Back on the Diet.....Sigh

When I found out that I was pregnant, our diet pretty much went out the window. All I could stomach was grilled cheese sandwiches or Mexican grilled cheese sandwiches (quesadillas). And with Ryan's new job, he no longer had time to make our steel cut oats in the morning. Heaven knows I don't have time to make them seeing how in one hour's time I have to: get Sydney up and out of bed, get Liam up, feed Liam breakfast while fixing Sydney's lunch, get Sydney's breakfast ready, get Liam dressed, toss Sydney her clothes so she can get dressed, wash and dry my hair, get myself dressed, brush Liam's teeth, monitor Sydney's teeth brushing, fix Sydney's hair and get out the door by 8 so Sydney can get to school. I don't eat breakfast until after I drop Sydney off and I usually end up making something easy, like peanut butter toast or hot Grape Nuts.

Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have make time for the steel cut oats again. We'll also have to do another thorough cleaning of the pantry to weed out the carbs and sugar. And forget the caramel corn and chocolate milkshakes I've been craving.

You see, I had my regular obstetrician visit this morning and while my blood pressure was great and the baby's heart rate was fabulous, one thing was not so hot. Although I am only 23 weeks along in my pregnancy, the baby is measuring at 26 weeks. Considering that I usually have small babies (6 lbs., 2 oz., and 5 lbs., 11 oz.), the doctor is quite concerned about the baby's unusual size. He's worried that I might have gestational diabetes this time around. And here I thought I was going to be able to get through this pregnancy without worrying. NOT.

My official glucose test is set for next month, but in the meantime, we'll be jumping back on the diet train. I sure am going to miss pie, cake, cookies, milkshakes, ice cream, bread and pasta in the coming months.

Sigh.

Before and After (bathroom)

Sorry I've been MIA. Nothing's wrong and we're all fine (except for Liam's runny nose), I just haven't felt like blogging. Like my mom says, I've just got a case of the "blahs."

Anyway, we're almost done with the bathroom update. I've still got a bit of painting to do around the trim and I have a couple of pictures that need framing and hanging to add some character to the space, but other than that, we're done.

Here's the before:


I'd already taken it down, but we had a clear shower curtain so that we could get some light in the shower.




And here's the after:






I really miss my red bathroom, but with the addition of the multi-colored shower curtain and the pictures I have yet to hang, I don't think it's too bad. Boring, but not too bad.

A Pre-schooler Version of MLK Day

Even though Ryan had yesterday off, Sydney did not. She went to school as usual and brought home her standard assortment of worksheets and coloring sheets. Normally, I glance at them and then secretly throw them away (unless they're truly spectacular or creative), but this one gave me pause:




This one is a keeper, not for the job she did coloring, but for what she said about it:

"He's black. That's why today is a holiday."
"Artin Luthen King wanted to be a preacher so we celebrate his birthday."

I couldn't stop laughing at what she learned at school. We were amused at what she took away from her lesson about MLK day, but also a bit bewildered.

We don't particularly talk about people's races or ethnicities in our house (except that she knows her friend Zoe comes from China). We talk about how people come in different shapes, sizes and colors, but we don't put labels on their races/ethnicities, so when she called him "black", we were a bit taken aback. Later, she called him brown and if you look closely at the picture, you can see that she started coloring his face black and then switched to brown as if one of the teachers had to say, "He's doesn't actually have black skin, but brown skin."

We don't know what to think or how to approach this. I guess we'll wait until she brings it up again, but I just pray it's not out in public. I can just see her pointing at a crowd of black people and yelling, "Hey! Look at all those black people!" or something equally embarrassing.

Sometimes I really do wish kids came with manuals for this kind of stuff.

Stress Relief Part Two

A big thanks to Miss Mairzy and Mommy Daisy for their stress relief tips. I kind of combined their ideas last night by putting the kids to bed and fixing myself a cup of fancy hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows; I ration my fancy (read: expensive) hot chocolate and save it for special occasions, but I figured, "Hey, what's more important than relieving stress?" so I treated myself to a cup. I just might do it again tonight since Ryan is volunteering at church this evening.

