Bigger IS Better

Or so we've heard. It was time to replace our family room TV, so we bit the bullet and did it up right. We got a great deal at Sam's Club on the TV, warranty (5 years!), wall mount and cables. The plan is to hang it over our fireplace and hide the wires behind the wall. I'm excited about all the new furniture arranging possibilities!

Bret's excited about getting his big plasma TV. He's been wanting one for quite some time, but didn't see the sense in replacing a perfectly good TV until it went out.

We were up until midnight last night just trying to mount the wall bracket and ran into problems putting the brackets on the back of the new TV. For some reason the screws are too long. Hmm. Bret's Dad is over here this morning to help out and there will hopefully be a TV hanging over the fireplace soon. It's suppose to be negative 4 degrees today, so they may not make it to the attic to get all the hidden wiring taken care of.

The kids are having fun with the box, which Ryan can barely see over when he's up on his tippy toes.

We may have a new time out spot.

I'll be back later with an update.

Yippee!

I wasn't feeling too motivated this morning to take my butt to the gym. It was freezing cold outside and a bit icy, plus I was tired. It had been two days since I had been there for Body Pump and my right knee has been killing me - stupid lunges - so I was prepared to talk myself out of it, even though usually once I get there I end up enjoying it.

Then I got on the scale and saw that I have lost 7.5 pounds since I started working out 3 weeks ago. I'm not really eating differently, but I've cut back on the lattes and am trying to cook us meals at night so that we don't end up resorting to fast food at the last minute. I had been discouraged because I had put on nine pounds since quitting smoking and the number on the scale hasn't budged - until now.

Usually I would notice a 7.5 pound loss, but it seemed like it just went away overnight. Finally all my hard work in those hour long classes at the gym have started paying off.

So, 1.5 more to go until I'm back to what I was before quitting smoking - and then I can work on losing what needed to come off before then. Yippee.

It's Going To Be Okay

Thank you so much for all of your support and kind words on my previous post. Things went really well at our school meeting on Wednesday. We presented all of our concerns and were surprised to find out that they've already begun to take action.

Every day for 45 minutes (in addition to seeing the reading aid) he's being taken out of class and receiving additional help with reading and math from a teacher who happens to be a friend and neighbor of mine. Ryan loves her and seems to be enjoying the time working with her. We also found out that they've been doing a program called Ear Aerobics with him since November. (I wish we had been told!) My understanding is that this will help him strengthen his auditory processing.

So, while they have up to 60 days to perform all of the evaluations on him, (which we will then meet with everyone and come up with some answers and solutions) it seems they have already gotten started trying to catch him up. What a relief.

Here's my issue with all of this. We obviously don't want to find out that he has a learning disability, but to get the help he needs, that's what it takes. Otherwise they have to try and find other ways to justify giving him the help. I hate red tape.

The Post I've Been Trying To Avoid

I've been trying to write this post for close to a week now, but every time I give it a go, I get too emotional and stop. Today is our meeting with the school principal and Ryan's teacher. Ryan has been having a hard time in school and we're not sure if it's a result of the hearing loss and speech delay, if there's a learning disability or what the case may be. His report card came home last Friday and we were surprised to see that he was failing Reading.

Back at the beginning of the school year we noticed that they went straight from kindergarten's "memorize these sight words" to 1st grade's "sound out these words and spell them". Ryan already has had to deal with 5 years of catching up on and relearning many letter sounds due to his hearing loss, but this was kind of a surprise to us. The first week of school they were already having spelling tests and to the best of our knowledge, phonics was never taught much last year.

We were pretty upset when he brought home spelling tests with only one or two words correct, but we worked with him nightly on them and he now only gets 1 or 2 wrong and has even once brought home a paper with all of them correct. He works hard at them and we're in return very proud of him.

Today's meeting is to go over any questions we have regarding a full case study evaluation they are going to do with him to see what is going on. Supposedly we will learn in what way his brain processes information that he learns, which will in turn tell us how to teach him things more effectively. That's pretty much all I understand, hence the importance of today's meeting - to find out more.

Bret and I also have a list of concerns written up to go over with them. Number one being that we are already half way through the school year and we are just now dealing with this? Also, why in the world did it take over a month to get the FM System in place that is suppose to be making it easier for him to hear his teacher? This could very well be a factor in why he is continuing to struggle - he got too far behind.

Another issue we have is as to why we weren't notified sooner that things had gotten so bad. We knew he was having some trouble, (and got him an after school tutor) but not to the point of failing a subject. This is suppose to be one of the best school districts in the state - the reason why we built our house where we did in time for him to start school here - and he's still having to work extra harder than his peers. No wonder he says he hates school. He's frustrated and most likely, upset with himself.

