Resolution update #1

On January 1st, I posted my resolutions for this year. In order to keep myself accountable and to attempt to make more progress on my personal goals, I plan to update monthly with my progress on each.

Let's see how things have been going...

1) Lose the 15-20 lbs of baby weight that refuse to disappear nicely on their own! 
So far, not too much progress on this one. I've been fluctuating up and down the same 2 lbs this whole month. Until they seem permanently gone, I won't count them! I have been to the gym a few times though, and Baby A seems to be acclimating well to the childcare there, so hopefully I'll be able to put in more time in the coming months.

2)  Read 25 books. 
I'm doing better on this one. So far I have read 5 books, so I'm on track to meet (or perhaps even exceed) this goal.

1. Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

2. The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbo

3. The Snowman by Jo Nesbo

I read the Jo Nesbo's The Redbreast in paperback during my last book challenge and was excited to see that some of his later novels are now available for the kindle. I love these Norwegian mysteries featuring the flawed police detective Harry Hole. The characters are complex and the story lines always have many twists and turns. I always think I know "whodunit" but then a few pages later realize that actually I have no idea! I love mysteries that keep me guessing. There are two more books in the series currently available for the Kindle. It was difficult to put the series down, but I figured it would be good to change gears and save some for later!

4. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Yes, this is a kids book, but C really wanted to read this series since many of his friends are reading these books. While I know all the boys love them because "they're so funny, Mom!", I've heard mixed reviews from parents since the main characters really are not well behaved. Rather than telling him he couldn't read them, I read the book as well so C and I could have a discussion about all the things he should not emulate from these characters. He's already moved on to books 2 and 3. I guess I should flip through those too.

5. The Dark Monk: A Hangman's Daughter Tale by Oliver Potzsch
This is the sequel of another book that I read during my 50 book challenge in 2010. Revisiting these familiar characters has been really fun, and it's definitely helping me stay motivated to read. I would classify this as a historical fiction/mystery, loosely based on the author's ancestors who were hangmen in Bavaria in the 1600s. The story is a very easy read, and I also enjoyed the authors notes at the end where he described some of his research into his own family tree and his travels in Bavaria for inspiration.

I am really enjoying reading more again!!

3) Explore a new hobby and take more pictures. 
I have worked my way through the camera manual and have also started reading a book about photography that many people seem to recommend highly, Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. I am still using the auto mode on my camera, but I am working on finding the times with the best light so I can take flash free photos. I had fun taking a few "artsy" shots of Baby A and his favorite Thomas. Hopefully as the year goes on, I'll be able to move to more manual settings.

 4) Blog more.
This month I wrote 9 posts (including this one). That's not bad, considering that I only posted 23 times in 2012. Here's hoping I can keep it up!

And of course...Be more patient and loving. Spend more time playing and less time yelling.
Well...this one is always a work in progress!!

TV time

All three boys crammed onto the ottoman to watch one of their new favorite shows: Wheel of Fortune! I love it when they all get along!

Our Dairy Free Favorites

When C was diagnosed with an allergy to milk seven years ago, we were totally confused and overwhelmed. We basically had to learn a whole new way to cook and eat. Since everything that C eats must be completely dairy free, I've spent a lot of time poring over ingredient lists and trying to figure out where I can stock up on safe foods. I'm not sure if he'll ever outgrow this allergy. I hope he does for his sake. Sitting on the side, eating his own snack while everyone else is gorging on cake and pizza, is C's norm at birthday parties. While I hate that he has to do this, I am grateful for all the milk-free foods that exist.  Here's a list of some of our favorite brands; my ode to the foods that make our dairy free life possible! While some of these products can be found in regular grocery stores, we do make special trips to Whole Foods to buy several of them.

1) Silk vanilla soymilk. While they will drink other soy milks, my boys think this is the best tasting variety out there! This is what they drink daily and also what we substitute for cow's milk in recipes. It definitely helps that we can buy a 3 pack for a reasonable price at Costco since dairy free/vegan food is typically much more expensive.

