Stick a fork in me

It is with a sad heart that I must tell you that I cannot run anymore. My knees cannot take the strain of running. I really wanted them too. I tried to shake it off, but it's becoming more difficult for me to even walk up the stairs anymore. I tried taking Tylenol or ibuprofen before a run; I tried icing them after a run. Nothing seemed to make them better. I took a few days off (Since Sunday) and have been taking long walks instead. I have found that I enjoy that almost as much as I enjoy running. What I loved about running was that euphoric feeling I get at the end and the feeling of accomplishment for doing something I never thought I could do before.

I can still get into shape by walking, and I plan to do so. My knees feel much better today than they have in awhile. I've been walking 3-5 miles every day. Today it's pouring down rain and I still plan to go out there and walk.

I had volunteered to work 3 extra hours today and 4 extra hours tomorrow even though it's my day off, but it's the end of the pay period and I could use the extra hours. Then, yesterday we had an internet outage for 6 hours, which covered the time span of my work hours. Soooo I have to make them up sometime, so tomorrow it is. So, lucky me gets to work a full weekend. Bleh.

10 Ways I am a Bad Mother

In case you were wondering, here are 10 ways in which I am a bad mother. There are more, trust me....much more, but today we only have time for ten.

1. Sometimes I don't listen to what they say. After 10 minutes of the same story about the WWE championship match between stupid-underwear-man and sweaty-chest-waxer-dude that I heard yesterday and the day before my eyes start to glaze over and I start thinking of other things like whether or not a finger to the eyeball would hurt THAT bad.

2. I can't stand earwax or cleaning out my kids ears. This is Dad's job. I cannot and will not do it. It grosses me out.

3. I bribe my kids. Sometimes, I need something done and I am not ashamed that I sometimes resort to bribery to get my way. It's amazing to me that there are mother's out there who do not use this little parenting trick. They must be the Saint Mother Teresa of parents. I salute them.

4. Sometimes I need a night away from them. I need to breathe without interruption. I need to go to sleep and know that nobody will wake me up in the middle of the night because they can't find their blankie; that I won't be woke at 6:30 in the morning to the sound of WWE Friday Night Smackdown from last night's DVR being played on the TV much too loud for anyone's ears. Sometimes, I want to read a whole chapter of a book without interruption. Sometimes, I want to watch a whole TV show without pausing it to get someone a snack or a drink of water or listen to another story about a princess tea party I've been invited to in 10 minutes.

5. I let my kids watch TV. I know many parents find this to be a horrifying parent mistake, but I for one appreciate the TV. Sometimes they need to chill out and watch a little TV. Sometimes I do too. Sometimes, I need them too.

6. I don't teach my children very well. I didn't teach Dylan how to tie his shoes or ride his bike nor did I teach Maddie (nor does she actually know how to). Homework is a complete disaster in our house. I get frustrated trying to teach them and they get frustrated with me teaching them. Thank God for school. Patience is not my virtue. It isn't even on the property.

7. I sometimes swear around my kids. Sometimes, a bad word slips out of my mouth in front of them. I try to be careful, but damn it, it isn't easy. It is for this reason that when a bad word flies out of their mouth, I don't get angry but I explain that it isn't appropriate for them.

8. I am grateful for the public school system to teach my children, but more than that, I am grateful that they keep me out of my hair for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Homeschooling mothers are truly an amazing breed of women.

9. Play-Doh, Moon Sand, Finger Paint or any paint whatsoever are the work of the devil. I would rather mow the grass with my butt then let that crap in can in my house.

10. I don't really have any desire to have a tea party. It's not like we're really drinking tea, it's water from the bathroom faucet in dirty little plastic cups that have been in her toy box for 4 years. MMMMM Tasty. My way of tea party is not acceptable to her. It's her way or the highway. I wonder where she gets that from?