We always tell our children that it's not their grades that matter to us, it's how much they work at it. If we feel they've done their best, than we are proud of them for that. We love them no matter what and will always be proud of them. Ashley has always been a straight A student and learning just comes easier to her. She's just that smart and loves school. So when we have a child that doesn't want to go, it worries us.

Worries us. That's not strong enough. It tears at my heart because I want to help him so badly that I'd do anything. We tend to blame ourselves - that we're not working with him enough - but the truth is that we do work with him every night. I do homework with him and Bret studies with him as part of their night time ritual. We come up with all kinds of fun ways to approach it. We want to do more, but aren't sure just what more we can be doing. In our minds, we can never do enough.

Then you have the child's amazing memory. He can memorize anything. If you sat with him for an hour, you'd know everything there is to know about baseball and football. He can tell you the name of every team and what state they play for. He can tell you about various players, what team they play for or have played for. He has all this information up there and it amazes us, because it shows that he has the capacity to learn. Sometimes I feel like Bret could teach him anything. He makes learning so much fun that Ryan forgets he's learning. Maybe Bret should go with him to school everyday? Ha.

So, as this meeting approaches, I have my list ready and my brave mommy face on as I go into battle. Just kidding. It is what it is. But it's time to get to the bottom of this once and for all so that he can succeed.

I Tried

She wasn't expecting me when I came around the corner and caught her pretending with my purse.

And if she drops it and isn't touching it, then she's pretty sure she's not in trouble. LoL.

I actually made dinner last night. I was looking for some new ideas last night and found a Betty Crocker recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Bret and Ashley scoff at anything vegetable (and I knew not to even try with Ryan) so I figured they could just pick out the cheesy meatballs and be fine. When Bret came home, he requested that I just make a batch of meatballs in barbeque sauce for him. I was disappointed that he wouldn't even try it, but did as he asked anyway. We've had too many meals here where I've tried to make something new and they've not liked it because it had more than one ingrediant in it. (!!!!) So, like I said, I did as he asked. However, the only barbeque sauce we had on hand wasn't the sweet and tangy kind he was expecting. It was just plain ol' regular Open Pit and very strong and spicy. He forced it down, but admitted he liked the cheesey meatballs better. Ha.

The meal was pretty good (I love vegetables and cheese) but a little on the bland side. I also have yet to make a decent batch of minute rice. I know - who messes up minute rice?! Apparently, I do. It's just never as light and fluffy as it looks on the box.

Hiding Out

I may be doing too well at this school carnival planning stuff. They want me to do it again next year. NO!!!! HELP!!!!

Went to Body Pump this morning...Lord, am I out of shape! I'll be soaking in the tub while Chloe naps is anyone needs me.

Blame It On The Mojito

We had our monthly PTO meeting tonight and I sat down here to work on that, but Teri (my co-chair) took me out to Friday's for an Ulitmate Mojito (Man, is it going to take awhile to finish this with how slow I'm having to type.) and I'm probably not going to get much done....um....correctly?

I made myself go to Body Attack at Gold's this morning. All by myself with out my little gym buddies. I told myself that if I could get through the first half and make it to the running track that I'd let myself leave if I wanted to. Of course I didn't end up leaving. I pushed my way through it and let me tell you - there's a reason they call it Body Attack. By the time an hour was up and we had made it to the last track, I could barely lift my leg up to kick and forget the freaking knee repeaters. But I did it and have lived to tell about it.

I've made an unpleasant discovery, though. The shortness of breath and wheezing I get during that class weren't entirely smoking related. It was better this time as a nonsmoker, but I had to hit my inhaler half way through. Maybe that will get better over time, too. This class is tough - there were times I could feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest, but I just have to remember it was just as tough before and it got easier after a couple of weeks then, too.

So, if I'm still able to move in the morning, I'll be going back to body pump tomorrow to further torture myself. And on Friday? Body Step - yes it's step aerobics, but just as brutal in the cardio area as body attack and just as brutal as it sounds. Sounds fun, right? (I'm actually looking forward to it.)

Time to go sleep off the lingering effects of the mojito...

Cleaning Is My Enemy

There's something about cleaning my house that brings on stronger than usual tuggings to smoke, which may be why I've let the chores slack lately. My house is now clean and I dare you to find a dust bunny anywhere, but man those tuggings. I'd have to sit down and regroup and remember that it's been 41 days now since I quit and that I didn't really want one. What I wanted was a break - an excuse to procrastinate. But I got through it and am still proud of myself for being strong.

