Common Mom

Remember when you were a kid and you could literally run all day long without getting tired? Sure you’d get home and crash at bedtime, but the next day you were right back at it . . . all. day. long. No ill side effects, other than the occasional skinned knee or black eye.

When you become an adult, however, your body seems to say “Whoa there Nelly. Slow down a bit or I’ll show you!” You can go hiking for an afternoon or on a long bike ride or run around with the kids, but about 3 hours in to it your body is screaming for you to take a rest and relax. And for some reason, you’re totally wiped by the time 4:00 p.m. rolls around and it’s time to make dinner, get the kids bathed, and get them to bed.

I’m an active person - I play volleyball and softball and golf, I swim and ride bike and hike, I play with the kids. The trouble is, I don’t do all of these activities year round. And every year, when it’s the season for a sport, I go gungho and play hard and have fun. My muscles, however, don’t seem to have as much fun. With each new season comes new muscle soreness. How is it that after golfing for 15 years, my lower back and forearms seem to forget that they’re used for this sport and SCREAM at me the next day?! That after playing softball 7 months out of the year for the past 25 years (yes, I’m that old) my arm STILL kills me after the first couple of games of a season? Shouldn’t my muscles remember that they LIKE to do these things and WANT to do these things? And that I like to do these things? And that doing these things is GOOD for them and will keep them healthy for many years?

To my Mom and Dad . . . I apologize for laughing at you every summer, on that one day when all the adults would go water skiing, and be sore and immobile for a week after. I now understand what you meant when you said “You laugh now. But just wait until you get older. You’ll see how it is.”

Apparently, I am now older.

Finally - a Wednesday that I have off, that Hubby is home, and that we don’t HAVE to do anything after we drop the kids off at summer camp. When I first started having my Wednesdays off from work, Hubby and I used them as a sort of “Date Day” - he’s gone flying so much that it was great to be able to have a day without the kids where we didn’t have to pay a sitter. Didn’t matter if we ran errands, got groceries, rode bike, did work around the house, or went golfing - we just did it together. We’ve all had so much on our plates lately with his new business, his getting is Ph.d, the kids getting older and needing more “running around”, me doing a little freelancing to make some extra moolah - Wednesdays have been used mostly for cleaning, catching up, and other “things” that aren’t necessarily fun, but are necessary.

Today, however, Hubby and I are going here . . .

We’re FINALLY hitting the golf course. Usually by June we’ve gotten in a couple rounds and made it to the driving range. Not this spring . . . our clubs are as dusty as can be, and we are as rusty as can be!

And, Hubby found out yesterday that he will most likely need surgery on his wrist this month . . . the same wrist that he broke snowboarding on Easter. It hasn’t really gotten better, and they think he has ligament damage (wear wrist guards when snowboarding people!!!). So, we’re gonna get out there and get a round in while he can still golf.

So, off we go to play and have some fun together today! I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday

I got up at O-Dark-Thirty today and rode my bike to work.

It’s 13.3 miles from the trailhead to the office door.

It took me one hour.

It was dark when I started.

I’ll have to start later next time so I can actually see the trail.

I’m thankful that our office has a gym with showers. I’m sure my coworkers are thankful for that as well

And a few words . . . come on! It’s me! Did you actually think I was capable of not writing ANYthing?

We had our first spring soccer games on Saturday - we got to play on the brand new artifical turf at the new YMCA! I was a bit concerned when they said it wasn’t grass, but artifical turf . . . but, they put all these teeny tiny little pieces of ground up rubber in the “grass” and it makes it soft and squishy just like real grass . . . it’s actually really cool. Anyhoo - it went down to the wire - it was sunny, but it was COLD (25 degrees for Jason’s game!) and WINDY (almost 40 mph wind at times). But, the kids played and actually had a blast - they’ll play in anything if you bundle ‘em up

Here’s my Cheetah scoping down the field for someone to pass to. Yes, they chose the Cheetahs - which was a huge relief after the previous name-choosing fiasco. My Cheetah scored one goal in a 6-1 win (no, they don’t officially keep score, but yes, the kids always know the score!).

 

And here’s my Wild Pony (which outvoted the Ladybugs this season) heading toward the goal. My Wild Pony scored 4 goals in a 7-7 tie

She INSISTED on wearing shorts, because that’s what you wear for soccer. Ironically, that’s the only part of her uniform you can’t see She’s got on long underwear, a long-sleeved shirt, the orange hoodie, and her Y jersey in addition to her shorts and her brothers extra long soccer socks so I could pull them all the way up and roll them all the way down again for an extra layer. I think the pink hat adds a finishing touch to her whole ensemble.

