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Move to the "BIG" bed

Well, we did it. We converted Jackie's crib into a toddler bed. We went out and bought one of the canopies that is a hoop with the fabric hanging down because we were concerned that she would not sleep without having a tent over her. We tried to get her to sleep without the canopy thinking that maybe since it is a new bed set up she might not need it, but a few minutes after we had lain her down she was very unhappy, so I went in to get her to calm down, she had not even tried to get out of her bed(even though she could), and she told me she "needed her cover" so we ended up putting the canopy up for her and she slept fine ALL night. She did not even try to get out of bed in the morning she still called for me to come get her. That was Thursday.

Friday night Nate decided he needed to have a sleepover in her room so we set up a mattress on the floor next to her crib and pulled the canopy around both of them. Both slept great. Then last night she wanted to sleep in his room, so the mattress was set up on the floor next to his bed and it was a different story. Nate sleeps with a nightlight, and would not let us shut it off, unless we left the door open a little, and Jackie did not like either the night if we shut the door or the door being open so until Nate feel asleep we left the door open just a smidge, then when he was asleep we closed the door and she was asleep in minutes. It will be interesting tonight to see how it goes with her back in her toddler bed. I hope she sleeps 'cause I am home by myself tonight, as Michael is at the fire station.

SNOW!!!

WE HAVE SNOW!!!

OK, so it will probably be gone tomorrow or the next day but it is here. I love the look of it, not real fond of shovelling it but it sure makes everything beautiful doesn't it. Just had to put it out there, as today is January 23 and this is the first decent snowfall we have had all season that has lasted for more than a few hours. I love the fact that we have had such a warm winter 'cause we have been able to go to the playground up until late December with a sweatshirt on and still be warm enough, but I do love to see the white stuff.

A mystery day...

I "dragged" Michael along letterboxing with me today. Nana watched the kids. We went to find a mystery letterbox in New Hampshire. We made a day trip out of it. We walked in a beautiful town forest, in the newly fallen snow about an inch or so. We found three of the stamps that went with the mystery and had a great time falling on our asses. Michael only fell once but boy was it hilarious, I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants, he came pretty close to doing the same when I pretty much fell in the creek, luckily I didn't get wet just fell through some ice. Just getting out getting some exercise and spending time with each other, it was fabulous. The weather was very nice too, mid-30's, but the sun was shining.

I met Michael at the fire house this EARLY am(630), which is not a normal time for me and we went across the street for breakfast at a local Norwell place called Drums, where we ate for $12 including the tip for both of us great food, service, and price. We then drove to NH hiked the wrong way for a while until we figured it out and got the Letterboxes. Then we headed towards home, stopping for lunch at a Longhorns. Great food, we had never eaten there before. Then came home and picked up the kids. I LOVED being able to just spend time with him we laughed and talked and just fooled around. I think he is actually starting to enjoy MY new hobby, even though I have to "DRAG" him along.

New Year, New Video

Well the new year is here and I felt the need to change my layout and my music video to something much more appropriate for me.

At least it made me laugh especially with last night still in mind. All my good friends should enjoy my new video.

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!

It is 2007, and I have decided that I need to make some resolutions.

1. Start maintaining my house daily, in that it always seems like I have to clean fairly hard whenever I ahve company coming over. I am hoping that the fact that I have made the basement into a finished play area for the kids so that I can keep their toys mainly out of my living room will help a little. I also have plans to try and organize everything, so that it will be easier to maintain. I really like having company but when people just stop over I am embarrased to have them come in and see the mess.

2. Lose 10-15 lbs by March and then re-evaluate. I eventually would like to get to 140-150lbs. I am at 185-190 right now. To meet this goal I am going to start going to the gym again, at least 2-3 times a week. I may even try to convince Michale to change gyms even though we could not have a better price plan at $10 per week but no daycare kills me. If I do not go to the gym I WILL work out to one of my many exercise videos instead. I will journal everything I eat to do this and drink at least 6 glasses of water a day to help with this goal.

