Graduation Vacation

My sweetheart graduated from nursing school last night! It feels so good to be done (even though it wasn't me that worked hard in school for the last three years, it still feels like a relief for him to be done :) We are going to celebrate for the next three weeks and let the stress of three years of being broke and school frazzled melt away! We're going to tour California from San Francisco to San Diego ~ and everything in between. 

If you're thinking of breaking in to my house to steal all of our good stuff, it's not here. We took it with us! 

The Nutcracker

I took my sweet Parker and three of his classmates to the Nutcracker. 

This is about as good as it gets when it comes to getting a good picture of Parker. 

The whole group. Ok, I didn't have to take care of the big moustachie guy. 

Too bad little Austin wouldn't squeeze in for the picture. Mandi is Parker's future wife and Maddi is his school mom. They really love him!

So pretty!

Christmas

This is a different kind of Christmas season for us. We have SOOOOOO much going on! Ryan is in his final week of his nursing program and will be graduating next week. He will be giving a speech at graduation that is hilarious and should make it a memorable night for everyone there. We are planning a vacation to Disneyland to celebrate Ryan being done with school (at least until next June). There are so many things to be thankful for and I'm counting my blessings each day.

Thanksgiving

We had a great time in Utah for Thanksgiving. We did the drive down there in one day with about 8 stops. It was a long day, but the money it saved with not having to get a motel room made it worth it. And the kids did GREAT! There was only one melt down that was remedied with extra snacks. 

We stayed with my brother and his family. We had not seen each other much over the last 10 years. Our children have similar challenges which makes my sister-in-law one of the only people I know who understands what I'm going through. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who gets it. 

On the day that these pictures were taken, Jen and I had taken off to Wal-Mart and left Ryan and Chris with the kids. It was like heaven! No one was begging me to buy them anything. No one was melting down and causing a scene in the store. It was so nice! Chris and Ryan (my husband, not my brother) took the kids to the park. This was the only time anyone thought to get the camera out, so this is all we have to remember the trip from ~ but they're great pictures! 

We went to two temples while we were there to do Ryan's mom's work. I am so grateful that Jen was willing to care for my four and her four to let that happen. She rocks! We enjoyed seeing the sights in temple square ~ this is where I wish we had gotten some photos. It was a beautiful day to walk around (without coats) and enjoy the fall colors and the nativities they have set up. It's pretty cool being in a big city that is Christian. 

The trip back went quicker with less stops. My dad rode back with us, so it was nice to have another driver. I miss Chris and Jen a ton, but it is nice to be back home with our own beds. 

Handprint Turkeys

I used to think of myself as pretty cool ~ until the other night. Since I art docent for two of my son's classes, I have to do all the prep work ahead of time. I go every two weeks and it had slipped my mind that I needed to finish the "final touches" for the handprint turkeys. First came the panic of "oh crap, I need to get these things done" then the acceptance that I'd better get to work, NOW! So I was sitting there making pilgrim hats for the turkeys, wondering how I got there. I used to be cool. Now I make turkey pilgrim hats out of construction paper. Then it dawned on me that I'm still cool because I recognize how dorky it is to be a grown woman making things out of construction paper. (Unlike the parents who take their kids to a Wiggles concert and get into it as much as their kids do ~ that's a long story involving free tickets). It's important for me to realize that doing the things that motherhood requires is part of the job, but I don't have to identify myself as a craft-lady (or crap lady, or other swear words). It just part of the job.

On a side note to all the moms out there. Please note that when you throw your child's art work away, take a second to give a moment of silence for all the "love" that went into that project ~ someone had to cut all that paper and make sure that the globs of glue that your child put on the paper were wiped away, and someone had to resign themselves to the reality that their life is not their own anymore because they are a mom (a really, really good mom ~ who might have kids that poison themselves occasionally and wander into the street).

