Nature walk and craft

This morning we had a nature walk and craft with our neighborhood Moms group. We had a nice turnout and a fun time. Thankfully, E was home this morning because I don't think I would have had everything ready if he wasn't there to help with the kids.

The plan was to walk from my house to the new hike/bike path, collect nature things along the way, and make a craft at our new park that has a pavilion with our rocks, leaves and sticks. I made caterpillars out of peanut butter, oatmeal and dry milk powder the night before and brought the things to make mini bagel birds nests (keeping with our nature theme). They had cream cheese, shredded wheat and raisins for the eggs on them.

I think it was fun and the children seemed to enjoy it. Lucas is still a little too young to enjoy something like this but the three and four year olds really seemed to like making a craft. The best part about it was not having to worry about a mess. I am sure the birds and squirrels will enjoy our crumbs that we left.

lovely, UTI

Off to CareNow I went this morning. This is my third UTI ever but of course it had to happen on a weekend. I love CareNow. It is so great to sign in online, all of my info is available on their website, have them call me and tell me when would be a good time for me to show up. I came in, signed on paper, waited for 5 minutes, then was seen. It is very efficient. Hopefully 7 days of macrobid will clear this up. Definitely want to avoid this scenario before our upcoming trip to Mexico.

So exhausted

I have not had the energy or enthusiasm to blog in the last week. I feel exhausted. I have been napping while there is quiet time in our household.

News in our household

Lucas is now weaned. It has been 16 months of breastfeeding for him. Although I have made my desires of him weaning known, I still feel sad and a little guilty for weaning him. He has been asking every day since last friday. Tomorrow will be a week since he last nursed. I don't know if it is the thought of never breastfeeding a baby again, losing that closeness and quiet time with Lucas or the hormones that must be changing by the weaning that are making me have such mixed emotions.

I got my results from my chest and neck CT scans. There is no mass that looks like cancer in my neck. It is an inflammed Carotid artery. I do not know the cause or how long it will be inflammed. I am taking Aleve for 7-10 days to decrease the inflammation and pain. If it does not go away with n0n-steroidal anti-imflammatories then I will get tested further and maybe take steroids like a low dose of prednisone. The chest CT scan saw a couple more nodules in my right lung and possibly one enlarged lymph node. The radiologist could not say if it was just the way I am vs. enlarged node. This means I need to go back in six months for another chest CT scan and then once a year after that.

I went to a physical therapist today for an evaulation for my right sided abdominal pain that has been going on for over a year. I really like her and I think she may have found my problem. She thinks that I am out of alignment and my hip flexor muscle is having spasms having to overcompensate. It is all due to pregnancy and my weakened core muscles. I will go back to get lots of exercises to help. She will even give me exercises to help the stomach muscles pull back together that separate with pregnancy. If this works I will kiss this lady. I can't believe it could be this simple. The bad news is she is out of network with our insurance.

Logan is in some kind of hitting his brother stage. I hope it will end soon because I don't know how much more I can take of it. Poor Lucas gets his head banged against the window, face slapped, pushed and smacked on the head. Time outs, telling him "hands to yourself", and even a spanking two nights ago have not helped. I put him to bed without reading a book at 6:15 because he was being so mean to Lucas. Logan is getting plenty of attention so I don't think that is the cause. Not reading a book before bed is a huge disappointment for Logan so I hope that might make him rethink before he hauls off and hits Lucas. I hope this is a stage. Thankfully he does not do this at school because I get glowing reports about him. It is just his brother he is supposed to love.

That's our news for now. I hate it has been so long.

Happy Birthday

Since E is going to be out of town for his birthday this week, we celebrated on Saturday. We gave him Halloween decorations and another brand of the "magic bullet". His sister sent Planet Earth DVD set. I made a nice dinner of shrimp with feta cheese over Rigatoni, broccoli and salad with chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. The kids only ate the dessert.

My cheepo cake out of the box. The kids don't care what kind they eat and at least I won't feel bad throwing away this 3 dollar cake after the initial birthday cake cutting.

E thought I was being so fancy with my made from scratch dinner for him. In this picture I was igniting the brandy to pour over the shrimp. Sounds fancy, doesn't it? Actually this is a dish I have been making since college and it is not hard at all. I love this meal and thankfully so does E. Happy Birthday my sweet husband!

Logan and gymnastics

In our area there are many different gymnastics gyms to choose from. This is the county where Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin are from. This is gymnastics country. All of the gyms seem to offer a free trial class for your child. I have been wanting to put Logan in some kind of class for a while. On Wednesday, we tried it out.
This is why I have not taken the initiative to sign Logan up for a class yet. Lucas was not thrilled with sitting around with me and watching Logan having all of the fun. The snacks kept him occupied for about 30 minutes and the last 20 minutes were very challenging.