3. Eat at least our dinner meal at the kitchen table every night. We are really lax about this we like to chill in front of the TV and the kids are sort of driving me crazy with their eating habits all of a sudden so I think that actually sitting at the table will help a little.

So there they are, my goals in writing. I plan to stick to them, and hope that putting them out there will only help.

Our Christmas

Well, we had a nice Christmas. Nate was running a fever on Christmas Eve so he and I stayed home while Michaeland Jackie went to his parents house to visit with his family. Nate was asleep from about 330 until about 830 when he woke up for about an hour or so and he was feeling better, not perfect but more his usual self.
We had Christmas day here, at least part of it, we had Michael's parents, his brother and his family. I made a turkey, twice baked potatoes, butternut squash, buttermilk biscuits and stuffing all Gluten Free of course and Linda and John brought salad, Michaels parents brought peas so all in all we had a great meal.
Aftre eating and opening presents we played around for a while then we Michael Jackie and I went up to Michael uncle Fran's with Papa, while Nana stayed at her house with Nate beacuse he had started to feel run down again and we didn't want to make anyone else sick. Had a good time there visiting played UNO for about an hour or so and opened a few presents. Had a nice day overall very tired.

It's almost Christmas...

I almost can't beleive it is almost Christmas. Michale and I went out shopping for the kids today and I think that we are done. Except for a couple of things to help Santa. I am headed out to a scrapbooking crop tonight, really looking forward to it. I think I am going to be working on Christmas cards unless I get bored with them.

Oops,gotta go Jackie just woke up from her nap.

The Hockey Season...

Well, hockey season has started. So far so good. We ended up making going to the first scrimmage of the season on Saturday. Not a bad game we seem to have a fairly good team this year. Our goalie on Saturday was pretty good, although Michael who is one of the actual assistant coaches said he needs to stay on his feet more. I don't know watching from the stands I was pretty impressed. I think the scrimmage ended up with us 5 them 7 not bad considering we used all five lines, and the other team only brought their first 3 lines.

So Michale is off to practice, Jackie is napping, and Nate is playing Playstation games, while I check my email and update my blog and dinner is cooking in the crockpot.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Birthday Party

Nate and I went to a birthday party for one of his friends today at Build a Bear. I was very nosy and asked how much it was. $20 per kid and you nust have a minimum of 6 kids. The each got an animal to stuff, either a puppy or a koala, they are regularly priced at $12 each, and then after they all get stuffed they got to pick out an outfit $10-12 each, which they had a great selection for the kids to choose from. They also had an employee coordinator for us the entire time who was excellent. So needless to say I was pretty impressed.
Nate picked a puppy, he named him DubJub. He picked out a basketball outfit for him. The kids were all so well behaved it was fun to be able to visit with the other parents while we watched.

OK Josh Turner ...

OK he does not want to work it is a video of one of my favorite songs. I need to learn more about setting up the template what is it HTML. Maybe one of my friends can help me...hint, hint. I would like to add it to the sidebar or something but can't get it anywhere but in the footer and I do not want it there where should I add it to get it to the sidebar. Help me please.

6 weeks...

We are off to see the GI doctor and Nutritionist for Jackie today. It has been 6 weeks since she has been diagnosed with Celiacs and I think I am finally getting a handle on the whole thing.
I am interested to see how the Doctor feels about her recovery etc. We all, M, N, and I had our blood tests come back and all of us turned out negative for celiacs. So it is only poor little Jackie who has the disease.
I think I have a pretty good handle on the whole thing regarding what she can and cannot eat. I am not too sure about my mother who thought it would be ok for her to have turkey on Thanksgiving that had been stuffed with NON GF bread. Until I explained to her the fact that every time the turkey is basted it is going to spread Gluten into the meat. She thought I was crazy to make a whole thanksgiving dinner to bring with me for Jackie, which is my plan even though we have not decided where we are going to do Thanksgiving this year yet. Although I know my parents will be here visiting as my dad took the whole week off, and they plan on driving here.