Did you know that when one quits smoking, their dog becomes depressed? Poor Daisy lays around looking at us with sad, mopey eyes and wonders what the heck is wrong with us. She misses her frequent field trips out to the side of the garage where we would be stay at home busy bodies and take inventory on what was going on in the neighborhood. Now I never think to go outside and Daisy doesn't tell us when she has to go - she just holds it. Plus I don't get my daily dose of neighborhood gossip anymore. I have no desire to go outside where it's usually cold and windy this time of year and I no longer need to go out and pretend smoke my short stubby straw or hollowed out cigarette that Bret stuffed with pieces of paper towel that first week of my quit. (I do still have little straws in every sweatshirt, jacket and jeans pocket I own though.) So, poor Daisy gets let out in the morning when the kids go to school and then by 2 or 3pm I realize she hasn't been out in forever and end up feeling like the world's worst dog owner. Thank goodness Bret remembers to feed her in the morning or she'd probably starve to death.

Anyway, my house is clean and the dog got to go outside tonight (after Bret reminded me 3 times) so I'm heading off to bed - before midnight for a change.

Attack Of The Dust Bunnies

Since becoming all consumed by Rock The House planning for Ryan's school, I admit I've let a few things slide. Ok, more than a few. I spent the first half of today finishing up my volunteer list and then closed the laptop with a loud thud and pushed it away, determined to tackle the tornado that went through my house over the past few days. It's not pretty. Normally my house is so clean you'd have a hard time finding dust, but today it even makes me sick. The dust bunnies are in full force plotting their attack. Everytime I get one room clean, they seem to be making a united stand in the next room. It has to have something to do with the furnace and heat ducts because it's never like this in the warmer months.

So, now that mine and the four kids' bellies are full of pizza and they are blissfully glued to their Nintendo DS's, I must go finish the battle against the dust bunnies. Damn things!

Your Turn

Over the past few days, I've been stressed out and busy working on the planning for our big school fundraiser that is held next month. Everything else seems to have been dropped by the wayside. ("Yes, I hear you!" she says to the moaning pile of dirty laundry and dishes.) Yesterday I literally sat at the kitchen table for the better part of the day calling all of our volunteers to straighten out a mistake that was made early in the school year. You see, our school had mail in registration this year instead of the 'ol normal registration day where you go in and do things in person, and all parents were asked to fill out a volunteer form and check off which areas they were willing to help out in. For the school carnival, we had many parents check off more than one committee - some as much as seven. I knew we should have called each one of them to clarify where they wanted to help out at, but that's not what was done and they were put onto every single committee that they checked off. So, I had to call and do damage control because parents were complaining that they were getting too many phone calls. It was all just a simple mix up over how to handle the sign up sheets, but it almost got out of control. Luckily, it was able to be taken care of before more of our Committee Chair's started making their phone calls. Yikes.

Moving on. (Pause.) Who am I kidding? This is where I need some suggestions from the peanut gallery. Each game that we're doing will be giving out prizes such as small erasers, pencils, bite size candy, yadda yadda yadda. But we have one special game that we want to be a huge success. Bret is over at my co-chair's house right now helping her husband build us a shiny spanking brand new Plinko game. This too will have prizes, but I really want them to stand out compared to the other games since this is "our baby". We need to have 3-4 different prizes that start out cheap and small and build up to cool. All under this game's $50 budget. That can accomidate 400 some players. My brain is tired, so I'm asking you to lend me some of your creativity. Any ideas? Pretty, pretty please?

What? It's Friday? When Did That Happen?

What a week. I think I've been sitting at the computer for 3 days straight working on plans for this school carnival. We had our second meeting last night and ran into a glitch with our volunteer list and spent quite some time emailing back and forth with each other last night to come up with a solution. So I spent most of today making phone calls and sending out emails trying to get it all straightened out. I don't have much of a voice left. In fact, two phone calls ago I had to ask the mom if I could call her back because my voice was completely frogish like. Thank goodness it's Friday.

Losing My Mind

It's been a pretty busy day over here today. I got myself all riled up about smoking bans in my earlier post, been obsessed with this game that I heard about over at Busy Mom and working on plans for the school carnival. Let's just say I've been in computer mode. Bret asked me tonight if I still needed an item that I had on our shopping list and I told him, "No, you can delete that." He's still laughing at me.

Get Over It

It's been a lot of fun reading people's comments on the website for our local newspaper here in Peoria, but I do feel sorry for them.