It was SOOOOO nice on Sunday, that the minute we got up, we knew we were going hiking. My behind has made marked improvement in the past 3 days, and for the first time in 3 weeks I felt like actually walking. It has truly SUCKED not being able to get any exercise that past 3 weeks! Anyway, the kids got dressed and got snacks and Duma’s stuff ready while I sorted and started the laundry. Then we headed to the grocery store to grab donuts and OJ for the drive (mmmmmmm, nutritious breakfast!). We chose Red Rocks because there was too much snow up north at one of our favorite hiking spots. We had a great time!

I love watching Jason and Keira together, especially now that they get older. For as much as they may argue and bicker, they are really good together. Here’s Jason pointing out a hawk to Keira.

Of course Dude is never happier than when he finds a snake or some other “thing” to pick up and inspect.

Keira was long gone screaming I love that my kids love the outdoors as much as I do. I guess that’s probably WHY they love it . . . because ever since they were babies we’ve been outside hiking or playing or riding bike or something. But still, I have to believe that they actually like it or they wouldn’t ask to go and wouldn’t have fun. And I also love that for as little as their legs are, they’ll hike almost anywhere. They especially love the hike up in to the quarry.

Do you see ‘em up there? Here’s a close up - notice the fun steps to go up to get there . . . it’s actually pretty steep - Duma was not impressed and needed a little coaxing.

They love playing around in the quarry. There’s so much to climb on! Duma liked the little water to play in, and Jason and Keira found a way out to the “island” - amazingly, neither one of them fell in

So there’s the fun part of our weekend in a nutshell . . . the rest involved things like laundry and scrubbing kitchen floors and other fun stuff like that. Definitely not blog-worthy!

What did you do this weekend?

So I showed you some pictures of the fun time we had last weekend. What I didn’t share was the PAIN that went with it! Snowboarding is great fun . . . learning to snowboard is great pain! A pain in the ass, literally. Toward the end of our totally awesome snowboarding/skiing adventure, I tried to avoid a little kid . . . now if I were a good snowboarder, or anyone who had been on one more than 3 times in her life, I coulda just turned and missed the kid. But I’m not any of those things . . . I’m new at snowboarding, and my brain tends to believe I can do things my body just can’t yet So, to avoid missing little kid, I tried to turn, fast . . . and caught my heelside edge . . . which then SLAMMED me into the ground with the force of a jackhammer . . . right. on. my. tailbone. Apparently I’ve never actually landed on my tailbone before. I certainly thought I had, but after that fall, I KNEW I hadn’t because I had never felt that kind of pain OMG in my entire friggin’ life! And I’ve had 2 C-sections. Tears started flowing without me having any clue what had just happened. I knew my day was over . . . told hubby to keep going with Jason and our friends and I’d meet them in the lodge in a couple hours when they were finished because I was done. I unstrapped and “hobbled” to the lodge. My mistake was sitting down . . . because getting up was a PAIN IN THE ASS - OMG! I hobbled out to the Jeep with my board to change into regular boots . . . apparently bending down to get snowboarding boots off and then put on your regular boots is NOT the thing to do with a bruised tailbone - OMG it HURT!  I did manage, barely, and hobbled back up to the lodge and parked myself in a seat for a couple hours, watching my daughter in her skiing lesson, which was a lot of fun. It’s now Wednesday and I STILL can’t bend down to tie my shoes, put on socks, or even put the leash on Duma! And putting on pants - have I mentioned that it’s a real PAIN IN THE ASS?! Heading to the chiro. today to see if she can adjust anything - but I’m totally expecting her to say I just have to wait it out, which I am NOT very good at. Oh, and that humonstrous bruise on the back of my right leg (really, like 8 inches across and 4 inches wide) . . . um ya . . . lesson learned . . . when skating on your board in the lift line, fold the unused binding down . . . if you don’t, when you trip on your own friggin’ board, not only do you look like a complete fool, you will end up landing on said binding and end up with said monstrous bruise on your leg.

