty! But he was so sick he told me he didn't want the M&Ms :( you just know a kid is sick when they turn down candy!

And of course now that baby girl has been well enough to sleep through most of the night, little man has been up coughing several times the past couple of nights...

With all that going on, I had to fast and go in for the 3-hour glucose tolerance test on Friday... and I got the call this afternoon (ironically just after guiltily eating a brownie) that I do in fact have gestational diabetes. Which is pretty upsetting. I had to wait a while to call my husband and mom 'cause I didn't want to get upset on the phone. But luckily I don't have to take insulin. My Dr is going to try to control it through diet. But I have to start monitoring my blood glucose at home and stick to the diet.

The bad thing about that is that I just went yesterday and did all the grocery shopping for the next two weeks, and have hopefully enough money left for gas for the next two weeks... so I can't really go out and buy more food.

And of course the other major thing of concern is the Swine Flu! It's getting me a little freaked out. I was seriously almost thinking that my kids already had it -but they weren't running high fevers... But everyone around here has been sick and their kids have been sick. Its just scary. And the scariest thing about it is that I know my 12 year old does not wash her hands. I think the schools need to be talking to the kids. Funny how up until about 4th grade they line them up to wash hands when they come in from recess and before lunch, but then they assume that kids in 6th grade should know better. Um... not my 6th grader. I have to tell her every single night to wash her hands before dinner. If I don't tell her to, she won't do it. We had a long talk about it last night and I reminded her again this morning, but I just doubt it will do any good. If there are any confirmed cases in our state, we will probably keep her home.

Ugh. I just hope the rest of this week gets better :) For now, I seriously need to get caught up on dishes... with the 2 little ones being sick I haven't been able to do anything around the house.

Sugary Sweet Good News

Not.

This baby has a serious sweet tooth. So guess what I get to do? Go sit in the Dr's office for 3 hours doing the glucose tolerance test. Can you tell how excited I am??

Grrrrr

I guess I have no one to blame but myself. I have been bad. Very, very bad.

One thing a pregnant woman has very little control over (aside from her bladder!) is her appetite ;) My willpower is completely weak when it comes to food. Especially sweets with this pregnancy.

The funny thing is that a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed to get some healthy snacks for during the day. It seemed that I was snacking on cookies and anything else sweet I could get my hands on. I picked up some carrots and celery. And I've been doing better during the day. But its those middle of the nigh potty breaks... I wake up having to pee and starving. So I've been eating M&M's, cookies, Kit Kats, Easter candy... at midnight, 1:30am, 3am, 4:30am...

Any suggestions for healthy middle of the night snacks that wont wake up the house? That's the thing, those sweets are so easy to grab without any commotion. If I made some toast or something I would certainly wake my husband up...

What really sucks about this whole sweet tooth thing is that years ago I weighed almost 200 lbs! I had a natural sweet tooth back then. I gained the most weight while I was in college. It was so easy to eat a bag of tootsie rolls and oreos while studying... But then my first marriage ended up falling apart the week before finals during my first year of my MA program... As soon as school ended I decided that I needed to concentrate on myself and start eating healthy. I did a great job! I basically cut out as much sugar as humanly possible (its amazing what foods have added sugar!). I started eating tons of dairy: yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, etc... and the pounds just flew off. Seriously, I was losing about 10 lbs every week or two. By just cutting out the sugar, I lost 70lbs within a few short months. I was down to a size 5 for the first time in my life. I was wearing a size 12 in Jr. High...

Then I got pregnant for the first time. I had a little sweet tooth that time (nothing compared to this time!). I limited myself as best I could though. I still had that habit of avoiding sugar. I ended up gaining about 60lbs with that pregnancy! And then really only lost about 30lbs by the time I got pregnant with baby girl. Luckily, I didn't gain much weight with her and just a few weeks after her birth I was back to where I was before I got pregnant with her.