"... My husband and I are both smokers and we have decided we will no longer patronize bars and restaurants due to this smoking ban. I find it hard to believe this will not impact the bars and restaurants in Illinois. ... it's just hard to believe this will not impact especially the smaller business owners. The other thing is I'm still waiting for a ban on stinky perfume. I have asthma, that is not triggered by my smoking, but perfume will send me into a attack instantly..."

Hmm, your cigarette smoke doesn't bother you, but perfume does? I too, have asthma that is mostly exercise and allergy induced and smoking was the dumbest thing I could do to myself. When I went to bed and laid there wheezing and coughing, I was in denial, too.

While I do feel that the Illinois Statewide Smoking Ban is going to hurt some businesses and cost the state a whole lot of tax dollars as more and more people quit, I think smokers need to get over it. Now 36 days into my quit, I find myself thinking of myself as a true ex-smoker. It's a nice feeling. As a smoker, I wasn't thrilled about the smoking ban but there's not a whole lot you can do about it. As an ex-smoker, I'm relieved by the ban, simply because that means less temptation for me and my husband to light up, less exposure for my children and a whole new set of places that we and other family members who are highly sensitive to second hand smoke can go back to for eating out. (I'm free for lunch anytime, Mom-In-Law...LOL.)

The biggest change in myself since quitting has been that I am open to admitting to the denial that I so frequently defended as a smoker. It was bad for me. It was making me sick. It made me smell awful. Even though I smoked outside and never in my minivan, the smell of it on me was not healthy for my kids and now that I've gotten whiffs of it on others here and there, I'm sorry that I ever made my kids smell it and didn't give them the choice.

Inventory

Body parts that hate me for making it to Body Pump at Gold's this morning: biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, abs, quads, calves, knees and even my rear end. I think every muscle group was put through torture at some point over the course of that hour. Does anyone have a handicap bar they can install in the bathroom for me? Tomorrow is probably going to feel worse. However, if you're going to do it, do it all the way. Right?

Tomorrow I have two babies here, so I may not be able to swing a visit to the gym in. If I'm still really sore, I may go in as soon as the kids are off to school to walk it out on a treadmill before baby Luke gets dropped off. Chloe did great in the daycare there again. There was another little girl around her age that she attached herself to when we walked in. She loves other kids, so this is perfect for her. (I still wiped her down with antibacterial wipes right before we left, though!)

During my two visits to the gym this week I noticed a difference since the last time I went when I was still smoking. I'm (hang on...have to go look it up...it's amazing how I don't really keep track lately) 35 days into my quit and already see a difference. Yesterday on the elliptical machine, my heart rate was lower than it use to be when I first started and I didn't tired as quickly as I expected myself to. Then during Body Pump this morning I definitely noticed having more energy. But the biggest change since quitting? No cough and no shortness of breath or wheezing while working out. That is huge! I may just plan on going back early tomorrow morning regardless of what the day holds.

Motivated

I kept my word and dragged my butt to the gym this morning, even after both of my gym buddies had to back out. It was torture, but I got through it. I wasn't brave enough to endure Body Attack by myself (who was going to laugh with me if I made a complete idiot of myself?) but I did do two miles on the elliptical machine. I burned 247 calories. Not bad for the first day.

Chloe amazed me today. She hasn't done well being left in the daycare there in the past. More times than not they've had to come get me because she's crying and they can't console her. Because of this I've not pushed her to go, which results in not pushing myself to go, either. However, today she walked right in and didn't even notice when I left to go work out. She didn't cry at all, played with the other kids there and didn't want to leave when I came back to pick her up 30 minutes later. I am so proud of her! Hopefully tomorrow will go as well since I'm planning on going back to do Body Pump.

The kids went back to school today and were actually excited about it. Chloe and I are off to make a run to the Post Office and then I'm going to try and reclaim my house (and the remote control) while she naps.

Labels

I've spent the last few days cleaning up my labels and assigning labels to the first year and a half of my blog. They are now listed in the sidebar. I do want to mention that before all of you tell me that Ashley is neglected and Ryan is the favored child - Ashley can read and won't let me tell her funny/embarrassing stories and Ryan will most likely never forgive me when he can read more than sight words. It's all good though, right?

Tuggings

I'ts been more than a week since I've had those little tuggings to smoke and they hit me a few times while I was working on planning this school fundraiser today. In fact, I had to backtrack through my blog to see when the last time I was having a rough patch was. While this wasn't really a "rough patch", I was getting frustrated and having a hard time concentrating. In her comment to my earlier post, MamaFlo helped put into words what I was feeling. (Thank you, MamaFlo.) It's so great to have people who know what you're going through. People who can put your feelings into words for you (without realizing that's what they're doing) so that you understand. In turn you recognize more quickly what you need to do to get past it. I haven't forgotten about you, either Jamie. Thanks, again for the card and the support. You made my day.