Logan loves to imitate and play follow the leader. He is a pleaser and want to make his teachers happy. He was very serious about paying attention and doing everything the teacher asked him to do.

The boys salute like this and the girls salute like the teacher. There were only three kids in the class. There were two girls and Logan.

Logan getting ready for his ASI gymnastics instruction. It was fun observing him in a class. I have never really gone to observe him in his preschool classes. He really did well following directions and the teacher told me so after class. He liked it but did not love it. I don't know if I will sign him up for weekly classes or not. There might be something out there that he would love to learn...karate, swimming, music class, Spanish, reading? Anyways, it was fun to take a free class and I enjoyed watching him.

strange use for eyelash curler

Yesterday, I put both boys in the bathtub while I took my shower. I do this from time to time so I can monitor their behavior and they can get clean. I usually get a longer shower when I do this. After I got out, I wrapped Lucas in a towel and sat him on the bathroom counter so I could dry my hair. He had a great time playing with my makeup. Eventually I found him playing with my eyelash curler and a q-tip. He was holding the eyelash curler on his penis like it was some kind of circumcision device then poking his boy parts through the eyelash curler with the q-tip. I just watched him laughing my head off. I guess the worst that could have happened was he could have gotten his penis caught in it. After a few minutes of a very strange way to use the eyelash curler he pee-peed on the counter top. I promptly carried him over to the little potty and told him that pee-pee goes in the potty. I doubt a 16 month old grasped that concept but at least I tried.

What next?

Warning: I am not in such a good mood and am planning on complaining.

I have been having a miserable year when it comes to my health. I know that compared to some people, my problems are minor. I have had right sided abdominal pain for over a year and several tests to figure out what the problem is. The list includes two different pelvic and abdominal CT scans, endoscopy/colonoscopy, gallbladder function test, stool studies and several different blood tests. The last ct scan found some nodules in my left lung which doesn't even have anything to do with the pain I am having on my right side. This requires two more follow up ct scans to see if there are anymore nodules and to also check if they are growing. Now, today my ENT thinks that I should get a neck CT scan for the lump in my neck. He did not want to biopsy it today because it was so close to my carotid artery. He mentioned something about carotiditis being caused by an autoimmune disease such as Lupus....blah, blah, blah. Most of what he said just flew over my head.

I have been putting off getting the chest CT scan because I am not excited about yet another exposure to radiation. I read that a CT scan is the same amount of radiation as getting 100 X-rays. Great...I might as well had 300 X-rays in one year. If I don't have cancer now I think I will be getting it. So at least I can do the chest and neck ct scan together and I don't have to drink the nasty barium for it either. After 4 different doctors, you would think one of them could figure out what is wrong with me. Maybe this new one will.

Weaning setback

Alright, yes, Lucas is still nursing. I have always felt that I would let my babies wean themselves. I was willing to breastfeed for as long as they wanted but knew that it would never go past 18 months old. Logan completely was done by 16 months but I am pretty certain it was because I was pregnant.
I just want to say that I am so over it. I have been pregnant or breastfeeding for around 4 years with some time overlapping too. I think with most things people should not pass judgement because they never really know what they would do in a situation unless they are in it themselves. It is so easy for someone to say "just don't do it anymore" I have tried the weaning technique "don't offer, don't refuse". Then I tried the redirect with a snack, drink, change of scenery. I have recently even tried the flat out refusal, telling him the milk is all gone and also running out of the room.

Lucas has been nursing twice a day for months now. He was sick for a few days and nursed more frequently. Lately it has been once a day but we have had a setback for some reason. He has a complete meltdown at least once a day and nothing will calm him until is nurse him. It is so pathetic. He cries and begs "milk, please....please, milk". I would not feel so weird about it except he talks and acts even older than his 16 months old. He has been saying "other side" when he finishes on one side. Well, today he was following me around the house saying "outside" so I opened the door to the back yard and let him out. He had a meltdown and cried saying "outside". I was like "Sure Lucas, you can go outside, come on out, let's play". He kept on saying it but I finally realized he was saying "other side" to ask for milk because that is what he says while he is nursing. I felt so bad I got him so frustrated that I broke down and let him nurse.

I am very ready for him to be weaned especially because we are going to Mexico in five weeks. We will be gone for 5 days/4 nights. My mother and father will be watching the kids. I know my mom would feel better if Lucas did not need his mommy for "milky". I am pretty sure she is not lactating anymore and I am not sure what she is going to do with him when he has one of those daily meltdowns. I guess we still have five weeks left to get him weaned. Hopefully it will happen because I really did not want to have to bring my pump with me to Mexico!

