Hopefully This is Only the Beginning

Well, I have been back on Weight Watchers, along with my husband, for a little over 5 weeks now. I had lost 22 lbs on the program a couple of years ago, but boy did the pounds creep back on, and they found some others to join them along the way! My husband and I don't go to the Weight Watcher meetings...we're just doing it on our own. The first two weeks were very successful. I really stuck to my points, kept record of everything I ate, and I lost 7 pounds...and then the dreaded Super Bowl entered the picture. I didn't think much of it at the time. I had saved up my flex points, feeling I was being very responsible, and allowed myself to "cheat" that evening, which is not really cheating because Weight Watchers allows you to do that sort of thing. I had barbequed ribs, jalepeno poppers, and chocalate chip cookies. Doesn't sound that bad, does it? But I have had the hardest time ever since. I'm telling you...its an addiction! I got a little piece of the "good ole life" and I haven't completely given that up.

Now, I have lost 3 more pounds since then, giving me a grand total of 10 pounds lost, but I'm struggling. I would like to make myself accountable to those of you who read my blog. I sorta kinda have a small pride issue, :) and I don't like others to know when I have failed. So, every Monday I am going to post my pounds lost. Now don't even think I'm going to tell you how much I weigh...WAY to prideful for that, especially with those of you who know me from my high school/college days. I don't want to be THAT accountable. :) But I will tell you that my goal is to loose 72 pounds. I know...its a whole lot!

I honestly think I have what it takes to be on The Biggest Loser. I thrive off of competition, I absolutely love to work out (especially when I would have a personal trainer), and doing it all in front of millions of people would SO motivate me to succeed. But, I also have what it doesn't take to be on that show...three kiddos and a husband that I couldn't be away from for that length of time. So, I thought the next best thing would be to put myself out there to the blogging world and be accountable to you. So, what do you say. You with me?

Back To Work

....at least part time. After looking for about a month, sending out a handful of resumes, and landing 4 interviews, I finally got that call today I have been eagerly anticipating...a voice on the other end saying, "I would like to offer you the job." After being home full-time for a year, I am now going back to work part-time. It will be a very productive 25 hours a week. Alex and I are in much need of some extra income, I desperately need some normal adult interaction, working does wonders for my self-esteem, and I truly feel that I am a more organized Mom when I am not home all day everyday. So, I guess you can say this is a good change for us.

Alex has been working two full-time jobs for a while now (one of which is seasonal - from April to December). We are not quite sure what his schedule will look like now, but he will definitely be able to spend more time with the kiddos. Josiah has been asking me lately when I'm going to "get work" again because he's tired of it just being the four of us without Daddy. I hope this change can begin to balance our lives out a little. And Alex is a miracle worker when it comes to potty training, so I expect that Micah will be completely trained within the next couple of weeks (he potty trained Josiah in a week and a half on vacation one year after I had to return home early for work). Thats completely hunky dory with me!

"Old School" Video Games...with a Veggie Twist

I am so "out of it" when it comes to current video games. I wouldn't know the different between a Playstation and a X-Box (although I did play some Guitar Hero over the holidays with my niece...wicked fun!!!!) I may be aging myself, but I'm all about Nintendo and even Atari (remember Frogger...my favorite!) For those who can relate, I have found an awesome website that has games that I can enjoy. Some of my favorites are Veggie Pile-Up, Jerry's Cheeseburgers, and Moby Blaster. Most of you will probably recognize these names. :) You will very quickly be able to see the alter ego they are taking on. See if you can get more than 100 lines on Veggie Pile-Up.

Exercising Patience

About three weeks ago, Alex and I began the grueling process of potty training our youngest son, Micah. I know there are many "potty programs" out there, a few of which promise to achieve the goal in one day. Well, we have never admitted to being experts on the subject and its never happened for us in one day. We began by doing the same thing we had done with Josiah...quitting diapers cold turkey (except for naptime and bedtime, of course). Jacob has required a much different approach. He sits on the potty on a schedule, and after almost 2 years of starting the training, he still does not communicate to us he needs to go, so the scheduled approach has stayed in place. With Josiah, and now with Micah, we purchased a butt-load (no pun intended) of underwear and play the rest by ear. Reinforcers such as candy and "wicked" cool toys have played a major role.