But enough about me! On to my daughter . . . she’s been complaining about her tummy hurting for a few days. Yesterday she’d double over in pain and cry every now and then, but then she’d be fine. After gymnastics last night she said she wanted to go home and lay down instead of going out to eat with hubby, Dude, and Grandpa. So I took her home. She started bawling on the way home about her tummy, so I took her to the Urgent Care. They recommended I go to the ER. So we did . . . and on the way, she threw up all over herself and the car, multiple times. Good times! We get to the ER and they are so nice and change her in to a gown and give me a bag for her nasty clothes. Hubby brought her some new ones and then took the car home to clean it. Between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. in the waiting room, Keira threw up a good 4 more times . . . finally ending up empty. They FINALLY took us back to see the doc. He immediately gave her something to stop the vomitting since she was empty. Then he immediately ordered an X-ray because her tummy was soooooo huge . . . she looked 6 months pregnant! Understand that immediately in the ER is relative to the speed of a snail The X-ray showed what they hoped it would . . . she was constipated (even though she’d gone icky) and had a ton ton ton ton of gas in her tummy. They thought it might be her appendix, so that was good news that it wasn’t! She was so uncomfortable with her tummy hurting so badly I felt so bad for her! But, she wasn’t throwing up anymore, so that was good. Around 11:00 they gave her a suppository (poor thing - she did great though) and told us she couldn’t leave until she gave them a urine sample and did her duty. She had thrown up everything in her little tummy, so didn’t have anything to pee for them! But, around 11:30, she finally mustered up enough for them to do a urine test. And FINALLY, at the stroke of midnight, she did her duty. Her own Cinderella story She was a TOTALLY different kid after that! Her tummy was still big, but since the plumbing was working again, they let us go, with instructions to see the doc today if her tummy was still distended. She drank a TON of juice on the way home, compliments of the ER. This morning, she was tired, but her tummy looked good and she was hungry. So, hubby was left with strict instructions . . . no dairy, no bread, no candy, no read meat . . . fruit, veggies, juice . . . get the plumbing flowing again!!!

So, there are the ouch stories of the girls in the house.

On a fun note . . . Noisy Grandma is coming today and staying until Monday - woo hoo! We’re all so excited. Nothing makes a little girl feel better than a Grandma to cater to her every whim and whimper

I gave up sugar for Lent - not ALL sugar, just “frivelous” sugar as I like to call it. I stay away from anything that has sugar as one of the first 3 ingredients - like the obvious stuff, but also including things like Cheerios, bread, etc. This is usually my breakfast on Easter morning :-) 

However, this year, I had a much more nutritious breakfast because we went snowboarding, and I figured I needed something better than this if I was going to hurl myself down a mountain with a board strapped to my feet all day.

So, it’s Monday morning, one full day after I COULD have had this, and I still haven’t. Lookout Monday - sugar rush, sugar high, and sugar down coming to a cubicle near you!

Last night I made my weekly 20 mile trek to the other end of town for volleyball with the ladies. I’ve done this every Monday for the past 10 years (except when I was too prego and doc wouldn’t let me). It was tournament week to end the winter season. All 4 of us were SOOOO mad when we got there and were so ready to win because we’d come in dead last for the season. Mind you, we have no illusion that we should be in the top 3 or 4, but we certainly were not the worst team of the 10 teams in the league. Apparently, when the girls are pissed, the other team should look out! We walked all over the first team we played - we played so well and won easily and got to keep on playing. YEAH! It felt so good to play hard and play well and get hot and sweaty and get exercise! We had to sit for a match, then we played the #2 team. We actually won the first game! It was so great . . . had so much fun! The second game was close, but we couldn’t pull it out . . . so we went to the 3rd game for the match. Unfortunately, we did not win . . . but we sure played hard and we played well and we proved to ourselves and the nasty lady running the league that we do belong in the top league So after 90 minutes of good exercise and fun volleyball, we headed home 400 calories lighter, and NOT the last place team! The spring season starts next Monday and I can’t wait! The kids can’t wait either - because now that Duma is bigger and can stay home alone in her kennel longer, they get to come watch the early games, which they love doing! And I love that they see their old mommy out there getting exercise and having fun with some friends.

What do you do on your mommy day?

It’s me, opening the last bottle of Cherry Coke I’ll have until Easter.

I’m giving up sugar for Lent . . . well “frivelous” sugar as I call it . . . no cake, cookies, candy, pop, ice cream, syrup, jelly . . . you get the idea. This is especially tough since Valentines day is right around the corner, and there is ALWAYS chocolate around. And those darn Girl Scouts are coming to the door pawning dime bags of Thin Mints, which make the BEST shakes.