Perspective Blessing

I was blessed with an experience that I wanted to follow up from my last post. After what I've been through with my kids lately I was beginning to feel like I should have been an aunt instead of a mom. Of course I made the choice to be a mom, but I was feeling like my choice was kind of a sucky one. Wouldn't life be great if I could wake up whenever I wanted to, go to a job and have adult conversations with people who appreciate my contributions to my field of expertise, and be able to do whatever I want with my off-work time? That's where my head was. My parents came and picked the kids up on Thursday night. Ryan and I had a board meeting that night. It was exciting to not have anything to rush home to or worry about. After the board meeting we went home. Our house was empty. Like the life had vanished from our home. It was cold and empty. It was such a hollow feeling not having my littles there to greet me. There were no teeth to brush, no books to read, no one to kiss goodnight (aside from my sweetheart). It made me appreciate all of those little things that fill my home with the vibrancy of life. It made me realize that it's my littles that transform my house to a home.

And the award for Worst Mother of the Year goes to:

Me.

While I was running this morning, my children woke up. They dug through the cupboards and the fridge, probably looking for candy (since we did away with it four days ago). What they found was Halea's amoxicillin. When I went to give her the morning dose, I couldn't find it in the fridge. I looked all over the kitchen and then found the container empty on the table. It looked like someone had tried to wipe up a small pink spill, but there should have been much more pink from that bottle. Where did it go??? Well, the green diarrhea that Halea has been having since then would indicate that she drank 20 doses of antibiotic, but the way Apollo complained of a sore tummy, makes me think he drank it. Crazy Monkeys! I don't think I will ever know who actually drank it, but I'm pretty sure Apollo was the one who worked on the child-proof lid since Halea's two year old monkey fingers do not have the dexterity that Apollo's do (wow, that was a long sentence)!
These things happen. My children wander into the street, too. They beat on each other. They would drink poison if it was pink like bubble gum. So why would the pharmacy, Dr.'s office, and Poison control act like I'm not doing a good job of mothering my FOUR children? Maybe I should have acted more shocked and nervous when I called, to give them a better feeling, just like when a neighbor brings one of my wanderers back from the street ("oh no, I can't believe they were in the street (again)" I say ~ but really, I just didn't have it in me today. And at least I CALLED!!! So don't act like I should be sterilized and have my kids taken away because they got into the "pink goop" (google that ~ at least I don't feed my kids chicken nuggets ~ that's real poison)!
Since I'm on a roll, I've been wanting to talk about this for a while, so I'll just keep going. Not related to today in any way except that I'm not the world's greatest mother:

JUST BECAUSE YOU WATCHED A SHOW OR READ A BOOK OR KNEW SOMEONE WHO HAD/HAS AN AUTISTIC CHILD OR A CHILD WITH ADHD OR BOTH, DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE AN EXPERT ON THAT SUBJECT. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS LIKE TO LIVE WITH ONE OR TWO OR THREE OR FOUR CHILDREN THAT ARE AFFLICTED WITH THESE "SPECIAL GIFTS". DON'T ASK ME IF WE'VE TRIED DIETARY CHANGES ~ ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! I'M THE QUEEN OF DIETARY CHANGES. DON'T INSULT ME WITH THIS CRAP OF HOW THE FOOD THAT I'M FEEDING MY CHILDREN IS WHAT IS CAUSING THEIR SYMPTOMS. DON'T YOU THINK IF IT WERE THAT SIMPLE I WOULD HAVE MADE THOSE CHANGES TWELVE (12, REALLY 12) YEARS AGO??? BELIEVE ME, I'VE TRIED! YOU ARE PROBABLY ONE OF THOSE NAIVE PEOPLE WHO THINKS WEIGHT LOSS AND HAPPINESS IS JUST A PILL AWAY, AND FAIRYTALES REALLY DO COME TRUE.

I'M NOT A PESSIMIST IN ANY WAY, QUITE THE OPPOSITE. I'M EXTREMELY OPTIMISTIC THAT THE JOURNEY MY CHILDREN AND ME WERE SENT TO LIVE OUT ON THIS EARTH IS GOING TO LEAD US TO WHERE WE WANT TO BE. AND I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL TO HAVE EACH MEMBER OF MY CRAZY FAMILY TO GAIN EXPERIENCE WITH, DEVELOP PATIENCE FOR, AND GROW WITH. CRAZY IS FUN!