The Real World

Well our exciting weekend is over :(

We had a blast though. Yesterday morning started out by Joel getting up and going to finish his side job, or at least most of it. I took Dylan and Maddie and Andrew to the middle school track to run. Andrew ran. Dylan mostly ran but he was getting side aches and stuff so he took it easy. Maddie ran one lap and petered out on us. It was a walk day for me since I ran on Friday so I walked 6 laps and then Mam and Lauren were done at the pool so it was time for the kids to go. I was still feeling pretty good and the sun was shining so I kept going. I walked another 1.5 miles. I could have kept going but I figured I should probably go home someday.

Joel got home at 1:45, which was a surprise. We had originally planned to take the 4:35 boat to Seattle. By the time we were all ready to go we had not quite enough time to catch the 2:55 boat so we just caught the 3:50 boat. It was a beautiful day yesterday and I enjoyed it.

We checked into the hotel and boy was it posh. I just wanted to chain myself to the desk and never leave (I first typed out bed, but that sounded really bad so I changed it to desk. You're welcome).

It was about 5:00 so of course we were hungry. We decided to take a little walk and see if we could find a nice place to eat. We walked out of the hotel and took a right and walked many blocks and ended up pretty much walking in giant square and ended up back at our hotel. The only food we found was a Wendy's, a Papa John's and a QFC. WTF? I thought Bellevue would have more than that. So back at the hotel we took a left instead of a right. We didn't even get 10 feet before we say Ruth's Chris, PF Chang's, a sushi place, the Cheesecake Factory, an Italian restaurant, an Irish pub, Earl's, and McCormick's. All within a block of each other. Apparently we should have taken a LEFT. Duh.

We chose Earl's. We'd never heard of it, but it looked good. It was good. Joel had halibut and chips and I had a Mediterranean linguine. After we went back to our hotel room and hung out for an hour until the Will Call window opened and we could get our tickets. The Will Call window would only be open for a 30 minute span so we decided to be there right when it opened. Good thing we did because there was a HUGE line (they were also selling tickets).

The show was so funny. Kyle Cease was hilarious, but Louie Anderson made me laugh until my stomach muscles hurt. It's a good thing I didn't pay for my tickets because I only got a half a seat. The woman next to me was probably 300-400 pounds and all of it in her butt. Woman should have bought TWO seats or at least paid me for half of mine. Good thing my butt is shrinking.

The show was almost 3 hours long. That's a lot of laughing! We were so glad we had made the decision to stay the night because we didn't get out of there until almost 11:30. It would have been 1:00 a.m. before we got home. We didn't go to the after party because we were so exhausted so we just went to bed (man, we are old, aren't we?). Anyway, I was really looking forward to sleeping in this gigantic king bed. Only there wasn't much sleeping going on. Before you get all grossed out, I don't mean like THAT you pervs. I just could NOT sleep in that bed. Joel had a hard time but not like me. I got maybe 2-3 hours TOTAL sleep combined. It sucked. It wasn't the bed's fault. It was the fact that I slept without my pillow for the first time in years. Seriously. You think I'm joking. I take my pillow everywhere. I didn't take it because I figured that a posh hotel like the Hyatt would have some awesome pillows. HAHAHAHA FALSE. Lesson learned. I hugged my pillow when I got home this morning. Really, I did.

Bring on the laughter

For Friday Night Movie Night, I picked Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Remember that movie? The kids loved it. I knew they would. Before that we had a delicious pork roast dinner and had dessert over at Joel's parents house becuase it was Joel's dad's birthday.

Here's some exciting news. Two days ago I won tickets to a comedy show in Bellevue to see Louie Anderson and Kyle Cease. We were pretty psyched about it, but we were still unsure if we were going because Joel had to work all weekend on a side job that he had to finish by Sunday. With Joel working we'd have to rush out of here Saturday night and come back super late Saturday night and neither of us were excited about that.

Anyway, Joel finished early at his regular job yesterday and ran out to get started on the side job and got quite a bit of work done. Today he'll go back to his side job and finish it, or at least finish most of it and only have a little to do on Sunday. That way, we can stay the night in Bellevue and not have to worry about coming home really late at night.

