Today I had to go to a small town about 30 minutes south of my house for an all-day event for work. Sitting at a display table bored between visitors, I decided to catch up with a few people via text.
First, I texted my friend who is also on WW:
"I've always heard a tomato is a fruit since it has seeds inside. Does this make pumpkins, bell peppers, and squash fruit as well?"
"I guess so?"
"Sweet. So I can eat an entire pumpkin and it's 0 points."
Then I texted my brother's wife who is due with Baby #2 on July 4th. This baby is a boy, and an active one in the womb. I jokingly call him Seamus, though my daughter has nicknamed him Bingo. In fact, when we learned she was pregnant with #2, we asked Luca what nickname she wanted to give it. "Bingo!" she answered. We then asked if it was going to be a girl baby or a boy baby, since she was 2 for 2 with guessing the sex of her other baby cousins. "A boy of course, Mommy. Bingo is a boy!" And she was right...about the boy thing, anyhow. About the name Bingo? Not so much.:
"Any baby news? When do you see your Dr next?"
"Still officially due on 7/4. See the Dr. next week. Unofficially, I am a planet, can't walk, and am having random contractions here and there. I am soooooo done!"
Seeing as her baby was still in her belly and not on his way out, I kept searching for someone to give me an excuse to leave the event early. So, I texted my other sister-in-law, who is also due with her second in December. Luca has also proclaimed this one to be a boy, and I wanted to know when we will find out if she is right:
"Is today your ultrasound?"
"Monday is the big day. Your kiddos are coming over to swim. Leave early and come over!!!"
:::Ding Ding Ding:::
(My husband is in summer school, but has Fridays home with the kids. They had arranged for a post-nap 'borrowing' of my brother- and sister-in-law's pool.)
Never one to turn down an invite, I headed home around 3, fed the dog, grabbed my things and headed over. We spent some time in the pool, the kids playing and splashing and having fun (my neice, who is 1, and my daughter have matching swimsuits which was just too cute for words). Somewhere along the line, I noticed Rohan pulling at his...um...crotch. A lot. At first I chocked it up to boy obsession with the penis, but then I noticed he was looking around the pool area sort of anxiously. Turns out, he had to pee. He was wearing a swim diaper, but didn't want to pee in it (HOLY amazing!!!!) so I had him get out and I stripped him down, staying in the pool myself. Then I pointed to the plants by the edge of the pool decking and said, "You can pee on those."
Next thing we know, Luca jumped out, stripped off her swimsuit, and stood beside him. Both kids, completely naked, butts to the pool, faced the wall. She reached over and patted his back, leaned in to say something to him we couldn't hear (I love that. Nothing is sweeter to me than the relationship they are building with each other.) and then smiled over her shoulder at us.
The next thing we knew, twin streams of urine started to flow. Oh, yes. My son and my daughter stood side by side, peeing into the rocks. It had to have been the cutest and most hilarious thing we'd ever seen. I mean, I guess I sort of knew girls could pee standing, but to see her do it with such expertise was seriously amusing.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sabbatical for Mary Sunshine.
I'm taking a temporary hiatus from optimism. Not in general, in life holistically, but when it comes to weight loss. God, I am so flipping SICK of talking about weight loss. I have been struggling and struggling to lose weight for so much of my life now that it makes me physically repulsed to think about it. How much more time am I going to spend obsessing over my body and the scale and the size on the tag and what I am eating vs what I am not eating? And, probably more to the point, how much time am I going to spend doing all that obsessing and still not seeing the results I think I should see?
I went to WI today, and I maintained. Now, the world of WW would tell you that maintaining is a success, because to maintain > to gain. Sure, sure, I get that. And of course I'd rather stay the same than gain. But does that mean I have to be happy to have maintained? Because, you know what? I don't want to be happy about maintaining. I am feeling pissed and frustrated, and rather than burying those feelings under false positivity and optimism, I want to embrace pissed and frustrated.
If I hadn't been trying, really truly trying, I would be more accepting of no loss. But this week? This week I counted my points, stayed in range ocassionally using a flex point or two (you get 49 for the week, which can be used in 1 day or over the week...or not at all). For fuck's sake, I even ignored National Donut Day even though a boston creme and an apple fritter (yes, I said AND) from the best donut place in town sounded like heaven (warm, soft, chewy, golden, delicious, frosted heaven) on a plate. I went out for Mexican food and ordered a SALAD. Where is my reward for that?!?!