So to get my mind off of the little tuggings earlier, I made coffee. Or, um, I tried to make coffee. Three times. I've got to get off this Starbucks Peppermint Mocha thing, because I've gained 8 pounds since the holidays and quitting smoking began. (Yep, so much for that lost 5 pounds in the beginning thing - I gained that back, plus 3 more.) So now, not only do I need to get serious about losing some weight, I also need to learn how to make a decent cup of coffee that doesn't taste like wet coffee grinds. (Gag.) Can someone please teach me how to make a cup of coffee?

Running Away

After spending 2 1/2 hours last night and another 3 hours so far today on planning for the carnival at Ryan's school, I've decided that I'm going to run away and not come back until the thing is over and done with at the end of February. (She screams like a madwoman while pulling her hair out in front of the computer moniter.)

How in the world did you ever manage to get us sucked into chairing this thing, Teri?

Has anyone else taking Chantix had a harder time concentrating while talking this drug?

Trading Up

My daughter has her best friend spending the night tonight. Her friend is making Ashley's bed and dusting her furniture. I am so going to have to send the wrong kid home tomorrow!

Rough Night

The Chantix dreams and nausea are back in full form. The nausea is probably due to not remembering to take the Chantix right after I eat, but it's also making me a little dizzy. Not remembering to take it may be a sign that I'll be ready to go off it when 12 weeks is up - we'll see.

Bret came home from work early yesterday due to an ear infection. He went up to Prompt Care to get an antibiotic and the doctor told him something about the Chantix that I haven't heard yet. First off, he said that Chantix is the only drug he's seen that really does help people stop smoking and that's he really impressed with the success rates. But he also said that after 21 days, you don't really need it anymore because by then the receptors in your brain have returned to normal. You're basically taking the drug at that point for psychological assurance. I hadn't heard that before. Has anyone else heard this?

So, not only is the nausea back, but the wierd dreams and insomnia are, too. Last night was rough. It was freezing cold in our bedroom, Bret was snoring and kept poking me with his foot (which makes me jump a mile high) and I couldn't fall asleep for anything. And that was with ear plugs in. So I took my pillows and camped out on the couch with a sleeping bag and laid awake for another hour, wishing I hadn't taken the ear plugs out because our wall clocks wouldn't stop ticking. If I hadn't been so cold, I would have thrown them into the garage. Once I did fall asleep, I woke up a short time later due to some crazy dream that I can't even really remember now.

Life must go on, though. The kids and I have a lunch date at Mickey D's at 11am with Shawn, so I must run. We're going to motivate each other into going back to the gym. She's been better about it than I have and it should make going back more fun. Here's a little preview of what Monday will be like.

Peace Of Mind

Okay. I jumped the gun. I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. When I took the kids to see our new/old doctor today, he was much better. No double questions. Friendlier. Better sense of humor. Very attentive to what's been going on with the kids since he last saw them 3 years ago. Laughed at my jokes. He must have been having a bad day yesterday and mentioned to us today that he's fighting the nasty cold that's been going around. I was happy with the way things went today and all is forgiven. Everyone is entitled to an off day every once in awhile.

Mostly, I'm relieved that he seems to agree with our previous doctor's diagnosis in regards to the bruising that Ashley had biopsied on the back of her leg. He thinks it's nothing serious, but is waiting on her records to be transfered over so he can see the biopsy report before he decides what to do next. He may send her to a dermatologist just so that we can finally find out what it is and move on.

He seemed impressed with Ryan's progress in the last three years. Couldn't believe how much both kids have grown and laughed when I said that Ryan hadn't stopped talking since he got out of bed this morning. Three years ago Ryan didn't have but a handful of hard to understand words in his vocabulary due to his hearing loss. We were still trying to figure out what was going on with him at that point. (For more on that, click on the link in the sidebar for "Live Journal".) It's amazing what therapy can do for a kid.

So all is good. We're really going to miss our last doctor, but life has to go on.

Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go whoop my husband's butt on the Madden Football game that he got for Christmas on the Nintendo Wii.

Cuties

Chloe is back and still cute as ever. Ryan was really excited to see her today.

Ashley is going to start taking offense if Chloe keeps doing this to her, though.

Must. Get. Warm.

Our power was only out for three hours this morning, but it has yet to warm up in here. The thermostat reads 69, but it lies! My toes are like ice and I'm just plain cold.