I experimented with a few recipes over the weekend as I had our friend S to "test" things on at Shazzy annual Halloween Party. I was pretty impressed with the outcome of all of the stuff I made. Carrot Cake cupcakes, Vanilla Wafers, and Ginger snaps, all Gluten Free. I think most every one was impressed with them as they were pretty much gone when we left. I have ordered a cookbook from Borders that I found most of the recipes that I have been used, as I cannot keep the Library copy forever.

So off to the doctors.

Other recent news

Nate has been home sick for the past three days. Mostly because of a fever and a cough. We called and made an appointment with the doctor today and found out he has an ear infection. He never complained about his ears hurting, poor kid he could have been treated 2 days ago if I had taken him then, but I have always gotten from them to wait for 2 days to see if the fever goes down unless he starts complaining etc. Well, they ended up putting him on ammoxicillin for the ear infection so He may end up going back to school tomorrow.

I wasn't feeling to hot myself on Wednesday either so Michael ending up calling in to work and helping out at home. Good thing cause I pretty much slept the day away I felt so yucky. Still not feeling great but MUCH better than yesterday.

I spent Friday and Saturday last weekend at a scrapbooking crop. I got four or five pages done but also got time to myself which was absolutely wonderful. I may try to post later but not sure how since they are 12 x 12 pages. Maybe scan?? We shall see...

Jackie is pretty much potty trained although she does need to be reminded to go but to not have to buy diapers is going to be a wonderful thing. We are getting pull up especially for night time because she does not seem to sleep through the night without having to go but she does wake up and yell for us when she has to at night. I am so thrilled.

I think that is all the most recent stuff right now. Will attempt to post again soon, but no promises. LOL.

Long time...No posts...

My last post had to do with Jackie being diagnosed with Celiacs. We have been doing really well on the Gluten Free diet. She even understands if we happen to be eating something that she cannot eat as long as we tell her it will make her tummy hurt.

We have all been tested, but I am the only one that has gotten the results back. I came back negative, which sort of surprised me because I have a lot of the symptoms. Although, I have been reading a lot about celiacs on the web and it seems like this can happen, your blood test can come back negative and then you have more symptoms so they do an endoscopy which comes back positive. We shall see with Michael and Nate's results in the near future.

Update on Jackie

Well, It is only 2 weeks later, we have been to Boston twice for Jackie, once to actually meet the doctors, and the second time for her to have a colonoscopy and Endoscopy.

We got the results of her "E & C" on Tuesday, and she has Celiac Disease. Which means she has to go on a Gluten Free Diet. Meaning nothing made with, Wheat, Barley, Oats or Rye or any of their counterparts. Celiacs cannot eat gluten(which comes from the WBRO listed above) because it sets off an immune system response that causes damage to the small intestine, which then interferes with the bodies ability to absorb nutrient found in food leading to malnutrition and a variety of other complications.

So, she is going to be a meat and potato girl from now on. Luckily she is young so she WILL adjust fairly easily. I think it is going to be harder for me to adjust in that I will not be able to rely on cooking the basics or at least not as much a I used to, meaning no more "Blue Box" Mac and Cheese among other things. LOL.

But it does mean we will ALL get healthier, and we ALL could certainly use it. I am actually glad to know why she was sick because at least it is something controllable. She seems to be feeling better already after just 2 days of the gluten free diet.

Thanks to all of my friends for their food recommendations etc.

Jackie and doctor

Brought Jackie to the doctor today because she has had bloody stool for the last couple of days and they told us to come in if it continued for more than 2 days. So we went in last night to see the doctor who was on call, Dr Bodie, out of another office in Plymouth. She had us bring a sample of the stool for some teats and told us to call our primary Dr Schmitt this morning.