So this time? I've been gaining lots of weight and eating tons of sugar!!! So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't pass the 1 hour glucose test... If I would have been smarter, I would have eased back on the sugar the week before the test. But just try to tell a pregnant lady that she can't have those cookies! ;)

I just really hope that I don't have gestational diabetes! Since I got the call from the Dr's office, I went out and got diet pop and have only slipped up once... last night one of the times I got up to pee I just couldn't help myself. I was starving!! And I didn't eat as much candy as I usually do... I only grabbed 2 mini Kit-Kats instead of my usual 3...

So in I go tomorrow to sit and have blood drawn for 3 hours!! Yuck! The awful thing is that I have to fast for 8 hours prior, and then can't eat anything until the test is over!! If I don't eat by 8:30, 9am at the very latest I get all vomity. Its going to be a rough morning.

The best toy in the yard?

The dog dish.

Why do I bother buying yard toys? I should just buy a dog dish for the kids to play with. Of course then they wouldn't want to play with it - they would find something else they shouldn't be playing with to be completely obssessed with. Grrr. But I guess that's kids for ya! They just play outside the same way they play inside - with everything BUT their toys.

I should just be glad its been decent enough outside to go out and play. Sure beats hanging out bored in the house all day. Of course I'm never bored, but the kids have been going stir-crazy and itching to get out and do something for the past couple of months.

Updates Schmupdates...

You guys are absolutely awesome! You all have such great advice! Its at times like this I'm so glad to have such great cyber-friends :) It goes a long way towards making up for not having any "uncyber" friends ;)
You all had really great suggestions for the whole potty/too much candy issue! If I would have known that the potty training was going to be so successful I would have started out with just little bits of candy from the get-go. So what I did was went out and bought a plastic see-through jar, got some paint and painted on it "Little Man's Big Boy Jar." And inside: I got those little snack baggies and put about 7 M&Ms in each one, and also on each one I wrote a little note like "Great Job," "Awesome," "What a big boy" etc... and he gets those when he pees, and I put a few Kit-Kats in there too for when he goes #2! He loves it and is back to doing pretty well! And has actually pooped in the potty once! So that is going well :)
And I am so glad to hear that your children have similar responsiblities and chores. We have never been ones for an allowance, but I'm guessing that if we offer an allowance for doing her chores, Tween will probably become more responsible and less attitudinal about her chores :)

Speaking of Potty Issues...

So far potty training little man is going pretty well! He is about 3 1/2, and we had a "trial" start several months ago, but he must not have really been ready, and I was pretty lazy about it.

I just wasn't (and still am not) ready to go all out and put my furniture and carpets at risk ;) I don't want to spend my days cleaning pee off of everything - so...

We were managing OK the first time we tried. If I got him to the potty he would always go. He would never initiate it though. Then one day I caught him mid-poop and scooped him up and took him to the potty chair. Major trauma. After that, every time I would ask if he had to go to the bathroom he would say "maybe tomorrow" or "maybe later." And if I tried to force it, he would get upset. So I left off for a while. I thought I would wait until the summer or at least warmer weather and let him run around naked, I'd heard a few people say that worked well..

But then the husband got on my case about him not being potty trained. So I started talking to little man about it every time I changed his pull-up. I was halfway thinking about just putting him in underwear and seeing if that worked (a few people also suggested this method). But then again, the thought of having to clean up... not appealing.

Last week I started telling him that he could get a treat (his favorite candy bar in mini sizes) if he used the potty chair. Nothing the first day. Then the second day, after telling him everytime I changed his pull-up... out of nowhere he said "I can go potty and get a kitty-kat" and ran to the bathroom and went!

But then later that night I started reconsidering the treat method... It was bedtime, and he had obviously just gone potty in his pull-up when he wanted some candy. He said again "I can go potty and get a kitty-kat" and ran to the bathroom. We sat there forever. He was bound and determined to go. After 30mins I tried to get him off the potty chair. "NO! I GO POTTY AND GET KITTY-KAT!" He cried and cried and got all worked up. And I felt so awful. Of course I didn't give in and give him one, he didn't go. And that would have defeated the whole purpose.

The next day, as soon as he woke up he remembered and said "I go potty and get a kitty-kat." And he went. And he did this all day, every time he had to go to the bathroom! He only went in his pull-up at naptime! He did this for 2 days straight! I thought it was quite the success.