As for the stresses in my life, I decided to tackle them one by one. First, I received an e-mail saying that the kindergarten paperwork has been accepted (meaning I included everything they asked for) and will be processed in the coming weeks. Whew! There's one (kinda) down.

Second, worrying about my friend who is going through the divorce does not help him. So I'm just going to be supportive and listen when he needs it. And I'm going to keep my mouth shut when his soon-to-be ex-wife tries to pry information out of me.

Third, we're going to tackle our home improvements systematically. My sister has kindly volunteered to keep the kids tomorrow so Ryan and I are going to paint our bathroom a neutral (boring) color. And he has Monday off so we'll probably be able to finish up the bathroom and maybe even move on to the laundry room.

Fourth, I will try to delegate more household chores so that I'm not so exhausted by the end of the day. Sydney is old enough to start doing some chores so I'm going to start getting her to do some things around here. She's already found a favorite:



So....keep those stress relief tips coming and if any baby boy names happen to cross your mind, jot those down for me, too, okay? We've got about 10 girl names and TWO boy names. Which, if history repeats itself, means that this baby is a boy.

Stress Relief Ideas

So here's an informal poll for you: what do you do to relieve stress? Do you shop? Do you eat (and is chocolate involved)? Take a bath? I want to hear your ideas.

When I was teaching I had a LOT of stress. A LOT. I'm convinced that teaching high school should rank right up there with air traffic controller on those lists of most stressful jobs. To combat stress, Ryan and I would go out for sushi or I'd take a long, hot bath with a nice, cheesy novel and glass of wine. Well, thanks to this pregnancy, all I'm left with of my old stress-relief plan is the novel. I've read two of them in the past week, but without the hot bath and glass of wine, they really didn't do anything for me.

Any ideas? Between the pregnancy, two kids (one who refuses to START talking or walking and the other who refuses to STOP talking), the prospect of spending the next three months spending every weekend working on our house for sale/rental, searching for a new house, worrying about kindergarten entrance tests and worrying about a friend who is going through the NASTIEST divorce I've ever witnessed (and I know you read this and I do not blame you at all for my worrying - seriously), I just cannot get rid of all the stress. And stress, as we all know, is not beneficial to a pregnant woman.

So.....help! Ideas, please.

Both my sanity and unborn child thank you in advance.

Another Milestone

Liam has reached another milestone. No, he's not walking. I wish he would walk, but he seems determined to make me look like the worst mother in the world for his 15 month checkup in a few weeks. According to the pediatrician, by 15 months he should be walking, talking, off the bottle and off the pacifier. We're 0-4 according to her list. Oh well.

Anyway, the milestone is........drumroll, please........

Liam is now sleeping in Sydney's room (we only have two bedrooms). Ryan and I have our room back!!!! At least for the next four months. I've been using naptimes to clean and organize our room (two activities that are way overdue). I've been using bedtimes to watch TV in bed. Oh, how I've missed watching TV in bed in the evenings.

Both Liam and Sydney have adjusted fairly well to the change. He fussed a bit at bedtime his first night but slept through the night until 7 am (yeah!) and fell asleep with no problems last night. Granted, he woke up at 6:30 this morning, but I hurriedly snatched him up and we had a nice snuggle in my bed until Sydney woke up.

As for the pediatrician's milestones, I'm pretty sure the evening bottle will be dropped by his checkup, but the walking and talking are up to him. And the pacifier - well, she's just going to have to give me the "evil eye" on that one. He's about to go through some major changes and I'm not taking away that pacifier until we are nice and settled in our new house sometime next summer/fall. She'll just have to live with it. And I'll just have to endure the "evil eye" until then.

January? I Don't Think So

Days like this make the stifling dog days of August and September almost worth it. How many other people can spend a day in mid January like this?


Sydney eating her picnic lunch



Quality time with Daddy



"Can I please take this hat off?"



Swinging....Sydney's favorite park activity


We plan on going back tomorrow afternoon with some friends. Sydney can't wait.