2) Earth Balance natural buttery spread. Despite the name, this is a completely dairy free vegan margarine. Before C was diagnosed with a milk allergy, I had no idea that most margarines actually contain milk. This one tastes great and comes in both tub and stick form, making it super easy to substitute into recipes. Our fridge is always well stocked with this.

3) Whole Soy & Co yogurts. Like with margarine, I was shocked to find out that many "soy" yogurts, including those made by Stonyfield farms and other major brands actually contain milk protein, and are unsafe for people with milk allergies. These yogurts have become our favorites, with great flavors like apricot-mango and key lime as well as all the standard ones.

4) Cherrybrook Kitchen cake & frosting mixes. I cannot say enough about these mixes!!! I use these cake and frosting mixes to make all of our birthday cakes and they honestly taste delicious! People have no idea that it is a dairy free cake. And these mixes are free of eggs and nuts as well, so they are also great for birthday party cupcakes where there may be kids with multiple other allergies. I try to always have a few boxes of these in the pantry because I cannot always find them in stores. This fall, I actually ordered a case of our favorite chocolate cake mix directly from the company to be sure I would have enough for all the upcoming birthdays. That's how much we love these products!

5) Daiya cheese. This vegan cheese is a relatively new discovery for us. As is the running theme of this post, many "soy" cheeses actually contain milk protein to make the cheese melt and stretch more like dairy cheese. So for a long time we avoided soy cheese altogether. I eventually discovered some vegan cheese slices, but Daiya was the first shredded cheese we ever found. This is definitely one of the better vegan cheeses out there because it does melt well. We use it to make homemade macaroni & cheese and pizza. It has a sweeter taste than dairy cheese, but the boys still love it. And it's so nice to be able to let C enjoy some of these classic childhood favorites in a safe way.

6) Tyson & Kirkland brand chicken nuggets. Most chicken nuggets have milk in the breading, but these two typically do not. I buy big bags of these at Costco. Even kids with allergies love everything in nugget form!  Not the healthiest food of course, but these are great to microwave up and serve with veggies for a quick dinner.  Since most prepared & frozen foods have milk, butter, or cheese in them, having a quick cook staple in the freezer is essential!

7) Tofutti ice creams. My boys love these soy ice cream sandwiches and cones and they are one of our favorite warm weather treats. We've tried their "Better than cream cheese" spread on bagels and that is quite tasty too.

8) Amy's kitchen no cheese and vegan margherita pizza. My boys love to eat pizza, and these are a nice staple to have in the freezer for nights where I don't feel like cooking. Again, one has to carefully check the ingredients of all of these pizzas, as the Amy's kitchen soy cheese pizza does contain milk. But the vegan pizza is actually made with Daiya cheese so that and the no cheese variety are both dairy free.

9) Kashi cereal bars. Granola/cereal bars are another staple childhood snack, but most of them contain milk. I was so happy when I discovered these! I try to always keep a box in the car since they are perfect for on the go snacks.

10) Oreos, Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Snyders mini Pretzels. These are some easy to find dairy free snacks that can be bought almost anywhere.

****I always read ingredient labels each time I shop and then again each time I open a package at home, even for these products that I buy regularly.  For serious food allergies, this is the safest method, since product ingredients can change at any time.****

Heavy...

While carrying Baby A back to the car after kindergarten dropoff...

Me: "You're getting so big! Who's such a big boy?!"

Baby A: "Baby!"

Me: "That's right! You're getting to be such a big boy! And you're getting heavy to carry!
Who's getting so heavy?"

Baby A: "Mama."

Baby speaks the truth...

I have a dream....

O has a monthly calendar of brief daily assignments to complete for kindergarten. In honor of the upcoming Martin Luther King Day, one of this week's assignments was "Talk about Martin Luther King. What is a dream that you have?" After we discussed the MLK video they had watched in class, I asked O about his dreams.

O's initial response: "To play Super Mario!"

Me: "OK. But do you have any bigger dreams than that? Maybe something about everyone? Or about the world? Not just about you and videogames?"

After a thoughtful pause, O said:  "I dream that people would stop polluting the oceans, to save the sea animals! So all the sea animals would be happy!"