I'm glad that I got that out of my system. Ok, pity party is over! Now I'll go back to cleaning my dirty house and raising my sweet babies.

Ryan's Serenade

My sweet husband knows I love bathroom humor the very most of all. It's probably because I had two older brothers and a family full of sensitive digestive systems ~ one of my mom's famous phrases "drink more water".
Ryan is singing the Chicago song:
If you leave me now, you'll take away the biggest fart of me.

And

If you leave me now, I'll cut the greenest fart and leave.

Oooh baby, please just go!!!!

I know you just don't want to stay!

The best part is that he's doing it in a super high-pitched Peter Gabriel voice.

Anything to make me laugh. I love him!

Call Me Crazy...

But I just turned my kids Halloween buckets over to them. I need it (the candy) out of my house, so I'm allowing them to dispose of it however they see fit. Yes, they will probably get sick, but I'd rather have them get sick now than in three weeks when we're traveling. And my butt can quit getting bigger every time I see those stupid "fun size" candies. I want to be fun size!

Follow-Up from Halloween'sday Nightmare

We had gross episode part 2 ~ way worse the second time. A plumber was called and he stayed ALL day and came back the next day. It was $2200. OUCH!!! But at least we won't be swimming in a poop sea. When we remodeled the house a couple years ago to make a room for Halea we had a "handyman" do it. He wasn't that handy. He wasn't qualified and we knew his work wouldn't hold forever, but it was a bandaid. It's turned out to be a really expensive bandaid. There really is something to doing things right the first time. How I wish my brother lived closer ~ he's a plumber and an awesome person.  

More Halloween Fun

 I wanted a Halloween picture with all of my kids. Of course Bryce is too cool, so he refused.

 We even fought about it.

 This picture looks like we're hugging, but I'm trying to muscle him into posing for a picture with me.  Below it looks like I finally won, but what you can't see is that my leg is wrapped around his legs and as soon as the picture was taken he bit me. Can you see how my biceps are flexing to keep him there? I sure love him!

Halloween'sday Nightmare

Halloween'sday is what my kids call Halloween (especially if it falls on a Wednesday).

After I took a 4 hour nap yesterday, I didn't sleep well last night. At 4 am I got up and went in the bathroom to find that our toilet overflowed (not just water, the "remnants" of what clogged it too). I got the plunger and figured I would take care of the problem myself. The more I plunged, the more "soupy" water overflowed onto the floor and my pj's. So GROSS!!! I got the steam cleaner out and used the attachment to suck the grodie water and "chunks" out of the toilet and off of the floor. I plunged at least 500 times and could not get the clog to budge. Then I snaked the toilet and that didn't help either. So after working on the disgustingness for an hour,  I cleaned up the mess and went for my early morning run (6 miles). The toilet is not fixed yet, but I'm done trying. Someone will bigger muscles and more tolerance for poop can take care of it!

1/2 good

If you are interested in my Satly's 1/2 marathon experience from yesterday, check my other blog:
monicasweighdown.blogspot.com

Play

I started up Mama's Dance party last night after returning from zumba. I feel so alive when I dance, even if it's just in my kitchen or my living room with my littles. I saw how alive my husband appeared when he was playing softball. Doing something that you really love is so important to helping you feel like you are living.

7 alarm challenge

We had our season finale party and award ceremony for softball last night at the Wingdome. (I got the award for Most Improved)! They have seven levels of spiciness of their wings ~ 7 being the hottest. They also have a promotion called the 7 alarm challenge. You eat 7 number 7's in 7 minutes ~ you can't use a napkin, drink anything, and you have to lick all the sauce off of your fingers. If you can do it, the wings are free and you get your picture on their "wall of flame" and you get a t-shirt. Ryan loves spicy foods, so I knew if anyone could do it, it was him and he took the challenge. He waited 1 1/2 minutes before starting to eat, then ate for the next four minutes finishing every bite including the sauce laden lettuce on the bottom. He took the challenge like a champ ~ and got the t-shirt. Three of our team mates ate one number 7 to support him. I tried a popcorn seed size taste of the sauce and my mouth was on fire.