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I had my appointment to get re-established with our old doctor from 3 years ago and was rather disappointed. I don't find him good looking anymore. Stop laughing - that's not what I was really going to say. While he's not quite so eye candyish anymore, that's not really the problem.

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I was a bit put off by his not so great bedside manner. The kids and I loved him 3 years ago and were crushed when we had to change doctors. We thought he was great. But today he didn't seem very friendly. He seemed stressed out, unfriendly and kept asking me the same questions repeatedly. Isn't your doctor suppose to be smarter than you?! No, for the second time - I don't need any refills. And no, for the 3rd time - I'm not having any problems. (Or does he have me confused with a different patient with short term memory loss and chronic problems?) (Quiet now, Bret.) Anyway, I was disappointed.

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I kept trying to talk to him about how I quit smoking and am taking Chantix and he couldn't keep the number of days I have been quit straight either. He also told me that I can only take it for 12 weeks. When I asked him about weening off of it, he said that usually people just stop taking it. Um, that's not what I've heard. Sigh. I was really hoping to stay on it for a bit longer than 3 months, but we'll see. It was my OB/GYN that actually prescribed it and I have my yearly appointment (sorry, TMI) in two weeks, so I'll bring it up with her instead.

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So, is my new (actually old) doctor on drugs or maybe he was just not feeling well? He did seem a little congested. But, seriously? He wasn't even really laughing at my jokes and I'm funny. Really, I am.

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Both Ashley and Ryan have their appointments with him tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get a better impression then. Maybe it's just me he doesn't like. Humph. My little innocent crush is so over.

Yaaawwwnnnn

Single digit temperatures + power outage at 4am = NO SLEEP.

Happy 2008

So how many of us are going to have trouble remembering to write "08" instead of "07"?

Last night, we went over and stayed with Bret's Grandma while his parents went out for New Year's. It was a nice quiet night spent with family watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on TV. We watched the ball drop in New York at 11pm and then headed home. I'm sad to report that Ryan and I were in bed before the clock even struck midnight. But on the bright side, Bret and I have officially made it through to 2008 as nonsmokers.

Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. After more days off than I can count, Bret goes back to work and Chloe returns. (For those of you new friends of mine, Chloe is one of the babies I watch during the week.) I have my "get reaquainted with my old doctor from three years ago" appointment tomorrow since the City of Peoria decided to up and change insurance providers on us. Three years ago we had to go through all of this when Bret went to work for the city. Now that we've gotten use to all new doctors, we have to change back again. (Secretly, I'm okay with this as I refer to my old doctor as eye-candy. It's ok, Bret knows about my little crush and is letting me go back to him anyway. LoL.)

We did finally manage to go see Alvin & The Chipmunks today. (We didn't make it last week.) The kids seemed to like it and I thought it was hilarious, but then again I grew up watching The Chipmunks every day. Bret spent most of the movie wishing he hadn't taken his iPod out of his coat pocket before we left.

Well, I better call it a night so I can drag myself out of bed before Chloe gets here in the morning. That's the bad thing about having a week and a half to sleep in - it throws your body completely out of whack!

If I Could Get The Chance

If I could get the chance to say one thing to one person, it would be...

Dear Man At The Gas Station,

You have managed to change my life. On the Friday afternoon, the day after Thanksgiving, I ran into you at the Shell Gas Station while paying for my gas before leaving town for a weekend up in Chicago. I was also paying for cigarettes. You made a joke about saving a lot of money if I would just quit. We laughed and then you told me that the only reason you made the comment was because you had quit a month ago on Chantix. You changed my life that day.

You see, I had been looking into the drug for sometime now, but had never had the opportunity to ask someone who was actually taking it about the side effects. When you told me that you hadn't had any and that if you did, they would be better than dying, you triggered something deep inside me.

The following Monday when I arrived back in town, I called my doctor first thing and asked for a prescription for the Chantix. I have now been smoke free for 26 days and never before imagined that it could be this easy. You told me that it would be and you were right. Never before would I have believed that a stranger could have such a big impact in my life and I hope to have the chance to have an impact like that on someone else some day.

Thank you. I will now live a healthier, smoke free life. A life where I'll get to see my children grow up, get married and have kids of their own. As I approach my one month anniversary of being a nonsmoker, I'll think of you and wish you luck that you're still doing well, too.

Thank you,

Lynda

If you had the chance to say something to one person, what would it be?

Worth It

There are days when all you want is some quiet time to yourself. Days when the kids are loud, the house is a cluttered mess, the dog is looking at you pathetically because it's been forever since you've taken her outside and the laundry your worked so hard to get under control last week is quickly piling up again.