C, who is studying water availability and conservation in second grade, chimed in: "I dream that everyone would have clean drinking water without having to walk more than 2 miles to get it!"

Now that's more like it!

Well Loved Thomas

Scraped and scuffed, but still his favorite!

Train cake for TWO!

Bespectacled

Hubby and I have wondered about O's vision on and off over the last year or so. We noticed that he seemed to lean closer to the computer and books than his brothers did. But he knows how to read well, could easily spot signs on the road, and seemed comfortable watching TV from the couch like the rest of us. I brought up my concerns about O's vision at his 5 year checkup last spring but he passed the pediatrician's vision screen and I was reassured.  Hubby and I are both nearsighted and got glasses in late elementary school, so I assumed that while all our boys will probably need glasses eventually, for now everything was ok. So I was caught off guard when I got a letter from his school nurse last month informing me that O had failed the kindergarten vision screen and needed a full evaluation. We took him to an ophthalmologist over winter break and found out that while his overall vision wasn't terrible, he has significant astigmatism and is starting to get a lazy eye, so he does indeed need glasses. O cried hysterically and exclaimed over and over that "I don't need glasses! I can see just fine!" Until he put his new glasses on. Since then he hasn't complained about wearing them one bit. It seems he can really tell a difference..."Mom, before everything was a little bit smudgy. But now it's not!"

Despite feeling comfortable in his glasses at home, O was really nervous about returning to school because none of his classmates have glasses. He worried that the other kids would make fun of him. He even said that he was sure his friends wouldn't want to play with him anymore. Hubby tried to reassure O that his friends like him because of his fun personality, and that that wouldn't change just because he has glasses. But O remained unconvinced. So I was thrilled to hear that his first day back to school went well. His teacher, who typically wears contacts, wore his glasses that day so O wouldn't be the only one. And O said only one of his friends asked him why he was wearing glasses. When O replied "because they help me see better!", the friend said "ok" and that was the end of it. He even created a new Mii for the Wii that shows him wearing glasses. Here's hoping his love of glasses continues, and that the glasses help his lazy eye improve so we can avoid patching!

Who wouldn't want to be friends with this guy?!

Resolutions

It's that time of year again.

In general, I don't do too well with resolutions. I have a lot of energy for them in January and then things get busy and my attention wanders and come December, I am making the same resolutions again. Lose weight. Get more exercise. Read more. These same ideas keep cropping up over and over and over, in various permutations. But a common thread in all of them is to do something for myself. To make me feel better about me. It's so easy for me to spend all my time and effort on the boys, and then late at night, when it's finally my time, all I have the energy for is watching TV. I'd like to do more than that. And be more than that. Because success in those areas gives me the extra oomph I need to achieve the other resolutions that I always make. Be more patient and loving with my family. Spend more time playing and less time yelling.

The one time I was really successful with a resolution was when I challenged myself to read 50 books in one year and I documented it on this blog. At the time I wasn't sure I could do it, but coming here and writing about it kept me motivated and indeed, I did it! But that was 2010. With the addition of Baby A, life got even busier. So I guess it's understandable that some things fell by the wayside. Now it's time to focus. I'm hoping that if I challenge myself and blog about my resolutions again, I'll have the same kind of success in 2013.

So here goes...

This year I would like to:

1) Lose the 15-20 lbs of baby weight that refuse to disappear nicely on their own! My baby is almost 2 so really, the time for excuses is over. Another motivator: my size 0 sister-in-law is getting married in September, and I would love to be slimmer by then. No one wants to be the one chubby bridesmaid. As part of this resolution, I want to take more advantage of my gym membership and its free childcare. I joined this new gym with the best intentions this fall, but haven't gone there much. If Baby A and I can get there a couple times a week, that would be a good start. It's also time to dust off the stack of fitness DVDs that I've acquired over the years.

2)  Read 25 books. While I would love to read 50 books again this year, I think that is probably unrealistic. 25 books is more reasonable. Two books a month is still way more than I have been reading lately. And if I can read more than that...even better!