Don't get me wrong: I am not quitting WW or throwing in the towel and diving into a gallon of ice cream, tempting as those options may be. I'm just taking a break from trying to put on a happy face, and using my piss-poor outlook on this whole endeavor to my advantage. How? Well, if you didn't already know this about me, you should know that nothing propels me quite like blind fury. And blind fury is what I am feeling (toward myself? toward food? toward the scale? toward the fates that handed me this body instead of this one or this one or even this one who is ROCKING the body confidence despite being a 'bigger' girl). (PS: Did you know if you Google image search 'full figured women in Hollywood' Jennifer Lopez and Scarlett Johansson come up? Is this for real? Now I am even MORE pissed.) So I'm using it to make myself do better, be better, and get these stupid pounds to go away for good. I WILL hit my goal, dammit.
But in the meantime, I'm done with mantras about how any loss is a good loss and it takes time and this is the healthy way to do it and nothing tastes better than skinny feels. It's not that those things are untrue, it's just that they are not helping me. Want me to win at bowling or pool? Piss me off. Want a clean kitchen in 15 minutes or less? Pick a fight with me and leave me steaming mad. Here's hoping this same thing works for weight loss, because I am pissed off and not giving up on myself without a fight.
I went to WI today, and I maintained. Now, the world of WW would tell you that maintaining is a success, because to maintain > to gain. Sure, sure, I get that. And of course I'd rather stay the same than gain. But does that mean I have to be happy to have maintained? Because, you know what? I don't want to be happy about maintaining. I am feeling pissed and frustrated, and rather than burying those feelings under false positivity and optimism, I want to embrace pissed and frustrated.
If I hadn't been trying, really truly trying, I would be more accepting of no loss. But this week? This week I counted my points, stayed in range ocassionally using a flex point or two (you get 49 for the week, which can be used in 1 day or over the week...or not at all). For fuck's sake, I even ignored National Donut Day even though a boston creme and an apple fritter (yes, I said AND) from the best donut place in town sounded like heaven (warm, soft, chewy, golden, delicious, frosted heaven) on a plate. I went out for Mexican food and ordered a SALAD. Where is my reward for that?!?!
Don't get me wrong: I am not quitting WW or throwing in the towel and diving into a gallon of ice cream, tempting as those options may be. I'm just taking a break from trying to put on a happy face, and using my piss-poor outlook on this whole endeavor to my advantage. How? Well, if you didn't already know this about me, you should know that nothing propels me quite like blind fury. And blind fury is what I am feeling (toward myself? toward food? toward the scale? toward the fates that handed me this body instead of this one or this one or even this one who is ROCKING the body confidence despite being a 'bigger' girl). (PS: Did you know if you Google image search 'full figured women in Hollywood' Jennifer Lopez and Scarlett Johansson come up? Is this for real? Now I am even MORE pissed.) So I'm using it to make myself do better, be better, and get these stupid pounds to go away for good. I WILL hit my goal, dammit.
But in the meantime, I'm done with mantras about how any loss is a good loss and it takes time and this is the healthy way to do it and nothing tastes better than skinny feels. It's not that those things are untrue, it's just that they are not helping me. Want me to win at bowling or pool? Piss me off. Want a clean kitchen in 15 minutes or less? Pick a fight with me and leave me steaming mad. Here's hoping this same thing works for weight loss, because I am pissed off and not giving up on myself without a fight.
Bed Stealer.
I'd be a liar if I claimed this bothered me.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
A Future Free of Diapers May Someday be Mine.
If it wasn't happening to me, I'd hardly believe it was true, but Rohan has started to potty train himself. He's just over 26 months old, and he's POTTY TRAINING HIMSELF.
It started a few months ago, when my mom decided to buy him big boy undies for playing in the sprinklers at her house. His diapers would get too soaked, but she didn't want him playing in just his shorts, so she comprimised and got the undies. He didn't potty train at that time. In fact, he had pretty much zero interest. We've had the baby potty out in our great room for months now, and though he ocassionally would ask to sit on the potty because he thought it was funny, he never did anything while sitting there. Well, nothing aside from getting completely naked, which I hear is a boy thing, this desire to be completely nude to potty train.