So I called for an appointment with Dr. S this morning and we went in and she did a rectal exam, Jackie was super good considering, and the rectal came back positive for blood. So we now have an appointment with a Gastro intestinal specialist at Mass General Hospital on Tuesday.

I am trying really hard not to stress over this because it could be something like a small tear, a polyp, etc., and Jackie has been acting pretty much like normal. Dr. S just wanted to take it another step further cause you never know. So that is what is happening, as of today will let you know more when I know more.

Nate's First Day

It was Nate's first day of school today. He had a really good time, he did not want to leave when I got there to pick him up. They were outside playing when I got there so I am not really surprised.

I found it very strange not having him for the whole day. My sister said to me that it is because I feel like I have lost a playmate. Now that is pretty funny cause I almost agree with her. I have gotten VERY used to him being here, to play with everyday. I missed him. LOL.

It was calm and peaceful with just Jackie and I. We went to speech therapy, did puzzles, watched Dora, had lunch, just goofed around and then went to run some errands before we went to pick up Nate. It was good but different.

I think it will be every nice to be just the two of us while he is at school. I just hope he does not become jealous that she is home with me when he is at school. We shall wait and see.

Updates I said I would get to ...

Well starting with the washer ours was broken with "rotten tub syndrome" so for those of you wiht front loading washing machines make sure to leave the door open when it is not in use. We ended up taking the washer from Michael's aunt, I actually do not think that I will go back to a front loader again I like th fact that I can start the machine and soak some clothes that are stained and add clothes if I forget them upstairs without having to shut the machine off. I also think my clothes smell better, wierd huh.

Buttonwood Park Zoo... we had a great time, what a great zoo and a great price. The weather was perfect, we saw lots of animals, the kids enjoyed it, and it is only about 40-45 minutes away.

Here are some pictures from the Zoo.

Our Day...letterboxing

We had a great afternoon letterboxing. We made our stamps this morning just after getting out of bed, wooden blocks with self stick craft foam. Not bad for a starter, we may have to upgrade to hand carved as we continue. The stamps we got are absolutely amazing. Two out of the four were hand carved, and are amazing in detail. We had a really good time, we were out for about four hours exploring, playing and just having fun.

We ventured to Plymouth, to do our searching. Attempted to find five, but only found four, it seems one of the boxes we looked for has gone missing. Which did not show on the website until I went to post that we attempted to find it. But the missing find didn't really disappoint anyone because we got to play on a playground for a while for fun anyway.

One of our finds brought us to Forges Field in Plymouth. We have discovered a wonderful place to walk, ride bikes and play at a playground that is fairly local, off exit five in Plymouth. It has completely paved walking/biking paths, it must have at least six or seven recreation fields(soccer/football/baseball), the playground area and tons of parking. I did not even know it was there.

I figured this is a fairly inexpensive way to get out with the kids doing something different. We made our own stamps, our Family book was a little expensive, it is a unlined memory book, with heavy cardstock paper, but we got an artist sketchpad for Nate at Ocean State Job Lot for $1.99. I would have probably done the same for the family book, if I had thought of OSJL before we stamped ours. The only other major cost was the gas, since at almost $3.00 a gallon it does cost a little to drive the truck.

I also found another website that is a little easier to locate letterboxes that are close to where you want to search, it allows you to put in a mileage (25, 50, 100 miles) that you want instead of an area(e.g. Plymouth County). It is called Atlas quest.

So on to new things, and good boxing.

Letterboxing

Ok I was reading my Family Fun Magazine today and came upon an article about Letterboxing. So I think as a way to start getting some exercise we are going to try it out. I checked out the Letterboxing North America website and searched for our area there are 207 boxes that have been placed in MA since May 1 of this year with 14 in Plymouth County.

I am going to go get the notebook and stamp stuff, so we can make our own, tonight so that maybe we can go out and start this weekend. I will let you all know how it goes cause it sounds like something Nate will love. I know I always love a good treasure hunt.