3) Explore a new hobby and take more pictures.  After contemplating updating our camera for a while now,  Hubby & I finally took advantage of the Black Friday sales and picked up an older model Nikon DSLR as a Christmas present to ourselves. I've been having a lot of fun playing around with it and would like to learn even more. I have a couple instructional DVDs that came with the camera so I'll start there. Here's hoping some great pictures of the kids will follow!

4) Blog more. I keep saying that I want to write more, and then I never do. 2010 was the year I posted the most, and it was also the year that I was the most successful with my other resolutions. I think that just the act of carving out a few minutes for myself here helped me focus in other parts of my life too. So maybe this resolution will be the one that helps tie all the others together.

And of course...Be more patient and loving. Spend more time playing and less time yelling.

I'm ready to start fresh in the New Year. Who's with me?

...and may all your Christmases be white!

First big snow of the season! It's a few days after Christmas, but we'll take it.
Too bad Baby A hated being out in the snow. Maybe next year...

May your days be merry and bright...

Since I'm not sure how many more years they'll agree to wear them, I just couldn't resist the matching PJs!

"Oh-Oh and Ton-Ton"

Baby A was slow to start talking. We discussed this with our pediatrician at our 15 and 18 month appointments and agreed that we would consider a referral to Early intervention if he didn't start talking in the next few months. Thankfully, over the next few months he did start talking more and more. One day in the fall, I made a list of his words to track his progress. At that time he was saying:

"Sept 19, 2012 -20 months- Dada,  Choo choo, Aff aff (what a dog says), Sit, Up, Uh oh, fall down, Stuck!, Outside, Shoes, Voom (what a car says), Maow (what a cat says), Moo, Wafa (waffle), Plane, Dat (that), Ball, Bup (cup), Off, Train, All done, Where's the ball?, Bar (fruity bar)"

Of note, he was still not saying "mama". Yes, despite me being a SAHM, and nursing Baby A until 19 months, he still had no name for me! It took a few weeks after I made that list, well into 21 months, before he started saying "mama" consistently. And just a couple weeks later he started saying "iPah". At least I beat the addictive purveyor of Thomas apps and videos! But not by much...

Baby A still had no names for his brothers, until last week when he started attempting to say their names. His version: "Oh-Oh!" & "Ton-Ton!" It's so cute to hear him call out to them!  And now that he can identify his brothers, he can also rat them out. After he started crying while playing with C & O in the other room, I heard "WAAAAAHHH!!! Ton-Ton!!! OUCH!!!" Yup. Now he can identify the culprit, who in this case had knocked him off a chair. Only took 23 months for a new player to emerge in the never ending blame game!

I love this phase where every day there is a new word and I can see his language starting to explode. I know soon he will probably say C & O's names correctly, but I never want to forget his first names for them. Baby A still isn't able to say his own name, so for now he calls himself "Baby".

Happy Holidays from "Baby", "Oh-Oh" and "Ton-Ton"

Letters to Santa

It's that time of year again!

For the first time, O wrote his letter himself! This was quite an accomplishment. At O's kindergarten conference last week, his teacher expressed some concern that O has quite a bit of difficulty forming letters and suggested that we find fun ways to practice writing at home. And what could be more fun than a letter to Santa?!

My favorite part was the "And Money". When I asked him why, he said "Because then I will give C the money so he can buy me a DS!" (in case Santa doesn't bring one, I guess...)

C happily wrote his own letter.

Clearly he's very into angry birds at the moment.

Santa had better get to work!

Hopes & Dreams

C: "Mom, guess what I wrote for my hope and dream for second grade?"

Me: "What?"

C: "My hope and dream for second grade is to learn more about geometry!!"

?????

Definitely his father's son....

Back to School Survey

O started Kindergarten last week. C, now an experienced second grader, didn't seem too phased by the start of school, but O was much more hesitant. Thankfully, despite a few tearful anticipatory days, the actual start went smoothly and he came home brimming with excitement about all his new "best friends". It apparently only takes half a day to earn that moniker in his book! In an attempt to learn more about each child, O's teacher sent home a list of questions to ask our children. We had to record the answers word for word and send the responses back to school.

