Angry

After spending a good 45 minutes in the bathtub this morning Tiger showed me his wrinkly fingers and said, "Look, they're angry."

My current dillema

Trying to help one of my kids to get in shape, loose weight, and keep up the self-esteem while getting another kid to gain weight.  Then throw in the final kid with all sorts of allergies.  The subjects of food, nutrition, and exercise have become quite the interesting topics of conversation around this house these days.

A public apology from a well fed neighbor

I have never been a fan of the neighbors across the street from me.  Actually, I am not a fan of most of my neighbors, but today I am focusing on the one's directly across the street.  They are currently renting the house and they have a brother that lives with them that has caused us mucho frustration-o.  The only reason that we have not complained or taken action as we could is because the family that lives there is really quite nice.  They have never caused any problems, they just happen to have a loser brother/uncle/man living with them.  Well yesterday they came over and invited us to their young son's birthday party.  Very nice.  Sparky was sick and I had a headache and so Doug took the other two kids over to say hi and to be nice.  Then they were gone for an hour and a half!  I quickly forgave Doug, however, after I saw the loaded plate of deliciousness that the family insisted he bring back for me.  Man can that man across the street cook!  The chicken, the steak, the rice, the beans, the tres leches cake!  Mmmmmm.  So now I feel horrible about all of the horrible thoughts that I have had for that house across the street.  From here on out I will just think of the generosity of this family and try to overlook the ill-timed fiestas that the brother chooses to have in his van while he sits in the driveway right across the street from me.

Goodbye Snaggle Tooth

This is how my girl started out her day.  For two weeks this front tooth has become more and more snaggly and no matter how hard I tried to convince her to pull it out, she wasn't having it.  But finally . . .

This is how she ended her day.  She got that tooth out (with a little help from the bump of a small friend as she was eating an apple)!  Much, much better.  The girl has also won herself a trip to the dollar store.

The Brightside to a Seemingly Endless Migraine

1.  My house (at least the main floor) is the cleanest it has been in months.  I have discovered that if I just keep moving and working and never stopping then I don't sit around and focus on the fact that my head is pounding.  Also, the clutter and chaos just hurts my head more.

2.  I don't yell.  Not that I sit around yelling all day long.  But on occasion, when a child is perhaps failing to obey my requests, I have been known to maybe raise my voice a wee bit.  But right now it just hurts too much.  I think that my kids are really appreciating this little aspect to my current condition.

3.  I don't seem to be as hungry which means that I am not just sitting around and munching all day long.  Perhaps I will actually loose a pound.  Maybe?  Perhaps?

4.  I am getting to bed on time just about every night.  Three cheers for 7 hours of sleep!

Well, that's what I have come up with so far.  So, if I am talking to you and I don't seem to be my usually sunny self, it's nothing personal.  My head just hurts.

Some pictures from last month

Last month we went out on the boat.  It was a glorious day, but sadly my little Woo was sick and so she was not able to come.  Doug made the great sacrifice and stayed home with the little girl while I took the boys out for a little water play.  Good times were had by all.

Hey Arizona cousins.  My mom wanted me to taunt you and to show you the glorious trees that we get to look at when we're out on the boat. What do you get to look at?

OK, point taken.

Apparently my body has been trying to tell me for quite some time that I am not 21 anymore.  Sadly it has taken quite a bit for me to sit up and take notice, but notice, I have taken.  It turns out that I can not eat whatever I feel like eating anymore and it turns out that apparently I need to learn to embrace exercise.  Not only exercise for my ever expanding personage, but for my mental health as well.  This is a whole new realm for me, but after spending the last couple of months with constant headaches that have oh so nicely turned into migraines (yay stress, lack of sleep, poor eating, and genetics), something needs to be done and apparently one of the big keys to all of this is exercise.  So the next question is, what kind of exercise shall I embrace?  I seriously despise running, but it is so convenient.  I wish that I could be more like my cute sister-in-law and brother who have fully embraced and learned to love running.  I am very inspired by them.  They have found something they love to do and even better, they are able to do it together.  But alas, I just don't think that running is for me.  So, what shall I do?  I really like yoga, but I don't think that alone is enough.  I like to lift weights and will incorporate that as well, but there isn't a lot of cardio involved in weight training.  Spinning is great, but my shins and knees won't allow me to do all of the up and down business that the instructors seem to love.  Perhaps the elliptical?  I don't know, but I intend to find out.  Now that my sleep experiment is officially over, my next goal is to find some form of cardio exercise that works for me and that I feel like I can stick with.  That is my biggest problem, I am horrible at sticking with things. Really, really horrible.   But I am determined.  I shall succeed.  But not tonight.  Tonight I am exhausted and will now pay a visit to my happy dream land.  That is, as long as Mr. Insomnia decides to take the night off.  Ta-ta.