Here's the exciting part. The show is at the Hyatt Regency, which is a 4-Star Hotel. Having tickets to the show can get you a room at the Hyatt for a fraction of the price as normal. So, we booked a room in the hotel. After the show there is an after party where the comics will be that we can get into if we want. At first it wasn't even an option since we had to run out of the show and head home as soon as possible, but now we can go if we want, even though we probably won't. It's not really our "thing."

The kids and I are going running this morning and then I can spend the afternoon bouncing off the walls until Joel gets home so we can leave. WEE

Independence Week

Maddie and I are having a week of independence. I have spent all of her life doing things for her. Not because she can't, but because it is easier if I do it. It's no longer easier for me and I am seeing my 6-1/2-year-old who doesn't do anything for herself simply because I am here to do it for her. No more. She didn't have any incentive to do these things other than if I don't do them they don't get done. These things include picking out her clothes, getting dressed, brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, making her bed, putting her clothes away, putting her dishes in the sink, buckling her seat belt, putting her backpack, shoes and coat away after school, etc.

We made a deal. One week of independence for Maddie equals one toy. Yes, I know, it's a bribe; however, my sincerest hope is that after a week of doing these things herself they will just start to come naturally for her. She'll feel better about taking care of herself, rather than me doing it for her.

I know I am probably living a major pipe dream, but I am going to hold out a little hope. It's the only one I have left.

Quick one before work....

On Friday Dylan spent the night at a friend's house, so Joel and I decided to ditch the other one and have a much needed date night. Mam was happy to have Maddie for the night. We had a coupon for a restaurant in town called "The Loft", which turned out to be really good.

The next morning I got up bright and early and went for a run. I ran two miles. It felt so good. Well, except for afterward when my legs felt like a bowl full of painful Jell-O. Since it was the first time I had pushed myself so hard, I actually felt that pain for quite awhile. Clear until the next night. By Monday morning they were better, so Dylan and I went again. This time we went to the middle school track and I ran another 2 miles. My legs were still hurting from Saturday but I refused to quit. I was almost crying by the end, but I pushed through. It was so worth it. Afterward we picked up Maddie (Joel's mom was watching her) and within an hour my legs weren't hurting anymore. In fact, I felt fantastic. By last night I still felt great. I was shocked. Sure, they're a little sore and stiff...but they didn't "hurt."

Dylan wanted to run again this morning, but I knew I couldn't. My legs didn't hurt but I didn't want to push myself into an injury. We decided to go to the high school track this time. Since I was just walking I told Maddie she could join us and walk with me. Turns out, she wanted to run. She ran a FULL MILE (4 laps). I was completely amazed with her. She now has an open invitation to come running with us when we go track running. She loved running. Maybe she'll be a track star someday?

This morning we babysat Dennis, Marin and Quinn for awhile while Rachel went to a doctor's appointment. Afterward we had lunch and then she took MY kids to her house (obviously, there is no school today). So, I get to work in peace and quiet today. WOOT Thanks, Rachel :)

Running

I have always hated running. In fact, my motto has always been "I only run if someone is chasing me." Running always seemed to be a silly thing to do. Painful too.

I love running.

I have been training to run a 5K. I have been running intervals for awhile but recently started just running. In doing so I have learned a few things about myself. First of all, I am stronger than I thought. I CAN do this. I really can. Even when I said I was going to, I didn't honestly believe that I could. I know, that is pathetic, right?

For the first 0.50 mile I feel like I am going to die. My lungs are going to burst. I can't breathe. I swear at myself in my head and call myself all sorts of unfeminine things. Then something happens at that 0.50 mile. I feel great. I can breathe. I feel like Forrest Gump. Somewhere around 1 mile my legs start to get a little numb and sore, but I push through. Yesterday was the 1st time I have run 1.5 miles straight. I ran 1.5 miles in intervals last weekend and 1 straight mile on Tuesday. My legs are sore today,b ut they aren't as sore as they normally are, which is telling me that my legs are getting stronger. In fact, I actually want to run today but I always try to rest my legs a day because I don't want any injuries. Tomorrow I am shooting for 2 miles. I am a little nervous. I feel good about what I have accomplished and I feel more confidence that I can accomplish even more. These running endorphines are crazy.