Dinner with friends

We had some friends and their two boys over for dinner. The kids were so cute sitting outside together eating dinner. I think it lasted for about 3 minutes before they got up and found the sand table. Then sand in the food, fighting, and yelling began. The kids did not eat much but the adults had lots of great things. Our attempt at being healthy ended up including cosmopolitans, salmon with pesto (homemade by me from my basil I grew), NY strip steak, grilled veggies, bread, salad and pound cake with carmel ice cream. I would hate to see what we would eat if we weren't trying to be healthy. I really love entertaining. I like preparing a nice meal and enjoying it with friends. Before we had kids we had people over more frequently. We really should do this more. It was a fun, laid back evening and the weather was great.

Boys love dirt

Lucas loved going to the beach and playing in the sand. I guess he thinks that dirt is just as much fun!

Busy Wednesday

I had a huge burst of energy and cleaned the house all morning. I got laundry, vacuuming, dishes, kitchen and bedroom worked on by 8 am. I also showered, shaved legs and bathed Lucas. I was feeling pretty good. We had play date with our neighborhood moms group at 10 am next door. It was a lot of fun until I saw Logan rounding the corner with wet shorts. He had an accident upstairs and could not tell me where he was when it happened. We walked next door, changed and came back to the play date. I walked around where I think he could have been with bare feet to see if I could find where his accident happened. I never found it and I feel so bad. The Mom has three kids and I am sure she has had her share of accidents but I still feel awful about it. When I got home my girlfriend and her two boys came over for lunch. All four boys got wild together. Eventually Lucas started crawling upstairs and saying "Night, Night". I think that was a hint he was ready for his nap. Logan actually took a nap for the first time this week and I laid down too. My burst of energy was gone. I felt completely wiped out and exhausted. I started having heartburn pains and feeling miserable so I could not sleep.


Eric has been busy entertaining coworkers from India and China this week so he has been home after bedtime every night. He came home last night at 6pm and I said "I am leaving. The kids have been fed, the house is clean, what else could you want?" I ran to Staples, the Dollar store, Target and CVS in 45 minutes. That could never happen with kids and it was great to get out and run errands by myself. I hurried home to change and get my appetizer ready to go to Bunco with the ladies in my neighborhood. I never win but it is fun to socialize without children interrupting conversations. I came home, took my second Pepcid complete of the day and finally fell asleep around 11.

First day of school

I was third in line to pick Logan up from his first day of preschool today. He was walked out to my car, the teacher said "he is the cutest" and that is the only feedback I got for the 5 1/2 hours that Logan was at school. I looked in his folder and there was only some dot art that he made. I quizzed him all the way home hoping to get some details about his first day.
Me: Logan what did you have for Lunch today?
Logan: I don't know.
I know I sent him carrot sticks, turkey sandwich, applesauce, chips, goldfish crackers and a juice box. The juice box and crackers were sent back. Maybe they don't allow juice? I don't remember getting that memo, but I do know that if Logan was offered juice he would not have turned it down.
Me: Did you eat carrots?
Logan: No, the boy with black stripes ate carrots and he would not share with me.
Me: Did you eat chips?
Logan: No
Me: How about apple sauce?
Logan: Yes!!! I love applesauce.
As soon as we got home Logan said he wanted to eat and the only thing he wanted was his sandwich from school. There wasn't one left so I made him a new one and he ate the whole thing.
I also tried to figure out what he did other than eat.
Me: Who did you play with at school?
Logan: Jack and Lilly
Me: Who was your favorite person to play with?
Logan: Lilly
Me: Did anyone get in trouble in your class today?
Logan: The girl with curly hair had to go to timeout because she threw sand on me...that wasn't very nice at all was it mommy?
(He did have sand on his face and in his shoes)

Lucas was exhausted by the time he got in the car at 1:30 because the earlier attempt to put him down for a nap failed miserably. He fell asleep right away but as soon as we pulled in the garage he woke up. It seemed like he was wide awake but I decided to go lay him in his crib and thankfully he went back to sleep. So I guess that will be our new routine on Tues/Thursdays.

I think Logan must have had a good day. He came home wearing the same thing I took him to school in so he must not have had any accidents. He is getting to be such a big boy and so independent. It sure does make things easier on me.

Only one child

Life is so different with only one child. I find it to be exponentially easier. There is no fighting with one child. I can run errands with one child. Lucas and I had a great morning together shopping at Sprouts, taking a walk and going to the playground. I have been worried about the timing of pickup for Logan. I need to pick him up at 2 pm and Lucas always naps at 1-3 so I am not sure what will end up working. I decided to lay him down to nap early today because he was falling asleep in the swing at the playground. But, he is fussing in his crib right now so I don't think that is going to work. I guess I will just have to keep him up and busy until we leave at 1:30 to get Logan.

I am glad Logan is so well adjusted but it makes me sad he doesn't ever care to say goodbye to me. He just runs into the class and doesn't look back. I am nervous about his long day. He has had three hour school days until now but this day is 5 1/2 hours long. He could be really exhausted after such a busy day. Hopefully he will remember enough to tell me how his day went.