We were not worried at all, mainly because I have always heard that boys tend to potty train later than girls and I should not expect Rohan to even be interested until he was closer to 3. Luca was just days past her 2nd birthday when we told her 2 year olds are big girls and big girls don't wear diapers, and for her that worked so well that within the week she had turned 2 and completely potty trained during the day. (Funny side note: she was in the midst of potty training at her birthday party, which was at our house. In the middle of the party, she moved her potty into the middle of the room and proceeded to use it in front of a room full of guests while I was upstairs nursing Rohan.) However, she'd also shown interest at a younger age, telling us when she was wet or dirty when she was only 15 months old, and vocalizing that she needed to 'poop' by 18 months. Add to that me being home on maternity leave and able to dedicate the entire day to running her to and from the potty and it really wasn't difficult. But no one is home full time with the kids right now, which means they move between home with Darrick to over to my mom's to back home, and all that movement means less opportunity to just focus on potty use.
And then, about 2 weeks ago, I took him to Target with me and let him pick out some big boy undies for home (he picked Yo Gabba Gabba), and sometime last week he started saying no to diapers and asking for the 'big boy ungies' instead. Then on Thursday afternoon my husband called as I drove home from work and told me he'd gone pee in the potty all by himself, with my husband not even in the same room. We were excited but figured it might be a fluke.
I no longer think it's a fluke. Since last Thursday, he's been using the training potty to go pee, although he still hasn't quite figured out the 'other' use for that potty. He won't even ask...just strolls over and says, "I need to pee pee" and takes care of business. When he's done, he hops up and points, clapping and saying, "I did it!" or "I went pee pee, mama!" or (my favorite) "I win!!!".
And so it goes. We're crossing our fingers and hoping this is it and he'll soon be fully potty trained. And, as always, we're in awe at how seamlessly our baby is turning into a big boy.
_____________________________________
But that's not all. I mentioned Luca's ease with potty training, but what I didn't mention is that nighttime potty training for her just wasn't happening. She's been completly accident-free during the daytime, save for the rare ocassion where she's playing so hard she doesn't make it to the potty on time, for over 2 years. We tried various things to help her potty train at night, including:
- trying not to let her drink much after dinner so she wouldn't go to bed with a full bladder
- switching her to Pull-Ups so she can easily get them up and down on her own
- waking her a few times a night to try to get her to go potty
- putting the little potty in her room so if she woke at night it would be close by and she wouldn't have to go into the bathroom alone
None of these tricks worked. Waking her was the silliest, because the kid sleeps like a log. I would have her go potty before bed and then wake her to go when I was getting ready for bed. After two nights of carrying her sleepy body into the bathroom and holding her on the potty as she slept through the whole adventure, I decided it was madness. Parents spend months and months trying to get their kids to sleep through the night, and here I was waking her on purpose when she didn't want to wake?
So after much discussion about the physiology of little kids, we decided to let it happen in its own time. Which meant, at 4 years old, she was still wearing a Pull Up to bed and waking up with it full every morning. It didn't bother me because I knew it would happen in its own time and the last thing I wanted was to create an issue about nighttime bed wetting. But, in time, it started to bother her and she started to complain about the Pull Up, telling me it was uncomfortable and she wanted to sleep without it.
So, we made a no-pressure deal. I sat in her room one night last week and told her that if she woke up 4 nights in a row with a dry Pull Up, she could start to sleep without one. And if she didn't have any accidents, we decided together she can get a new pair of jammies and some slippers. I don't know why slippers had to be part of the deal, but she insisted so I agreed.
The very next morning, her Pull Up was dry.
Last night, I had to work late at an event so I wasn't here to put her to bed. I got home about 10, and when I went to check on her, she was in a pair of her brother's new undies. I decided to let it go. Her Pull Up had been dry by then for 3 nights, and on that 4th night she woke with dry (although boy-style) undies.
Tonight, she went to bed in her Disney Princess swimsuit. Worst case, she wakes wet. Best case? We're well on our way to saying good bye to Pull Ups and investing in some new jammies and slippers!