And then you begin getting your son ready for bed. He spends two minutes telling you that he's not tired enough to go to sleep, even though it is almost 10:30pm. And then, after you go to tell your daughter that it's time to get ready for bed and she doesn't argue with you about it for a change, you go to check on your son (1 minute after you left his room) and he's snoring away, most likely dreaming of Webkinz and baseball.

These are the days you want to hold on to. To lock the day in a box to revisit later when they are too old for hugs and kisses and you putting them to bed at night.

The Day In Ryan's Eye's

Sometime in between last night and this afternoon, someone gave Ryan access to the digital camera. I thought I'd share.

Ballerina Bret? Your guess is as good as mine.

Obviously it's way past Ashley's bedtime.

My guess is he was helping to remind me that the Christmas clutter is way out of control and it's time to. get. rid. of. it.

Pretty glad we remembered to empty the trash can yesterday.

His new Leapster game that came in the mail today. We set up his team and got started. Two minutes later, he quit because it was "too hard!" We'll try again later.

The loves of his life - baseball...

...and Darth Maul.

He also got this book of all of the Presidents for Christmas. It's pretty cool. It fans out and has a separate page for each President. Ryan was in the process of taking a picture of each one of them - one at a time - when I confiscated the camera.

Our little cameraman...

Normalcy, Or Something Like It

Four whirlwind Christmas's aside, things are starting to resemble some sense of normalcy - if you look beyond the fact that my house is past the point of cluttered chaos. It looks as if Toys R Us blew up in my livingroom - no exageration there.

I thought that I would maybe try to keep the tree up until next weekend, but taking it down would really help take care of the clutter. We'll see.

We've all been busy enjoying our new Christmas toys and are planning on going to see the Chipmunk movie later. But first Bret and Ryan are trying to figure out their new Madden Football game on the Wii. Ryan is very frustrated because it is nothing like playing it on Uncle David's PS3. For those of you that have seen what Ryan is like when he's frustrated, it's sure to be worth a good laugh or two. (Remember how he beat the living daylights out of his 4-wheeler last year?) Oops, guess Santa didn't look too closely at how it's played. My guess is we'll probably be stopping for the PS2 version while we're out today.

And.....according to quitmeter.com, in 3 weeks, 1 day, 12 hours, 37 minutes, 1 second I have not smoked 382 cigarettes and have saved $72.00. Wow. In my head I knew the numbers would be high, but not that high! It's a real eye opener.

Not smoking over the holidays have been difficult and I sometimes wish I had waited until the holidays were over, but I look at it this way: my biggest hurdle will soon be over. If I can get through each day, one at a time, past January 1st, I'm out of the woods. Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want is to smoke (and I won't!), but the urges are still there sometimes. I need normalcy. Once the holidays are over and things return to normal, it should be easy again. This sitting around bored is taking it's toll. I need to stay busy. I think I'll go take my shower now and then herd everyone over to the movie theater.

Hitting The Road Again

Today is our last day up here at my mom's house in Chicago. It's hard to believe Christmas is over and that we will soon be approaching New Years. As soon as I finish my beloved mug of Peppermint Mocha we'll be packing up and getting the kids (and ourselves) out of their pajamas and onto the road.

Any bets on whether Bret will actually let me listen to my new CD in the car - over and over and over again? It's rare when I find a CD where I enjoy listening to the whole thing.

By the way, it has now been 22 days since I quit smoking. Hooray - I hit 3 weeks yesterday and didn't even realize it. And another big perk? We got here faster without making any stops and made it through the holiday without one.

Photos

All Christmas photos are up over at Flickr.

Merry Christmas - Part Two With The S's

Christmas came and went faster than ever this year, it seems. Once again, my Grandma outdid herself with last night's Christmas Eve dinner.

Grandma, hard at work.

Ashley, having no business looking as grown up as she does this year.

My brother, David and Ashley.

Ryan and Bret.

Dave, Lori, Ryan & Bret.

Ryan gets the Imaginext Jungle set he's been begging for.

Ashley gets her long awaited boots.

He didn't really ask for this, did he? (He did.)

My Aunt nearly gave my Grandma a heart attack when she opened up her Williams Sonoma gift certificate and exclaimed, "Wow, a thousand dollars. Thank you." My mom had ordered it online with her credit card number. It gave everyone a pretty good laugh.

We got Grandma pretty good last night when she opened her last gift. She's been wanting this Bose stereo system for some time now and had no idea it was going to be hers this year.

Ryan got her pretty good, too. His new toy came with a pretend snake and he kept tormenting her with it.