Maddie's Valentine Poem

I LOVE MY MOM AND DAD
YES I DO
YES I DO
WITH LOVE I SAY
I LOVE MY MOM AND DAD

*******************************************

She wrote this by herself tonight and gave it to us with heart stickers all over it. I will cherish this forever.

Don't mess with Mama Bear

As I mentioned before, Maddie had an incident on the bus where she was struck by another student. After some deliberation about this, I decided to take the matters into my own hands. I knew the principal had been involved and I needed to know that Maddie would be safe on the bus and at school with this child there. I was never contacted about this incident from the principal OR the bus driver, so unless Maddie said something, I would never know about it.

I spoke with the principal this morning who cleared some things up for me. First of all, he didn't know who the victim was in this matter. He was informed of a boy hitting another student on the bus but was not given the name of the student. It wasn't until after I spoke with him this morning that he learned who it was. To complicate matters, this boy is in Maddie's class as well, which brought up the issue of bullying in the classroom. I told him that Maddie had told me of a few incidences in the classroom as well.

He informed me of the discipline process of the boy, because I wanted to make sure that this child was being punished for striking MY child. He pulled the boy off the bus and spoke with him and then phoned the child's guardians to inform them of the matter. The boy is being assigned a different seat on the bus (away from Maddie) and has been given "in-school suspension."

Given that Maddie and this boy are in the same classroom, he was going to personally talk to their teacher to make sure that she is aware of a possible situation (I had already emailed the teacher, but a little push from the principal can't hurt). He also was going to speak to Maddie one on one and let her know that she was safe and that the boy will not hurt her again. If he does he will be removed from the bus and/or assigned to a different class, or both.

I'm relieved to see that something is being done about this. I can't stand to see my daughter not feeling safe at school. I didn't think it's fair that I have to rearrange our lives to make my daughter feel safe at school, when clearly it should be the school doing everything in their power to make sure that bullies are punished and children have a safe atmosphere to learn. I think the principal is doing this for her. He said if there are more issues in the future that I should call him immediately so that he can remedy the situation ASAP.

I have to say that I am super proud of Maddie about the way she handled it. She doesn't like to tattle at school (the principal is going to discuss this with her as well) because she feels it doesn't do any good. Plus, the Maddie I KNOW would have defended herself. She would have hit back first and asked questions later. I know because I have watched her and her brother battle and Maddie come out victorious. So, the fact that she let a 6-year-old brat hit her and she didn't crush him is an amazing feat of self-control on Maddie's part.

UPDATED: Big Brother Bear Dylan wants to protect his little sister. SOOO....I have arranged it so that on the 3 days of the week that she rides the bus home, he will walk from the middle school to the elementary school and help the music teacher out with various "busy" tasks until school is out, then he will ride the bus home with Maddie and sit by her for protection. Tomorrow he is going to verify with the driver that this is okay, but I am pretty sure it is. If this doesn't work out then I will pick them BOTH up from school, but I don't really want to do that. That will be plan B. Let's just hope Dylan doesn't get in trouble for threatening a 1st grader.

Letting go

There are some strong differences in my children, some are obvious to everyone, some are not. One of the biggest differences I have noticed recently is me and the way I treat them. I have come to realize that I look at Maddie as being way more fragile than Dylan. Maybe because Dylan has proven to me over and over again that he is a strong, independent child. In fact, over the past few months he has truly blossomed into an amazing young man.