_______________________________________________________
I would be remiss if I didn't say this: potty training is tough. Everyone has their own methods for it, but I took the advice of some amazing moms I know whose kids potty trained fairly seamlessly (looking at YOU, Linz). Here's what we did:
- Made a big deal about Luca being a 'big girl', since at 2 hearing she was a big girl was a compliment unmatched by any other. (We planned to do the same with Rohan, but he was actually the one who initiated the 'big boy' thing)
- Told her big girls wear undies, not diapers, and went cold turkey. (Again, with Mo we'd planned the same thing, but he was the one who asked to wear undies instead. With Luca it was easy to push this, since I knew she needed the push and would respond. With Rohan, he didn't show any interest in potty training until HE was ready - such as dry diapers for extended times or asking to sit on the potty or watching us go - so we followed his lead.)
- Kept them both home as much as possible in the early days, allowing them to be naked or in undies all day and providing frequent and easy access to the potty.
- Responded only to the successes, and quietly cleaned up any mistakes without reprimand. We want them to have only positive feelings about potty training, and scolidng or punishing for accidents isn't productive and could jeapordize that. If they have accidents, we aknowledge them by saying, "Accidents happen. Let's clean this up and next time let's try to make it to the potty, ok?" Both of our kids really respond to this positive reinforcement.
- Speaking of positive reinforcement, we give candy early in potty training. The irony of giving chocolates for THAT doesn't escape us, and normally we don't reward with candy for things they are 'supposed' to do, but in the case of potty training, a treat is a positive reinforcement of a job well done. We also make a big deal out of hugging and cheering them on once they used the potty successfully.
- Once they are pretty much accident-free at home, we go diaper-free on short trips in public. Bring extra clothes and wipes just in case, and dress them in something that: (a) contains messes as much as possible (i.e. shorts that fit well for a girl, not a dress) and (b) can be soiled without you caring.
We're not experts. If anything, we are extremely lucky that so far both our kids have been 'easy' to potty train and are interested in doing it. And we're so happy it's come this easily for both of them so far.
It started a few months ago, when my mom decided to buy him big boy undies for playing in the sprinklers at her house. His diapers would get too soaked, but she didn't want him playing in just his shorts, so she comprimised and got the undies. He didn't potty train at that time. In fact, he had pretty much zero interest. We've had the baby potty out in our great room for months now, and though he ocassionally would ask to sit on the potty because he thought it was funny, he never did anything while sitting there. Well, nothing aside from getting completely naked, which I hear is a boy thing, this desire to be completely nude to potty train.
We were not worried at all, mainly because I have always heard that boys tend to potty train later than girls and I should not expect Rohan to even be interested until he was closer to 3. Luca was just days past her 2nd birthday when we told her 2 year olds are big girls and big girls don't wear diapers, and for her that worked so well that within the week she had turned 2 and completely potty trained during the day. (Funny side note: she was in the midst of potty training at her birthday party, which was at our house. In the middle of the party, she moved her potty into the middle of the room and proceeded to use it in front of a room full of guests while I was upstairs nursing Rohan.) However, she'd also shown interest at a younger age, telling us when she was wet or dirty when she was only 15 months old, and vocalizing that she needed to 'poop' by 18 months. Add to that me being home on maternity leave and able to dedicate the entire day to running her to and from the potty and it really wasn't difficult. But no one is home full time with the kids right now, which means they move between home with Darrick to over to my mom's to back home, and all that movement means less opportunity to just focus on potty use.
And then, about 2 weeks ago, I took him to Target with me and let him pick out some big boy undies for home (he picked Yo Gabba Gabba), and sometime last week he started saying no to diapers and asking for the 'big boy ungies' instead. Then on Thursday afternoon my husband called as I drove home from work and told me he'd gone pee in the potty all by himself, with my husband not even in the same room. We were excited but figured it might be a fluke.
I no longer think it's a fluke. Since last Thursday, he's been using the training potty to go pee, although he still hasn't quite figured out the 'other' use for that potty. He won't even ask...just strolls over and says, "I need to pee pee" and takes care of business. When he's done, he hops up and points, clapping and saying, "I did it!" or "I went pee pee, mama!" or (my favorite) "I win!!!".