I thought some of O's answers were funny, so I wanted to write them down!

What are some things you like to do?
"Play video games, play board games, and play outside."

What is reading?
"Reading is when you look at a book and you can read out loud and also in your head."

Why do you need to know how to read?
"So you can be a school teacher and read books to the kids."

Can you read? "Yes"
If yes, what do you read?
"I read Curious George and other books."

How did you learn to read?
"I watched Mommy read, so I got it."

How do you think you will learn to read?
"I already know how!"

What is writing?
"Writing is when you write something on a piece of paper, but if you make a mistake it's ok."

Do you like to write? "Kind of"
If no, why not?
"Because it's a bit tiring."

Why do people write?
"Because they want to tell other people what they wrote."

Ready to take on the world!

Journal Fodder

C's teacher encouraged him to continue to work on his writing by keeping a journal this summer. The inspiration for his first entry came last Saturday.

I'm not sure why he decided to add lines to his already lined paper. It makes the text hard to read. So here it is...

"One day I bumped my head and went to the hospital and got staples."

Yup. That happened. Darn street fair Touch-a-Truck!

School's Out!

School's out for the summer! It's been a mixed bag for the kids. They're excited to have vacation but also sad to be leaving their current teachers. I remember those feelings well, so I wasn't too surprised when they were a moody mess to start the week. But we're settling into the groove. I got them each a special "Congrats on finishing the year" present which helped distract them a bit. C got the World Almanac for Kids 2012 edition, which he has been asking for since he used the 2008 one in his classroom--how could I say no to a book request?? O got the game Twister. He first played at his preK end of the year party and hasn't stopped talking about since--it was convenient that I saw it on clearance at the grocery store soon after. I also overloaded our first few free days with playdates so that helped set the tone for fun.

This is our first summer in our new house, and the boys are really enjoying having their own yard to play in. We broke out the sprinkler for the first time a couple days ago and they have asked for it every day since. O has spent so much time on the swing set that he finally learned to pump his own legs and no longer needs to be pushed!! I can not tell you how much this has changed my life. Now instead of whining for me, he just goes out and swings. So awesome!

I am not doing too well with my 10 book summer challenge. I got most of the way through a book that I was really enjoying, but then I put it down and it got kicked under the couch so it was out of sight, out of mind. By the time I found it again, I'd already been sucked into a new obsession--the now defunct show Friday Night Lights, which we have free on demand. Hubby started watching it a few months ago when he was home with a stomach bug and kept raving about how good it was. I had no interest in this show, because why would I want to watch a show about football??? I just ignored his commentary and he ended up watching all five seasons by himself. But then a couple weeks ago, there were no interesting movies on so Hubby suggested that I watch the first episode and see if I liked it. He enjoyed the show so much he was eager to watch it again! I was still skeptical but figured why not? It turns out that while the show is based around a football team, it is really a family drama with a lot of interesting characters. I have gotten totally sucked into it and am now midway through season 3. I'm definitely glad I gave it a chance, and wish I had watched it when it was actually on.  I wonder if it never truly developed a huge fan base because everyone thought it was just about football...poor marketing on their part, because it's so much more than that!

But that book was really good too, so I need to pick it up again! C & O signed up for the summer reading program at the library so they are motivated to read and log their books now. Hope they can get me going again too.
 

Adventures and Summer Book Challenge

There's only two weeks of school left which means summer is just around the corner. The big boys will go to a couple of weeks of 1/2 day camp, but otherwise our summer is pretty wide open. I'm hoping to have a good mix of lazy days and day trips. For the last few years we've had fun making a list of possible summer adventures and then crossing them off once the mission is accomplished. I might have forgotten to make a list this year, but C was quick to remind me a few days ago. Here's our preliminary list of possibilities for Summer 2012...