Today he's the King of the toilet. I love him enough to not point out that he brought this upon himself, or that this is probably the stupidest thing he's ever done ~ I don't need to, he already knows. I did point out that I don't think anyone would be surprised if he got stomach cancer from all the damage he does with spicy foods. He said he's done with the spicy stuff. We'll see.

It was an unforgettable way to close out our softball season.

Seattle Rock n Roll 2012

The hubs and I signed up for the Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon next June. Early registration and knocking off $15 helped us make the decision to sign up now. They are working on a new course, so that should be a big plus. I'm excited!

Friends

I had such a nice day. Ryan stayed home with the kids and I went shopping and out to lunch with three of my girlfriends. I haven't had a time where I could go shopping with girlfriends without kids in a LONG time! I found some really cute things, too! I have my sisters and a lot of friends, but everyone has kids and being a mom means you're kind of isolated ~ and that sucks! I feel so blessed to have a husband that understands and encourages me to nurture my friendships (and stays home with the kids while I do).

It's been a while...

I haven't really had any earth-shattering things going on in my life. I'm running a lot to shed the pounds I've put on since my last show and am using the Salty's 1/2 marathon as my motivation. I've improved my softball game quite a bit. It's kind of sad that as the season is ending I'm finally getting better ~ but there's always next year. The kids and Ryan are back in school. Now that we're in the swing of things, I'm really enjoying the structure that their school schedule provides to my life. Parker is doing very well in school ~ not academically, but socially. He's still his weird little self, but his classmates see to accept him the way he is. I love that! So, life it good!

Food for Thought

Rock Band

Who doesn't love the lead singer in a band? (HOT) ~ or a guy that can play the guitar and poor out his love to you in sweet songs. My sweetheart is working on it. I saw this picture and I thought it was so fitting!

Sad day for One

I took all my kids to see our Dr. for a flu shot. We will be traveling quite a bit in the next few months and the worst thing that could happen would be someone getting sick. I got them all prepared that they would have a poke and it would hurt for a moment and then we would go get icecream. Bryce was the most freaked out about the whole thing, but I gave him the pep talk about how he has to be brave for his siblings and I knew he could get through it.
Our Dr. informed us that children over 2 get better immunity from the flu sniff (inhaler) than the actual shot ~ unless they have wheezing or asthma. Bryce has asthma and wheezing, so he was not a candidate. Poor kid. He did have the shot and he lived through it (although I'm pretty sure the medical assistant wanted to kill him after all the questions he asked).
We all got icecream. Bryce thought he should get more than everyone else, so the little ones got little cones and he got a big one ~ which is how we always do it, but no one needs to point that out to him....

Pigtails

Halea with her best friend Erica (Eka)

Halea's tiny pigtails and horrible rash

The day has finally arrived that my girl has enough hair for pigtails. Yes, they are very thin and I can probably count how many individual hairs each pigtail has, but that's not the point! I've waited two and 1/2 long years for this! And she even left them in for a couple hours!

Modest, not Amish

I heard from a friend about this company called Down East that makes modest, but cute clothing for women. I was impressed at their website, so I googled "women's clothing modest". Here's what I found:
http://www.hannahlise.com/
http://www.modestclothing.com/
http://www.modestapparelusa.com

but the AWARD goes to:
http://www.liliesapparel.com/

Peace-Making

I went for a 10 mile run with someone this morning. It was supposed to be 9 miles, but we took some "detours" and it cost us an extra mile. I'm not going to name name's, but someone complained pretty much the whole time. Of course I didn't let on how much the complaining was annoying me because I'm a loving, peace-making woman. I ate up the resentment and at times hatred. When I saw this, I thought it was perfect! The greatest part of the run was the drive home and realizing that I just ran 10 miles!