And so it goes. We're crossing our fingers and hoping this is it and he'll soon be fully potty trained. And, as always, we're in awe at how seamlessly our baby is turning into a big boy.
_____________________________________
But that's not all. I mentioned Luca's ease with potty training, but what I didn't mention is that nighttime potty training for her just wasn't happening. She's been completly accident-free during the daytime, save for the rare ocassion where she's playing so hard she doesn't make it to the potty on time, for over 2 years. We tried various things to help her potty train at night, including:
- trying not to let her drink much after dinner so she wouldn't go to bed with a full bladder
- switching her to Pull-Ups so she can easily get them up and down on her own
- waking her a few times a night to try to get her to go potty
- putting the little potty in her room so if she woke at night it would be close by and she wouldn't have to go into the bathroom alone
None of these tricks worked. Waking her was the silliest, because the kid sleeps like a log. I would have her go potty before bed and then wake her to go when I was getting ready for bed. After two nights of carrying her sleepy body into the bathroom and holding her on the potty as she slept through the whole adventure, I decided it was madness. Parents spend months and months trying to get their kids to sleep through the night, and here I was waking her on purpose when she didn't want to wake?
So after much discussion about the physiology of little kids, we decided to let it happen in its own time. Which meant, at 4 years old, she was still wearing a Pull Up to bed and waking up with it full every morning. It didn't bother me because I knew it would happen in its own time and the last thing I wanted was to create an issue about nighttime bed wetting. But, in time, it started to bother her and she started to complain about the Pull Up, telling me it was uncomfortable and she wanted to sleep without it.
So, we made a no-pressure deal. I sat in her room one night last week and told her that if she woke up 4 nights in a row with a dry Pull Up, she could start to sleep without one. And if she didn't have any accidents, we decided together she can get a new pair of jammies and some slippers. I don't know why slippers had to be part of the deal, but she insisted so I agreed.
The very next morning, her Pull Up was dry.
Last night, I had to work late at an event so I wasn't here to put her to bed. I got home about 10, and when I went to check on her, she was in a pair of her brother's new undies. I decided to let it go. Her Pull Up had been dry by then for 3 nights, and on that 4th night she woke with dry (although boy-style) undies.
Tonight, she went to bed in her Disney Princess swimsuit. Worst case, she wakes wet. Best case? We're well on our way to saying good bye to Pull Ups and investing in some new jammies and slippers!
_______________________________________________________
I would be remiss if I didn't say this: potty training is tough. Everyone has their own methods for it, but I took the advice of some amazing moms I know whose kids potty trained fairly seamlessly (looking at YOU, Linz). Here's what we did:
- Made a big deal about Luca being a 'big girl', since at 2 hearing she was a big girl was a compliment unmatched by any other. (We planned to do the same with Rohan, but he was actually the one who initiated the 'big boy' thing)
- Told her big girls wear undies, not diapers, and went cold turkey. (Again, with Mo we'd planned the same thing, but he was the one who asked to wear undies instead. With Luca it was easy to push this, since I knew she needed the push and would respond. With Rohan, he didn't show any interest in potty training until HE was ready - such as dry diapers for extended times or asking to sit on the potty or watching us go - so we followed his lead.)
- Kept them both home as much as possible in the early days, allowing them to be naked or in undies all day and providing frequent and easy access to the potty.
- Responded only to the successes, and quietly cleaned up any mistakes without reprimand. We want them to have only positive feelings about potty training, and scolidng or punishing for accidents isn't productive and could jeapordize that. If they have accidents, we aknowledge them by saying, "Accidents happen. Let's clean this up and next time let's try to make it to the potty, ok?" Both of our kids really respond to this positive reinforcement.
- Speaking of positive reinforcement, we give candy early in potty training. The irony of giving chocolates for THAT doesn't escape us, and normally we don't reward with candy for things they are 'supposed' to do, but in the case of potty training, a treat is a positive reinforcement of a job well done. We also make a big deal out of hugging and cheering them on once they used the potty successfully.
- Once they are pretty much accident-free at home, we go diaper-free on short trips in public. Bring extra clothes and wipes just in case, and dress them in something that: (a) contains messes as much as possible (i.e. shorts that fit well for a girl, not a dress) and (b) can be soiled without you caring.