For instance: He had a "physical altercation" at school with another boy. I could have called the school and got involved, but I let Dylan handle the situation himself and guess what? He and that boy are friends now. Maddie got slapped in the face on the bus yesterday and I nearly fainted. Joel had to talk me down off a ledge. In a 5-minute span my brain had me suing this kids parents and Maddie never riding the bus ever again and me personally slapping this other kid. Apparently, the bus driver and the principal were able to handle the situation without my personal assistance, but it was painful for me.

Another instance: Dylan had his first sleepover at someone's house in 1st grade. Maddie is in 1st grade. She got invited to her first sleepover. I never hesitated with Dylan. With Maddie all sorts of scenarios are running through my brain. In the end, I can't let her spend the night at someone else's house. I just can't.

When Dylan was in 1st grade he was walking into the school by himself and walking up from the bus by himself. I can't let Maddie do that. I can't even imagine what would happen. I let her walk into the school once by herself and she wandered around the front of the school for 5 minutes looking at things and people and getting distracted. Oy.

Most days I don't let her get dressed by herself. She'd come downstairs with her shirt on backwards and shorts on in the middle of winter. I've seen kids in her class dressed like this, so apparently some parents think this is acceptable to let their kids learn from their mistakes. I personally, prefer my daughter to go to school looking like a presentable human being that isn't going to die of frostbite at recess.

Yes, I baby her. I don't know if it's because she is my baby, or if because she's just far less independent and self-sufficient than Dylan was. Joel thinks if I let go a little, she'll become her own person rather than an extension of me. It's hard to let go. I don't even think she wants me to let go, but I guess eventually she's going to have to. Where's the Xanax.

A little bit of this

I forgot to post on Sunday. Shame on me. That was my husband's 35th birthday!!! We had a lot of fun at the casino and definitely ate our weight in seafood. Everyone but Maddie anyway. She had a few popcorn shrimp and a lot of fruit and some prime rib. She had a little dessert too. Sunday was my day off (yay). It was also Joel's birthday. He celebrated it by getting up early and going over to his parents' house to clean out their chimney. His mother was not happy with his choice to do that on his birthday, but to Joel it's just another day.

All 4 of us went to Wal Mart around noon to get a few essentials. What a zoo that place was. I can't believe how many people were there. After that we went to Brad and Tara's for a Superbowl party. It was nice because it was very mellow. The kids were so awesome. Since it was only Jordan, Dylan, Riley and Maddie, they just played off by themselves the whole time. Maddie and Riley were especially good. It was nice to have some quiet grown up time.

So, I was back to work yesterday. I saw a funny quote. "Being a good medical transcriptionist is 3% talent and 97% not being distracted by the internet." LMAO That is so true.

Maddie will be done with her antibiotics tomorrow. She's almost completely better. She's still got the cough, but it's about 1% of what it was. She is still sleeping good, in fact she's sleeping better than she ever has in her whole life. I'm talking 11-12 hours a night - STRAIGHT.

I'm still running. Dylan is totally whooping my butt. He's a good trainer. Even yesterday when he was at school I still had his voice in my head saying "Keep going, Mom." I was really sore after my run yesterday because I ran harder and farther than ever. It hurt a little when I woke up today, but it's not so bad. Today I think I'm just going to take a really long walk, just me and my IPOD and my thoughts. What a scary trip that will be.

Beautiful Day!

It's a gorgeous day today. Dylan and I went running this morning and he really pushed me hard. We went 3 miles and I ran 1.5 of it. He is a great kid. He runs faster than me so of course he lapped me. Twice. But he is really great at encouraging me to keep running.

My dad invited us to go to the Casino Buffet for dinner with them tonight for Joel's birthday and their anniversary - their treat. We're really excited. Maddie hates seafood so she was kind of bummed until she found out that there is popcorn shrimp there. She didn't know that popcorn shrimp was seafood. Silly girl.

She's feeling much better, by the way. The cough is still there, but in comparison to last weekend, it's very minimal. She's sleeping 11-12 hours straight through the night.

Speaking of sleeping - Dylan has to be up at 6:45 every morning for school. Well, apparently it is starting to wear on him because the last two days since he hasn't had school he has been sleeping until 8:00. That is totally not like him.