Fem-bot

Yesterday as I was waiting at the bus stop with Bryce and Parker, Parker started doing robot kung fu. Robot kung fu looks like the robot (dance) with kung fu moves ~ Parker made it up. So he kung fu'd my both of my hands off. I told him I could still kung fu with my elbows, so he swiftly sliced those off too (not really, just pretend). Then I told him I still had my head and could kung fu him with that, so he sliced my head off, too. He stepped back and took a second to look me over. He said "now all you have left to fight with is your boobs". I looked around to see if any of the other mothers had heard him ~ they did. The bus couldn't get there fast enough and two minutes later it did. So I guess my son sees me as a fem~ bot, as well as the other bus stop moms.

Walk for the Women

Today my husband and I walked with our kids (all of them) in a two mile walk to benefit the Hospitality House. We serve on their board of directors and raised money to donate to this very worthy cause. When we registered they gave us a raffle ticket for registering. We didn't think much of it, but after the walk they called my name as a winner. I was able to pick from the available prizes including a two hour limo ride, a night at the Radissen Hoel, a high-end haircut ~ but with my husband's encouragement we walked away with dental work valued at $500. Really??? Dental work?

I'm grateful for anything we received and I the more I think about it, I feel like it was a blessing that he guided me that way. Maybe we're both growing up (especially me).

New Blog

My competition blog was so popular, that I decided to do one with a similar theme, only healthier and more manageable. monicasweighdown.blogspot.com/

I'll still keep updating this one with our family goings-on, but the other one is my exciting new baby.

Ya Ya, I feel real crappy (from sandlot)

We have had the flu since last Friday. It has circulated through everyone except Bryce ~ Parker and I have had his extra dose of sickness. I'm on round two today. We thought we were over it, so Ryan and I did an 8 mile training run yesterday. I pushed the stroller with Halea in it. It seemed a lot harder than it normally does, but I thought it was because I was pushing the stroller. No, it's because I'm still sick. I'm excited to heal up from this and move on.

She's Gone

She is my sister, Andrea (Pinks). She surprised me on Tuesday afternoon by calling and asking if I could pick her up from the airport. Of course I was thrilled and rushed through the five minute drive to the airport. Originally she was going to go home Thursday, but thanks to United's flight loads, I was able to swindle two extra days with her. We went out to lunch, shopping, made a slurpee run ~ all the essentials to sisters. But I think my favorite part was doing her hair and makeup. She doesn't make herself a priority with getting dolled up, so it was nice to be able to do that for her. We also went out to lunch with our mom and that was a major highlight, too. We were just missing our baby sister to make a complete set.

Two of my little ones threw up last night and I haven't felt good all day. Once I dropped her and her littles off at the airport, I came home laid down. I have been laying around ALL DAY. I hate those days. I'm sad that she's gone and my body aches. But mostly sad.

Awesome Day

Me and Apollo's conversation as we waited for his bus this morning.

Mom (me): "Apollo, how are you feeling today"?

Apollo: "What"? (his first response always)

Mom: "Are you feeling good today"?

Apollo: "No, I feeling awesome".

I hope we can all feel awesome every day.

*this is a picture of him making a sand angel in Cannon Beach last week

Moody Trudy

Halea Butterfly (yes, that's her real, legal name) has turned in to quite the Moody Trudy. She cries over ANYTHING and is the first to whine over not getting her way. The boys whine too, but not to the level that she does. She comes to tell on her brothers and demands that I spank them (sometimes I'll do it softly just to appease her and the boys think it's funny). Maybe it's just that she's a girl or that she's 2 or a combo of a lot of factors.

This picture was taken right after she fell in a deep tide pool ~ so that kind of crying is totally acceptable.

Cannon Beach 2011

We had the BEST weekend in Cannon Beach, OR. It's a special place for us because it was one of the only things Ryan and I had in common when we met. During our first conversation we talked about our favorite things in Cannon Beach and I was left wondering what it would be like to go there with him...Now I know it's awesome!

We took a tour of the Tillamook cheese factory (free cheese), played on the beach a lot, did Seaside (gross little town) where I tried my first and last deep fried candybar, played at a park, and pet every dog we came across.

On our last day, Halea and I left the boys at an arcade and went out to lunch. We had a wonderful lunch just us girls. She kept me entertained with games of peek a boo, and "where did Halea go" (under the table).