We're not experts. If anything, we are extremely lucky that so far both our kids have been 'easy' to potty train and are interested in doing it. And we're so happy it's come this easily for both of them so far.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
June 1.
I can hardly believe it's already June 1 and the year is nearly half over. May was here and gone too fast to process, and between a new project and a grant proposal at work, Luca's birthday, a dance recital, and the end of the school year, I barely made it out with my sanity.
Nine months ago, this little girl faced her first day of preschool: shy, reserved, nervous, and excited. She slung a Princess backpack over her narrow shoulders and walked into the classroom holding anxiously to my leg. I was nervous. She was nervous. The first two weeks, she barely spoke and didn't want to play directly with the other kids. I agonized over whether or not we'd made the right decision.
I need not have worried. Not only did she get nothing but perfect report cards like the one above every day, she flourished in preschool. She learned to write her name. Learned to identify letters and numbers. Began to display some really solid reasoning and rationalizing and imagination, and all of it was amazing to observe. She kissed her first boy. She made new friends. She wowed the teachers, all of whom repeatedly told us how loving and kind and amazing and helpful she is, only serving to make our parenting egos grow exponentially each time and make us breathe a sigh of relief. She loved preschool, and I know next year she'll be so excited to go back!
On her first day of preschool, I walked out of the classroom with tears burning my eyelids and cried in my car.
On her last day of preschool, her teachers started to cry as soon as they saw me walk up to the door to get her. It really touched me to know she touched them so deeply.
She didn't cry until we got to the car. When I asked what was wrong she said, "I will miss Miss Katie (her favorite 'teacher', Miss Katie is off to college in L.A. next year). She's really special."
My camera is still away being repaired, so the pictures of her last day weren't as clear as the first, but nonetheless I love the comparison of Then vs. Now.
We've also been working on our plans to get rid of debt and spend less, though that's going even more rough than the weight loss resolution. April and May were tough months financially, but we struggled through them and came out at the end of May with a solid plan for the rest of the year. And then, we got a notice from the IRS that we'd been audited and miscalculated our 2009 taxes. We had an investment account we cashed out early in 2009 and we never got the tax form for it. By the time taxes were due in April 2010, we forgot entirely about that and didn't claim it. Sadly, we're now $573 poorer for the mistake. In addition, our van failed emissions testing. It was not exactly shocking given the van is a Kia and has over 98,000 miles. What was shocking is how much it's costing to fix. It's currently in the shop and we're expecting it to be close to $1,000 to fix. We don't have much of a choice, since it has to pass the emissions test and we can't afford to buy another car right now, but it's a tough pill to swallow spending that much to fix it when we can't be sure how long it's going to go for once that's done.
The good news is we were able to plan these expenses into our summer budget, which is different than the rest of the year because my husband doesn't work in the summer. He gets a big check at the start of the summer, and we don't pay daycare or preschool, so we should be ok, but it sucks to watch that chunk of money disappear from our account in a snap of the fingers. Either way, we're on the same page financially and as stressful as money can sometimes be it's nice to feel like we have a plan to move forward. I'm excited to share how we've decided to address our finances in a way we think will be easy to manage and to self-regulate, but that's got to wait a few weeks until all our June bills are paid and the car and tax payments go through, so we know where we are starting from.
Nine months ago, this little girl faced her first day of preschool: shy, reserved, nervous, and excited. She slung a Princess backpack over her narrow shoulders and walked into the classroom holding anxiously to my leg. I was nervous. She was nervous. The first two weeks, she barely spoke and didn't want to play directly with the other kids. I agonized over whether or not we'd made the right decision.
I need not have worried. Not only did she get nothing but perfect report cards like the one above every day, she flourished in preschool. She learned to write her name. Learned to identify letters and numbers. Began to display some really solid reasoning and rationalizing and imagination, and all of it was amazing to observe. She kissed her first boy. She made new friends. She wowed the teachers, all of whom repeatedly told us how loving and kind and amazing and helpful she is, only serving to make our parenting egos grow exponentially each time and make us breathe a sigh of relief. She loved preschool, and I know next year she'll be so excited to go back!
On her first day of preschool, I walked out of the classroom with tears burning my eyelids and cried in my car.