So, I’m going to sit back, relax, and enjoy my last Cherry Coke, and then try to work off the ridiculous number of calories I will consume while thoroughly enjoying said bottle of Cherry Coke.

OK, maybe not THE best, but it’s certainly up there! Can something you buy but never actually use be considered “the best” thing you’ve ever purchased? Let me explain. My 5 year old has been sucking her finger since the first time I laid eyes on her tiny bean shaped self on a sonogram . . . yup, her finger was OBVIOUSLY in her mouth. I’m convinced that when the doctors pulled her out of my tummy in the OR on her birthday, she only cried because they pulled that darn finder out of her mouth! She’s pretty good about not sucking it “just because” - like when we’re playing or she’s at school and all that jazz. But, the minute she gets within 10 feet of her mimi (her blanket) or if she’s tired, in goes the finger. She doesn’t suck her finger when she’s scared or nervous, just when she’s tired or touching that damn blanket. We finally decided that at 5, this needs to stop - she’s got my teeth (lucky girl!) and will not need braces - IF she stops sucking that finger!

For the past month or so we’ve been gently reminding her to take her finger out of her mouth. She does it without complaint, but every now and then she will say “But it’s just so hard not to suck my finger when I’m near my mimi or holding my mimi.” So, we took mimi away - for one day. I couldn’t do that. Take away her mimi AND make her stop sucking her finger? Heck, my 7 year old still keeps his mimi on his bed. And, taking the mimi away did not do anything for her finger sucking - if anything, it made it worse. What to do next?

I read a post on my friend Ami’s blog. It talked about this thumb guard her dentist suggested for them. You can view it here. Here are a couple pictures…

 

Looks great, huh? EXCEPT, note which finger is NOT covered with either of these items. Yup, the forefinger, the one finger that Miss Keira puts in her mouth.

So then I heard about this product from my sister-in-law. She used it to get her 8 year old son to stop biting his nails and said it worked wonderfully! The Control It! arrived in the mail on Tuesday. I put a tiny bit on my finger just to see how awful it really did taste and OMG! For good measure, I had Hubby and Son try it (you know, that old ‘oh man this is nasty! Here try it - does it taste bad to you?’). Hubby wrinkled up his face and felt compelled to wipe his tongue like Sid in Ice Age. Son pulled out all the drama and faked every form of vomit you can imagine. Daughter, of course, after seeing that Oscar winning performance, would not come near the stuff! I told her that the rest of us tried it and that I wouldn’t put it on her finger, but she had to at least try it off my finger. So she barely touched her tongue to the tip of my finger and immediately shut her mouth, wrinkled her face, and started to cry. Now it definitely does NOT taste good, but it’s not the worst thing ever, either.

BUT, this was the perfect opportunity to explain to her that I was not going to use this on her finger - YET. She had through the weekend to work really hard on not sucking her finger. If she did well, we won’t use the lotion. If she can’t make progress, then we’ll use the lotion.

Not ONCE, outside of her being in bed with her mimi, have I had to remind her about that finger. She’s trying so hard and has not put her finger in her mouth during daylight hours or outside of her bedroom ONCE since the tasting incident of ‘08. I can tell she really wants to, but she’s working so hard at not doing it. I’m so proud of her!

So there you have it - I figure anything that makes my very willful child work so hard to stop a bad habit just by BEING in the house is a good investment - whether we use it or not.

Keep your fingers crossed for my littlest one so we don’t have to use the nasty nasty lotion on her finger.

My boss sent me a message today about her friend, Mia. Mia and her twin daughters are going to be on the Oprah segment titled “One More Day” on Wednesday, and of course I’m totally going to TiVo it. Well, I won’t TiVo it, because I don’t have TiVo . . . but I’ll beg a friend to do it for me Here is the message from my boss.

“Here’s an Oprah you won’t want to miss…our friend Mia and her twin daughters, Kerry and Skylar, will be on Oprah tomorrow. Mia lost her husband, Kerry, to melanoma almost 5 years ago. Two years after he died, she gave birth to Kerry’s daughters (obviously through artificial insemination). Mia was a champion for Kerry, who made friends with everyone he encountered in life. This is a story of love and human sacrifice and determination. It’s part of a show they’re titling “How would you spend one more day with someone you loved?” ”
http://www.firstgiving.com/daveline

How WOULD you spend one more day with someone you loved?