It was a nice getaway, but not very relaxing. It's nice to be home to our own beds and getting back into the routine of the school year.

Back 2 Schule

That's from Megamind. Summer has been nice, but it's time for the kids to go back to school. They have their school supplies and their first day of school outfits laid out. We visited Bryce and Parker's school this morning and got to meet both of their teachers. Although Parker has never attended Marvista, many of the teachers, therapists, even the principle already knew him. He was in full distractibility mode today, so I think that was a good first impression for his "school team" to see. I feel like he has a good team to work with and they will take him where he is at and help him to thrive. Bryce's teacher has a reputation for being very strict. I was worried until I met him. He was very calm and I think it will be good for Bryce to have higher expectations to meet. It should prepare him for junior high next year. This year looks promising.

My Selfish Summer

I've been having a few me days (mostly every day since my birthday almost a week ago). I've been lounging outside enjoying the sun and reading books. I took an outdoor bootcamp class this morning ~ that was fun and HOT! I'm going to a friend's house to play in the lake and enjoy some girl time. Ryan doesn't see anything wrong with me taking a less hands-on approach to our home and kids. I'm feeling slightly guilty about all of this "me time", but it's so rare that I get to have it that I'm really trying to relish in it while I can.

I'm not trying to brag, but....

My husband ROCKS! Yesterday was my birthday. I had to teach my class ~ but I love that, so it wasn't a problem at all. Ryan and the kids did presents with me before I left to teach my class ( I got a cell phone, painting canvasses, and giftcards to my favorite stores), and he told me he was going to make breakfast for me when I got home. When I got home, the table was set with the fine china and crystal glasses. The food was REALLY fancy ~ egg souffle, fresh cut fruits, muffins, quinoa, sparkling cider, tea, bacon (all my favorites). I couldn't believe he would put so much effort into a breakfast for me and the kids. There was a knock on the door and a couple of my friends stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. Then a couple more and I realized that this was a surprise party for me (I didn't get it with the first group ~ sometimes I'm a little slow)! Ryan planned a brunch for me and six of my friends. He prepared all the food himself and borrowed pretty dishes from my mother-in-law. Brunch was such a great time with my friends! After they left we went shopping and out to lunch. Then we did the amazing trapeze thing (see below). I feel so blessed to have such a great husband, great family, and great friends!

Mon's Birthday Trapeze

Yesterday Ryan and I did a flying trapeze lesson. It was so cool! I was able to get my feet up once to do a hanging knee back flip. (it's a lot harder than it looks). Here's the video posted on youtube if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpc-oWi8Ev0

So here's the funny thing. After everyone had gone and we had a grand finale where an advanced student was able to do a "catch" with one of the instructors (student is upside down, so is instructor, instructor grabs student's wrists and student lets go of her bar, being caught by the instructor ~ so awesome). I forgot that I was standing on the middle of a three tier observation deck that doesn't have any stairs. I stepped off and sort of caught myself, except that my toe caught the leg of an aluminum folding chair and we both fell on the floor with a really dramatic, loud crash. I was so embarrassed that I laughed with tears streaming down my cheeks all the way to our restaurant for dinner. When I woke up this morning the laughter started up again and it hasn't really stopped since. It was definitely a birthday to remember.

* Ryan and I were imitating Parker's thinking face that we have now named "the smolder" (from Tangled).

Finals

Ryan took his last final this morning and is on his way home now. He will have five weeks off before returning for his last quarter in his nursing program! The kids go back to school Sept 1st, so I hope we can enjoy these last few weeks as a complete family before we have to jump back into the kid's school routine. Let summer begin! Yay!!!