Then, the next day... 2 things happened. #1 he pooped in the potty!!! I couldn't believe it. He said he had to go and was in there forever. When I went to check on him he said he pooped, but I assumed he meant pee (for some reason he says he pooped when he has peed). So I was so surprised to see he actually pooped! I've heard that boys are hell to get to poop in the potty.
So anyway, #2 he got up at naptime and said he had to go potty and get a kit-kat. Well he went. My husband was on vacation and at home, and said that little man had to wait until he woke up from his nap to get his candy for going potty. After that he went in his pull-up until bedtime. I was really pretty upset about it. But I'm not going to go against my husband in front of the children like that. So... grrr... Was re-thinking the whole treat method yet again. And I was feeling all bad about it again. I don't care if it was naptime. I would have given it to him. You have to be consistent with these things. You just can't make a promise like that and then change the rules.

Then to make matters worse, the very next day my husband declares that little man is getting too many treats and now he has to go potty 3 times before he can get his candy. He did make a little chart and put it up in the bathroom and explain it to little man. I'm just not sure he really gets it. Well, its apparent he doesn't get it when the first two times he peed the next day he wanted his kit-kat and was really disappointed and threw a fit when we tried explaining to him that he would have to go potty 2(1) more time(s). He finally managed to go 3 times (after going several times in his pull-up). But the days prior he was going at least 5 times in the potty, and his pull-up was dry almost all day.

I guess we'll give it a few more days and see if he gets it or see whether it has deterred him from his progress...

Participate in the Potty Time Tuesdays at Healthy Moms! If you are in the process of potty training, or starting to think about potty training, she's having a contest this week to win a potty training kit from Baby Signs.

Tinkle Tinkle

Years ago when I was working on my BA, I did a field school. I won't go into details about that - but the wife of one of the instructors was doing the cooking and such, so she was there with her two youngest children. They had a trampoline in back and her daughter was always trying to get all of us students to jump on it with her. Someone suggested that the wife go jump with her daughter... her response was "I can't possibly do that - I've had 3 kids and I would end up wetting myself."

Of course at the time I thought it was a complete cop out.

Now? I would have to agree and empathize. I'm 27 weeks along with my 3rd, and every time I cough, sneeze, bend over, or exert myself in anyway-- sure enough a little tinkle...

Seriously, last night I guess I was trying a little too hard to fart and totally started wetting myself! I know, TMI!!! I had to run to the bathroom. Thank God I was at home! Of course I do not hang out trying to fart in public or anything. Though, certainly, if I have to fart and am in public, I try to do so as discretely as possible. (Which is a lot easier when you are shopping with a bunch of kids!) I learned that from my first pregnancy. When you are pregnant and try to hold it in, its just not good at all. It ends up building up until you are completely miserable and have to take drastic measures. Seriously, at one point in my first pregnancy, I had my husband timing my gas pains! ;)

Anyway, back to the bladder issue.... So when that lady said that she couldn't jump on the trampoline because she would wet herself after having given birth to 3 children, I thought of my mother. My though process went something like this: OK, well, my mom had 5 kids and she would probably still jump on a trampoline. She never mentioned that having so many kids made her lose her bladder control.

But then after further thought... my mom was always wetting herself! She had to pee all the time! Whenever we were going anywhere, she would pee before we left and then have to go really bad immediately when we got to wherever we were going. And several times, she actually wet herself on the way there or on the way home!

So now I'm terrified. We live out in the middle of nowhere, and the drives to get anywhere are full of nothing. There's no place to stop to go. And the shoulders are pretty non-existent here. They aren't even big enough to pull your car completely over. I've thought about the issue quite a bit with potty training. I know the day will come when my son has to pee on our way somewhere. And there is really no place to stop once you leave the closest town (30 miles away).

I hate to admit it, but I did actually wet the car once. And I immediately thought of my mother. I wasn't even pregnant, and I only had given birth to one chld at that time. It was right after we moved up here to the middle of nowhere. I went to town and had to pee on the way home... I tried really hard to make it, but nope.

Anyway, these days my mother's lack of bladder control is no longer quite as funny :)