The kids are out enjoying the sunshine and I think I'll go join them. Have a great day!

Mom and Dylan day!!

Dylan had no school today, but Maddie did have school. It was nice to spend the day with just him. We don't do that very often. After we dropped Maddie off at school we went to the high school and walked/ran around the track 10 times - that's 2.5 miles. He did "football sprints" I think he called them. I don't know, all I know is that he was busy doing something besides talking my ear off for about 10 minutes straight which was nice to be able to finally listen to my music in peace and quiet.

After our workout we went to rent our Friday Night Movie Night, which is Back to the Future III. We spent the last two weeks watching 1 and 2. The kids love it. Well, Dylan does. Maddie will probably watch Peter Pan, which is her newest obsession.

Today is my brother-in-law Brad's Birthday. Happy birthday, Brad! Tomorrow is my dad and stepmom's 17th Anniversary. They never remember unless I remind them, so I dropped the hint for my dad yesterday so he wouldn't forget. Good thing I did, because he did forget. They always forget. Both of them. I find that odd. I can't imagine forgetting my anniversary. I never forget their anniversary because it is the day before Joel's birthday!!

Today is the start of my 3-day-weekend!! I haven't had a Sunday off in so long, I can't even tell you how excited I am. I took it off for two reasons - one is that it is Joel's birthday - another is that it is Superbowl Sunday and Tara has invited us over to watch it with them. I was really excited when they granted my day off request because I would have been super bummed if Joel and the kids got to go over without me.

Dylan just whooped my booty in Monopoly and is now trying to get his tooth out. When we went to the orthodontist last fall he said he needed to lose about 6 more teeth before he could get braces, which I thought was preposterous. Well, turns out he was right (no kidding, huh?). Dylan has lost like 4 teeth in the past 2 months. I swear he has more space in his mouth than teeth now. I forgot that you lose more teeth at this age. When I think of losing teeth I think of the 5-8 range, not 12 and up.

Have a great weekend!

Silence in the House!

Maddie went back to school today. The house is eerily quiet without her constant jabbering. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and so I was more than happy to drop her butt off at school. Her teacher was really happy to see her.

We got caught up on the end of last season of LOST and the season premiere of this year. HOLY CRAP. That is about all I have to say about that. Dylan has never watched it, but he watched the "recap" episode and the season premiere and now he is totally hooked too.

Nothing else too exciting, really. Now, I am just going to go enjoy my quiet house.

I caught this little video of Maddie singing while on the toilet. She made up songs all day long on Tuesday. This was only one of MANY.



Here's another.



Yes, she will hate me someday so I may as well have some fun in the journey.

Who is this child????

Maddie was sick. More sick than I had thought. She got two doses of antibiotics in her and she became a new person. That person would be the devil.

Holy W-T-F?

She is all of a sudden a crazy, wild, hyperactive child who never stops talking. Ever.

She had a rash on her legs this morning, which totally freaked me out - I thought for sure she was allergic to the antibiotic. I was panicked and checking her all over her body (and finding nothing) and I'm about ready to call the doctor when she fesses up. She SHAVED HER LEGS. Yes, you read that correctly. It was razor burn. I am so glad she didn't cut herself.

I just don't even know what to say.

Oh that Maddie of mine

She has pneumonia. She has been off and on sick since December. She usually gets a good week in once in awhile where she isn't coughing or anything and then *bam* it's back again. Thursday it came back with a vengence. By Saturday she was horrible. She had a fever Saturday night and Sunday morning. She has hardly slept since Saturday night. She sounds like she's been smoking two packs a day for 50 years.

I took her to the doctor this morning and she has a pretty bad case of pneumonia. He gave her a twice a day antibiotic and hopefully by Wednesday she'll be better. She's a tough cookie, she said she feels fine. I can't even imagine. I am hoping that with the first two doses of antibiotics in her by bed time she will be feeling good enough to not cough all night long again.