Game On

We started our summer softball season yesterday. We had two practices as a team, but it was surprising to see how many team members we had last night. 10 ladies and 11 men. That's HUGE for a softball team considering you only need five of each gender to play. I played catcher and took a few too many balls to my shins and ankles (which really hurts). I wore my hannible lecter mask, so at least the pretties were covered (very important). I did ok as the catcher, just ok. When it was time for me to bat I botched it EVERY SINGLE TIME! I didn't get a single hit. Not one. I nicked the ball once with the tip of the bat, but they didn't count it because I was the only one who felt it. Our sponsor is the Wing Dome and they have spicy chicken wings ~ a number 7 is the hottest and it's known to make grown men blubber. Before the season started our team made a deal that for each time a player strikes out, they have to eat 1 number 7. My brother-in-law taunted me that I would need to eat four number 7's (thank you, I wasn't counting). The coach (my love) said that was only for the guys, so I'm off the hook. Yay! But I would like to improve my game at least a little. Or just hit the ball once. Really, is that asking too much? It's funny how the best player on the team and coach can be married to the worst player. I guess opposites do attract.

Three Amigos (or two amigos and one amiga)

A week ago we took met my parents at my grandma's house to drop Bryce off to spend a week at my parents house. On our way home I thought it would be fun to take the ferry AND it WAS! The kids did great ~ although I couldn't get them to look at the camera at the same time. During the next week we missed Bryce a lot. They kept themselves busy (especially Halea) by taking baths and spreading confetti (from the paper shredder). Ok, I'm really trying to make these photos fit my post and it's not working well ~ aren't they cute, though??? Life is very different without Bryce home. The house is much calmer for me and more boring for the little ones. We are all glad to hame him back.

"Mom, your butt's really fat"

My darling Parker (the autistic one) has not learned the difference between making an observation in his head and vocalizing that observation out loud. His observations are usually right on, but the things he says can be hurtful. The worst part is that he doesn't understand that his observational comments are hurtful.

This morning I was getting in the shower (so I was naked). It's always a big show when mom's getting into the shower since we did away with all TV and video game time ~ which really means I don't get a break from them and they are glued to me all day every day. There I was naked getting ready to hop in the shower when Parker said "wow mom, your butt's really fat". I wasn't sure that I heard him correctly, so I said "what"? He repeated his statement again. I looked in the mirror and yes, it's gotten a little bigger since my competition days, but not that bad...I told him that his words are hurtful and he shouldn't say that. He said, "I know mom, but your butt is really, really fat". I again tried to tell him that his words are mean and he needs to not say that and that my butt isn't that fat. He assured me that my butt is really fat and that he needed to tell me.

I took my shower feeling more self-conscous than usual. Part of me felt hurt and the other part of me thinks it may just be the kick in the (really, really fat) butt that I need. My 33rd birthday is coming up next week, so it's probably time to reign my better eating habits in.

HOT YOGA (not hot in the sexy sense)

I'm being sarcastic with the picture I posted. I don't love hot yoga, but I don't hate it either. I only hate one of the instructors, so I will make her the subject of today's post.

Her name is Allie, but I will call her Alolf (after hitler). She had the room at 113 degrees with 40% humidity before class started and filled up, so I'm guessing it was at least 115 degrees in there with the doors shut and people filling the place. Normally it's supposed to be around 105. Once the 90 minute class starts no one is supposed to leave the room. There's also no talking allowed. So basically you are trapped in this room with no way to vocalize your discomfort (two things I hate: being trapped and being quiet). Each pose is supposed to be held for a short amount of time and then you rest between poses. Alolf started running short on time, so she eliminated the rest periods to none and kept working us through poses without a break in between, she also had us hold the poses longer than any of the other instructors have. Her yogi's in the front row were laying down in savasana pose (rest pose, lying down, heels together, palms up), so that means they couldn't even hack it! She was annoyed that people were laying down and asked what was wrong with us. People said it was the heat, so she opened one of the doors for a few seconds. I did get through the class, but I felt like I was going to die in there. My body rebelled in the next few days and my back seized up. I went back to a different instructor for another session (also 113 degrees, but rest periods were provided) and my back pain was gone, so much better of an experience. My two week trial for ten bucks is up tomorrow and I have enjoyed three of four sessions. I don't feel like it made me a more spiritual person, but I did use muscles I don't normally and now I know that I could survive in a desert that is 115 degrees (for ninety minutes, anyway).

*One cool thing: see the picture posted? I was able to pull my leg up high enough to see my foot over my head. Pretty Cool!