2012 Summer Adventures List

1. Art Museum
2. Children's museum
3. Visit Gramma & Grampa
4. Visit Auntie A
5. Go to the Farm
6. Zoo
7. Beach
8. Swimming at the Pond
9. Bowling
10. Mini Golf
11. Strawberry Picking
12. Blueberry Picking
13. Woods Treasure/Scavenger Hunt
14. Go for a Hike
15. Visit local Sculpture Park
16. Have a picnic
17. Bike Ride
18. Science Museum

I've also always equated the lazy days of summer with long hours of reading. I will probably never actually get to read for hours, but I do want to read more, even if it's in little snippets here and there. So I'm going to challenge myself to read more again. I really enjoyed reading 50 books in 2010. 2011 was a wash in terms of reading--Baby A drained pretty much all of my energy and motivation! But now that it's halfway through 2012, maybe I can get back into it again. 25 books seems too daunting though, so...I'm challenging myself to read and blog about 10 books this summer!
Let's see if I've done it by the time school starts in September!! Anyone else want to join me in a back to the books challenge?

What are you up to this summer? I'd welcome any suggestions for reading or adventures!!

q

The Artist

One of O's favorite school experiences this year was "the art unit". Every year, the director of our preschool spends several weeks at the end of the year teaching the pre-K students about art. They talk about what art is, learn about specific artists, and try out many different styles and media. The in-depth art adventure culminates with a trip to the local art museum and the grand opening of their own art gallery in the school gym. I remember this unit well from 2 years ago when C learned that "We are all Artists." I knew C enjoyed it, so I was interested to see what O would think.

In general, O does not love art. Or writing. Or working particularly hard. All year, we have gotten the feedback that O is very bright, but just does the bare minimum on his assignments so he can get back to playing with his friends. And what he produces is generally simplistic. As his teacher said at his final conference, "He does exactly what is asked of him, and nothing more." So I was anticipating that this art unit might be a little torturous for him. Boy, was I wrong!

Each day O came home bursting with information about the artist & style they had studied that day. Unlike C, who told me cryptic bits and pieces that I didn't really understand, O reported the names of the artists and styles with ease. And his teachers kept commenting on how hard he was working on all his art projects.

After the trip to the museum, O reported, "My favorite piece was the Chihuly. And the mobiles and stabiles by Alexander Calder. But we didn't get to see the Mondrian, because that gallery was closed. But we did see some Jackson Pollack!"

Me: (!!!) "What's a Chihuly?"

O: "Mom, don't you know? Chihuly is an artist who makes things out of glass. And it looked like a giant floating tree but it was really made of glass."

Nope. I didn't know that. I've never even heard of Chihuly. I love that O is teaching me things!

The next day, his art gallery opened, and O was thrilled that Hubby was able to join us for the exhibition. O took his responsibilities as our "docent" very seriously and led us around the room explaining all of the works. Just a sampling of some of the display (which included line art, shape composition, color composition, artistic interpretation, pop art, photo montage, abstract expressionism, kinetic art, and quilting). I think it's quite a collection for 5 years olds!

Looks like we'll have to plan a trip to the art museum this summer, so O can teach us even more about art!

For the Birds

A few weeks ago, I took down one of the hanging pots on our porch and was very surprised to find this inside...

The boys were so excited to see the nest, and since I noticed that the Mommy bird seemed to be tending to it regularly, we were optimistic that some of the eggs might actually hatch. We took the pot down every few days to take a quick peek and soon saw our first hatchling!

And over the next few days, all the eggs hatched. We discovered that newly hatched birds are kind of funny looking without their feathers!

My mom said that baby birds are "all mouths" and she was right. Can't you just imagine him wailing "I'm hungry!!"

Mommy bird is doing a good job feeding them, because they sure are growing. We've been careful to only peek at the nest for a couple seconds every few days, and we never touch the birds, to make sure we don't scare her away.

They're so cute sleeping all huddled up together...and now they really look like birds! Feathers and all! I wonder how soon the nest will be empty because the birds will have grown up enough to fly away.

My mom suggested keeping the nest as a souvenir after the birds have abandoned it. At first I thought that was a great idea, until I realized how much baby birds poop. You can barely even see the nest now. It just looks like the birds are sleeping in a poop circle. Gross.

But those birds sure are cute!