Success

Some days are considered successful when you manage to make it to the end still in one piece and still with your sanity. Also, it's nice if the kids (especially the youngest one) make it in one piece as well. I sure hope this ends up being one of those days.

Tiger's Thoughts on School

I just thought this was adorable and his teacher said that he worked really hard on drawing his circles. To the left we have clouds with the rain coming down and on the right is the sun. This is particularly funny because it hasn't really been cloudy here for a while and it hasn't rained in weeks.

Thoughts at this moment

-I should be cleaning my kitchen.
-I should be folding laundry.
-Why can't this be true fall weather and then the stuff we usually get in November could actually just be winter? Also, winter should really only last the month of December and then we could have 4-5 months of lovely spring weather.
-I know that I should really start making Tiger poop on the potty, but he is around me all the time and the only time he plays by himself is when he is in his room, in a diaper, taking care of business. So you can see why I am not really motivated to complete this last step of the potty training process.
-I think that I might become a yoga girl.
-After learning that Tiger is allergic to wheat and soy, I am completely overwhelmed at the thought of having to cut all of that out of his diet. The kid hardly eats anything as it is and lives on Cheerios and goldfish. I can only hope that he outgrows this allergy like all of the websites says that he should.
-I am very sad that due to the extra hot weather this summer, the apples have been ripening much faster than usual and so I totally missed Gala apple picking this year. I just hope that I can catch the Fuji apples.
-I am giving up sugar and after all of this apple talk all I want now is an apple pie.
-I really need someone to come into my house and tell me how to make it more efficient. Certainly there is a way to fit all of our stuff into this little house.
-This morning there was a baby opossum walking around on my neighbor's driveway. It was adorable and the kids loved seeing it. Tiger wanted to read books to it and have it for a pet. I just hope that it was able to find it's home.
-My head hurts.

Day. . .um, I have lost track

I have no idea what day I am on. Here is what I do know. I still don't like to get up early. It still hurts, especially since it is so dang dark. I do, however, like to be awake earlier in the day and I have found that this benefits everyone. I will continue to wake up at 6:00 am on weekdays, but I really don't want to get up that early on the weekend. My goal for the weekend is 7:30 am, or maybe 8:00. Really I just don't want to sleep my day away. Bedtime is still fluctuating quite a bit, but hopefully that will get under control soon. So there you have it. I conclude that it is possible to make getting up early a bit easier, but I don't think it will ever be easy for me and that is just something that I will just have to continue to work on throughout my life. My hope is that in several years when it is time for my kids to start going to seminary, that waking up at that horrible hour won't kill me. Now, perhaps a nap is in order? But of course not until I fold laundry (Mom).

Day Nineteen

So. Very. Tired. I need to go to bed before 11:00 pm. I need to find a way to sleep all night. I need to find a way to stop crashing every afternoon around 3:00. And I need my head to stop hurting. But, on a positive note, I woke up at 6:00 this morning! It was really hard and I really didn't want to get up, but I did. And then I showered (huge accomplishment). I even managed to get everyone out the door in time (another huge accomplishment since I had taken a shower and I am not known for my speediness in the personal prep department).

On another note, my dear friend moves away this weekend and although my heart is cold and hard due to all of the friends that have moved away over the years, I am sad. I shall now try to organize my kitchen.

Knock, knock. Hello . . . awkward phase? I'd like to come in now.

And she has three more that are loose. She will be keeping the tooth fairy busy, that's for sure. It should be a profitable month for this little girl.