Well, the first week (with Micah)...no results, except for killing a few brain cells with all the Resolve that was used. The second week...about 3-4 successful number 1's. The third week...about 4-5 completely independent number 1's and 3 completely independent number 2's. I have been very pleased with the results. This is all being done on a little potty that I keep in our living area of the house downstairs. Our one and only bathroom is upstairs. But, during this process I came to realize that he was more likely to NOT have an accident if he was naked "down there." But, now we are to the point where he only goes independently if he has nothing on. With underwear on, he has accidents. So, thats where we are in the potty process. Any advice?

The Day After

In talking with my mom and my mother-in-law yesterday, I came to realize that we were all in agreement that a birthDAY should actually be a birthMONTH, or at the least a birthWEEK. One day is such a short amount of time and being celebrated, made to feel special, and my favorite perk of Daddy doing the dishes, putting the kids to bed, running a nice bubble bath, etc. goes by in the blink of an eye.

My son, Josiah, would definitely be in support of the month-long birthday celebration. He was extremely disappointed yesterday when he found out that I was not having a big party with lots of people, presents, party hats, and goody bags. To him a birthday, whether its his or not, is a reason to partay!!! He told me yesterday that he thinks everyone, not just the birthday boy or girl, should have fun on birthdays...so he suggested we go to Chuck E. Cheese. :)

I hated to disappoint, but we went to Outback Steakhouse, where we go twice a year - my birthday and Mother's Day. I enjoyed my 9oz. Outback Special, my garlic mashed potatoes, my ceasar salad, and that wonderful bread they serve. Sure wish I could eat like that all month long.

Welcome to Holland

Thank you, Amy, for reminding me of this comparison. And thank you, Monica, for bringing it to my attention in the first place. I thought I would share the following piece with everyone because it so accurately describes the journey that I, and others with autistic children, have actually been blessed to have gone through. While it is a very difficult situation to endure and deal with on a daily basis, I can only smile when I read the following:

"Welcome to Holland"
By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo, David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

I know this may sound crazy, but you get to the point where you realize that if all of the sudden you wake up in Italy, you would actually MISS those "very special, very lovely things...about Holland."

I love you, Jacob!!!!

I'm Not That Unique, Am I?

My birthday is in 3 days and what did I ask for? A vacuum cleaner! Alex thinks I have totally lost my mind. Who would ever want a vacuum cleaner for his/her birthday?....ME! My initial request was a keyboard, but realizing that it was not in our budget (at least the kind I really wanted), I had to rearrange my list of wants. And since my vacuum picks up dirt just as efficiently with the power turned OFF as it does with the darn thing ON, it moved up to the very top of my list. I get really stressed out when Alex overspends on my birthday (or any special day, for that matter), which he is very guilty of doing. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it so much, but it does cause some stress. I figured we would have to buy a vacuum anyway, why not just use it as a birthday gift. Also, being able to vacuum my house and being able to tell that I vacuumed would make me very HAPPY! Who doesn't love a crumb-free carpet? My beautiful, precious, extremely vivacious son Jacob is the world's messiest kid. We have not been successful at figuring out a way to keep him seated when he eats, so food ends up everywhere. Just imagine him grabbing a handful of chips and running into the living room devouring the chips like cookie monster eats cookies. Thats my life on a daily basis. (for those of you who don't know, Jacob is autistic...I'm not just a clueless, pushover mom :)) So, one could see why a new vacuum would make me happy.

Alex has been the object of some innocent ridicule among his family and co-workers over gifts he's given me in the past. A few years ago, shortly after moving to Massachusetts he gave me Celtics tickets for my birthday, and for Mother's Day 2 years back, I received Red Sox/Yankee tickets (which for those who don't know are very hard to come by). His nephew gave him a hard time when he got me a set of Teflon cookware for Christmas. I loved it! About a year before Alex had bought a set of non-Teflon cookware from Emeril and I hated it. Everything stuck to it, so I was more than pleased to see the word Teflon underneath that wrapping paper. Thank God that Alex listens to me and knows me so well and doesn't let his pride take over. He got me diamond earrings once and I lost one of them. I guess he learned his lesson. Be honest with me...am I strange?