So off to bed we went last night to await Santa's visit and woke up this morning to find our presents waiting for us under the tree.

I retired my scrapbooking supplies this year and went digital over at Snapfish. So much easier, plus without smoke breaks, I didn't think I could handle doing any scrapbooking yet.

Ryan was really excited about his Baseball Guys Play Set.

Ashley has a place to store her earrings now. (Which will make it easier for mom to browse, too!)

Go Cubs!

So, my buzz from my homemade Starbucks Peppermint Mocha has now worn off and I've successfully made it through Christmas without smoking. Even with family members going out all last night, I did great. Not even a single urge to join them, but I did drink two cups of real coffee last night. I've officially joined the grown up table now.

Heavenly Caffeinated

I'll have more Christmas pictures for you all when the caffeine buzz from my new Espresso Machine and Starbucks Peppermint Mocha ingredients wear off. I am very happily caffeinated right now on this Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas - Part One With The W's

This weekend we kicked off Christmas, Part One with the W's. Last night we joined Bret's family for dinner, professional photos a'la Grant and of course, presents. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and the new pony that Santa had brought Brooke that morning since they won't be in town for Christmas either.

Ashley & Ryan pose with Grandma Jerry.

Ryan was super excited when he opened his new Lego Harbor. He's been asking for this for some time now.

Ashley got some mind boosting games for her Nintendo DS. Okay, I was the one who really wanted them - I've got to keep up with her some how.

We were really excited for Grandma Jerry to open her gift from us. We had gotten her a digital photo frame and I had loaded it with hundreds of pictures of the whole entire family from over the course of the last year.

Super Cool Bret with his new Cub's coat. He did his runway thing and had us all cracking up.

Sleep wasn't really in the cards for us last night since we got home late, put the kids to bed and tried to get everything cleaned up and put away. I think it was almost 2 am by the time Bret and I got to bed. Thankfully the kids let us sleep until 8:30 this morning.

Peaceful looking isn't it?

Peaceful until the wrapping paper started flying the next morning.

We spent the day playing with all of our new toys.

Ryan really loves his new Leapster L-Max and Animal Genius game.

Tomorrow morning we'll be loading up the kids and the dog into the minivan and heading up to Chicago for Christmas with the S's (my family). I'll try to post more while I'm up there.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Barely Made It Through That One

Something has been off today. I've been moody and fighting the urge to go outside and smoke all day. It's the closest I've come to messing up in the last 18 days.
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Trying to get past it, I've spent the last two hours cleaning up my house, putting all the baby stuff away (the babies are gone until after the New Year) and attacking the ever growing mountain of laundry. (Although I do find comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one. Thanks for making me feel better Jamie.)
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Keeping myself busy wasn't helping so I sat down and tried to figure out why all of a sudden I'm now fighting the biggest urge yet to end my 18 days of smoke free bliss. Then it hit me just as my blood sugar plummeted. I have barely eaten all day. I had oatmeal for breakfast, snacked on lunch meat and cheese at lunchtime and had a bowl of soup for dinner. It's now after midnight and I'm starving. But instead of realizing I'm hungry, my mind is taking it in as a craving to smoke. I think I've found my biggest trigger.
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You see, not only has the Chantix taken away almost any desire for me to smoke, it has also taken away cravings for food. I've lost 5 pounds, but my blood sugar has been chaotic.
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So with that in mind, I got up and started boiling some water in my coffee pot for some yummy oatmeal only to dump it as I changed my mind in favor of Rice Krispies cereal with cut up banana in it. I sat down and took a bite and nearly got sick as I realized that something tasted horribly wrong with the milk. (I just bought it. It doesn't expire until the 24th, but man was there something sour going on with that milk.) Sadly, I watched my uneaten cereal and banana disappear down the disposal and reboiled water for my oatmeal.
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I'm taking this as a lesson. I should eat before I get to the point of total mind loss. Also, I should go to bed before I start talking about something more boring that what I'm eating.

Don't Mess With 'Em

This may be the funniest thing I have ever heard! EVER! I am still laughing right now and have listened to it 4 times already.

Click HERE.

The Internet Is Being Friendly Once More

Here are the rest of the pictures from our visit with Santa last night. Let me just state for the record that I wasn't aware that I, too would be in the picture - hence the ponytail.

Big hugs for Santa.

Happily, my Christmas shopping is finished (after a quick run to the mall after overhearing Ryan telling Santa what he wanted...lol) and almost all wrapped. I'm now 16 days nonsmoking and Bret has made it 3 days now. (He quit on Monday.) What more could you ask for during the holidays?