On her last day of preschool, her teachers started to cry as soon as they saw me walk up to the door to get her. It really touched me to know she touched them so deeply.
She didn't cry until we got to the car. When I asked what was wrong she said, "I will miss Miss Katie (her favorite 'teacher', Miss Katie is off to college in L.A. next year). She's really special."
My camera is still away being repaired, so the pictures of her last day weren't as clear as the first, but nonetheless I love the comparison of Then vs. Now.
(She dressed herself for her last day)
Before that last day, though, the preschool hosted a banquet, which included dancing and food and cake and lots and lots of candy. Each kid even got to walk across the stage and get a bucket made for them and a certificat of completion. A year ago, I think she would have shrunk back and insisted I walk with her. This year, she strutted right across and gave a sweet smile.
(With favorite teacher Miss Katie in the skirt she gifted Luca for her 4th birthday)
She makes me proud every single day.
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In other news, my New Year's Resolutions have been a mixed bag as far as results go. I'm on week 3 of going to Weight Watchers meetings, but almost 6 months into following the plan online. 'Following' is a loose term as I've had more 'eh' weeks than great ones, but I am proud that I'm still going. One of my resolutions this year was not buying new things unless I HAVE to (i.e. diapers, toiletries, etc.), but I broke that rule for a good reason. Before the end of 2010, I bought a pair of jeans at Old Navy for a ridiculous clearance price, but in a size too small. They now fit (!!!) so earlier this week I celebrated that small success by buying another pair in the same size. Granted, it was only $10 for the jeans (gotta love clearance!) but I had a little guilt about breaking my 'no new stuff' streak. Regardless, I think it's necessary to reward myself and it had been so long since I'd bought myself new jeans that the 2 pairs I had in constant rotation were starting to wear dangerously thin in some non-G-rated places. So I am now the proud owner of 2 pairs of cute new jeans in 1 size smaller than I was wearing when the year kicked off. I'd love to be in a place where my weight loss successes were celebrated with a new swimsuit I could comfortably wear in front of other people, rather than 2 new pairs of jeans in a size I still don't really love, but it's about celebrating where I am right now.
We've also been working on our plans to get rid of debt and spend less, though that's going even more rough than the weight loss resolution. April and May were tough months financially, but we struggled through them and came out at the end of May with a solid plan for the rest of the year. And then, we got a notice from the IRS that we'd been audited and miscalculated our 2009 taxes. We had an investment account we cashed out early in 2009 and we never got the tax form for it. By the time taxes were due in April 2010, we forgot entirely about that and didn't claim it. Sadly, we're now $573 poorer for the mistake. In addition, our van failed emissions testing. It was not exactly shocking given the van is a Kia and has over 98,000 miles. What was shocking is how much it's costing to fix. It's currently in the shop and we're expecting it to be close to $1,000 to fix. We don't have much of a choice, since it has to pass the emissions test and we can't afford to buy another car right now, but it's a tough pill to swallow spending that much to fix it when we can't be sure how long it's going to go for once that's done.
The good news is we were able to plan these expenses into our summer budget, which is different than the rest of the year because my husband doesn't work in the summer. He gets a big check at the start of the summer, and we don't pay daycare or preschool, so we should be ok, but it sucks to watch that chunk of money disappear from our account in a snap of the fingers. Either way, we're on the same page financially and as stressful as money can sometimes be it's nice to feel like we have a plan to move forward. I'm excited to share how we've decided to address our finances in a way we think will be easy to manage and to self-regulate, but that's got to wait a few weeks until all our June bills are paid and the car and tax payments go through, so we know where we are starting from.
The next 6 months promise to be busy and crazy and fun. We have a vacation planned at the end of summer, which we're looking forward to. Darrick is taking a class to help work toward his Masters, I got a raise at work, and our family is happy and healthy. Here's to the rest of 2011!
When They Are Older.
I hope when my kids are older, they look back on their summer vacations as sweetly as I do my childhood summers. I snapped these pictures on Tuesday morning, the first 'official' day of summer break in our house, and to me they just capture the beauty of siblings easing into a long, hot summer of fun together:
An apple fritter, a big soft blankie, and puppy cuddles in the morning? Yes, please.
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