We Cried Like Babies

I wanted to write about something that happened a few weeks ago. It was a Saturday night, a little after 8:00p.m. Being one of Alex's only evenings home, we were about to put "Pirates of Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest" into the DVD player (after watching a little bit of election coverage, that is). Although we had tucked our kids into bed 5 minutes prior, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs along with a slight wimper. By the time Josiah got down the stairs the wimper had turned into a cry. Being very unlike him to get out of bed, we were somewhat concerned and asked him what was wrong. He said that he was having bad thoughts. We asked him about what. He said he was thinking about going to hell, and tears were in his eyes. This was completely out of the blue, or I guess you could say completely from the Holy Spirit. I will never forget the look in Alex's eyes as he sat Josiah on his lap. Alex thrives off of "teachable moments" and boy was this a teachable moment. Josiah knew about salvation, Jesus' sacrifice for us, and having a relationship with the Him. But, he had never made the personal decision to allow Christ to come into his life and be his Lord...that is until that night. It was beautiful. Alex and I were both crying and we raced to the phone in order to be the first to call our parents.

I had joked in the past, when Josiah was being disrespectful to me, that although that type of behavior needed to stop, I thought, "Wait a minute...he's not a Christian. His sinful nature isn't under the authority of his Lord and Savior." And even though I was joking around about that, I knew there would be a time when he would realize he was a sinner and want to feel the cleansing power of Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, that he has now experienced that.

I also became a Christian at the age of 6 and I know that I didn't have a complete lifestyle change, but it was a real experience. Josiah isn't preaching from the rooftops about Christ's saving power, he still disobeys me, and still fights with his brothers, but I eagerly anticipate his growth in Him. One change I have noticed in him is his desire to pray. Prior to this night he would often shy away from praying out loud because he didn't always know what to say. But, I am now not even tempted to tuck my babies into bed without saying a prayer...and Josiah always follows, ending his prayer with thanking Jesus for dying on the cross.

February Vacation?

OK, so its February Vacation, a concept I was not familiar with until moving to New England. I'm not sure what the purpose of this break is, given the fact that Christmas Vacation was just 6 weeks ago and April Vacation is just around the corner. But, here we are, in the middle of winter in Massachusetts, with no opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. When my kids were in 1/2 a day preschool, I actually loved it when school was out. I didn't understand those who grew weary thinking about a holiday or other type of school break. To me it meant being able to lounge around in my pj's, not having to prepare lunches or snacks (yes, i'm a procrastinator and didn't do that sort of thing until the morning), being able to take it easy, and not having to endure pick-up. But I totally get it now. My kids are older and are at school all day long, so when they are home all day, especially for a week, the ibuprofin bottle quickly calls my name. I love my kids so much, but they are very loud creatures. Hopefully scheduling a few play dates will ease the pain. And don't think the pain is mine only. My kids don't like vacation week either. They love school and don't like to miss. Of course, they are only in kindergarten and 1st grade, so I expect that to change. Does anyone else experience the frustration of vacation week?

I'm Joining the Blogging World

Well, about a year and a half ago I joined the myspace world and that sure has been fun. I've re-connected with so many people that I haven't seen in years. Then about 6 months ago I joined the facebook world and I noticed that many of those who I couldn't find on myspace were on facebook. Then, again, I was able to get in contact with many others. And I imagine that there are many in the blogging world that I would want to be in communication with. I love to talk and since at the moment I am a stay-at-home mom of three, ages 7,6, and 2, I don't get the amount of adult conversation that I desire. I decided that creating a blog would be a wonderful outlet for me to express myself and to also update those who are interested on things going on in my family. My family and I live many, many, many miles away from any extended family. So, to mom and dad and mom-in-law and dad-in-law, this is your lucky day. Want to hear funny stories about your grandkids? Want to hear how your daughter is handling the challanges of raising an autistic child? Want to know how God is blessing us? Want to read controversial thoughts offered by your son (yes, Alex has already mentioned writing a blog about Christians and evolution...I told him to get his own blog :)). Then check out my blog. Not sure if anyone else will read it, but it sure will help me get my thoughts out of my head and into cyberspace.