Sunday, September 16, 2012

No More Excuses...

I need to face it, I have been making excuses.  I just don't want to go back to running, because I know there is a lot of time before I am back to where I used to be.  I was never fast, but I was faster than I will be when I lace up my shoes and run out my front door.  I am going to face struggles, such as learning to breathe and run at the same time.  That is the hardest one... breathing is such an important part of life, regardless if running or not.

Time... another big excuse I use.  No time, actually.  Trying to figure out when to lace up those shoes and hit the pavement.  I need to just do it.  There is generally some time in the mornings before my husband has to leave for work.  That would be the perfect time.  I could leave the baby with him and head out.  I have been walking to pick up the kids from school.  I have done that everyday, except one that it rained.It is time to lace up those shoes.

Fear... I am afraid of remarks I will hear as I start running again.  Not everyone is kind.  Not everyone understands that there are some people that start exercising when they are overweight, so they can get into shape.  There are people that think that only people in perfect shape should be outside running.  There have been the people that have "mooed" and "barked" as I have run.  It always startled me. 


I have two more marathon finisher medals that I have to earn.  Almost all of the races in this area are on Saturday.  There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be out there.  I want to give each of my children one of my medals.  I only have two medals right now.  I have four children.  I need to get on the ball!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Who Doesn't Love M&M's?

My 4 year-old gets out of school a couple of hours before my older two children.  He goes to school 3 miles away from home.  It was the only school in the area with an opening for Head Start.  My older two children went to Head Start back east, I am a believer in what they do. 

Today I had to go to the grocery store before I picked him up.  It is much easier doing it with one child than with two or more,  especially since the one child I brought with me doesn't ask for everything.  I went to the store this morning after dropping him off at school, but didn't realize that I had enough milk for one bowl of cereal.  The shopping trip this afternoon was for more milk.  It was on sale at a local store for $1.99, so I got two.  I get skim milk and 1% milk.  While I was there, I saw that M&M's were on sale for 50 cents per package.  I thought those would be a great thing for my 4 year-old to enjoy after school.

After finishing at the store, I headed to his school.  I was about a mile away from home, so I thought I would take a different route to pick him up.  Never a good idea to attempt a different route in an area you don't know.  My GPS was confused too.  It just wasn't good.  I finally got myself to a road that I knew and thankfully I wasn't late to pick him up.

On the way out of the school, I told him what treat I got him.  He wasn't really impressed.  In fact, I think he told me he hates M&M's.  This was quite shocking to me.  I thought, "Perhaps he had a bad experience with them lately?!"  Nope, that wasn't it!  He wanted a Beyblade.  He doesn't hate M&M's, he hates that he got those instead of a Beyblade.  Those cost a little more than 50 cents.

Well, I convinced him to let me have a few of his M&M's before I started driving again.  I took several and tossed them into my mouth.  I made sure he was strapped in and away we went.  By the time we got home, he had enjoyed most of the M&M's and announced that they had gotten rotten on our way home.  He set them on the foot rest to our couch when he got inside.

Along came my baby girl.  She is quite mobile these days.  She hasn't quite gotten to the point where she walks, but she is a huge fan of crawling.  She is also talented at cruising along the furniture.  She got to the foot rest, apparently.  I was out in the kitchen making myself a delicious bowl of ice cream.  When I came out, this is what I saw:


If you can't tell, she has blue and orange around her mouth.  She finished off her brother's M&M's.  Thankfully they weren't really rotten!  She held on to that wrapper for several minutes after they were gone.  I think she wanted to be sure that there weren't any extra ones that would come out.  I have to admit, she knows what the good stuff is! :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A Trip to the Dentist

Yesterday I got to go to the dentist.  I was expecting good things.  A quick cleaning and be set on my way.  Not this time... although I faithfully brush and floss, I managed to get not one, not two, but three cavities.  I missed flossing perhaps three times in the past 6 months.  I blame that on just falling to sleep... I didn't plan to fall to sleep.  It just happened.  Perhaps, I got a cavity each of those nights?!

I have to admit that I was stunned.  My teeth don't hurt.  Well, they didn't hurt.  After getting the cleaning of a lifetime, I think that my teeth have never hurt so bad.  I haven't had on of those metal things run along my gum lines in a really long time.  My dentist previously used something a lot more humane, although I didn't realize until I was returned to the metal thing.

I had never had such a thorough check up.  I had to stick out my tongue and he grabbed it with his hand and felt all over it.  I had to relax my tongue so he could do this and then feel all around inside my mouth.  I am happy to report that I have no signs of oral cancer :)  I do have geographic tongue, but I had diagnosed myself with that years ago, after my little brother was diagnosed.  That wasn't too shocking.

At the end of the day, the good news far outweighed the bad news.  I would much rather be told that I have 3 cavities and geographic tongue, than to be told that I didn't pass my oral cancer screening!  I go back for fillings in October.

I shall continue to diligently brush and floss my teeth.  I took up flossing nightly a year ago.  I used to not be quite as diligent, to be quite honest.  I would floss whenever I felt like it, usually when I had something stuck between my teeth.  I don't know why I was lazy about that, I just was.  I have bought my children the animal shaped flossing things.  They are still not quite as diligent about flossing, but they do use mouthwash and brush every night before bed.  I guess baby steps and someday they will use the flossing things nightly too.

My four year-old is seeing the dentist in 45 minutes.  I hope he has better news than me!  Thank goodness for dental insurance!

Just an update, his dental check-up went well.  No cavities!  He chose strawberry flavored flouride for after the cleaning.  The hygienist was putting that on his teeth when my 9 year-old glanced over and saw 4 year-old's mouth and teeth completely red.  My  9 year-old turned completely white and asked me what happened to his brother.  I realized that he thought it was blood.  I assured him it wasn't and the color quickly came back.  I have a son that is just like me!  I don't handle blood very well...

Friday, September 7, 2012

First Day of School 2012

My two older children started school on Tuesday and my 4 year-old started school on Wednesday.  They were all excited for that first day of school.  Since moving into our new home, my children haven't had the vast array of friends in the neighborhood that they are used to.  We have always lived in apartments that were comprised of many families, so it seemed that friends came built in. 

The older children were also excited to start school because the school provides netbooks for the children to use during the school year.  That would be quite exciting for a child.  I was worried about the fact that they might bring them home and break them.  I was excited to learn after the first day of school that the netbook is not permitted to come home. 

My four year-old was sad to see his older siblings leave for school.  I had to go to a meeting at his school, so he got to go with his aunt and cousins for several hours, so that helped to make the day more bearable.

I forgot to set up a place to meet after school to get the children, so I got to wait in a long line of cars at the school.  As soon as I got all the children, I showed them where we would meet daily.  That has made the pickup a lot easier!

School started the next day for my 4 year-old.  He was not quite as thrilled to head out the door.  He was excited to start school until he found out that I had no clue where his Pokemon cards were.  I haven't seen them since we moved.  I didn't know that Pokemon cards were a must have for the first day of school...  I had to do everything short of drag him out of the door to get him to go.  Thankfully, by the end of the day, he forgot all about the need for Pokemon cards. 

All of the children seem to like their teachers, which is always a wonderful way to start the school year.  I met the teachers of the older children yesterday.  I met my four year-old's teacher before school started.  I have to admit that the children seem to be in good hands at school. 

As a parent, I hope the children pick up on what they are being taught quickly.  I hope that they make many good friends and good memories.  I hope they treat all the others with the respect that they deserve.  I hope they will take the children that look lonely and without friends under their wings. Most of all, I hope they have a wonderful year at school.

My baby turned 11 months on my four year-old's first day of school.  We got a picutre of her as well...