When I was a little girl, the frequent visits to the dentist didn’t bother me too much. The laughing gas was fun, at least at first. I didn’t truly appreciate the severity of a cavity or a filling. As I grew into an early teen, I started to dread the dentist and would forgo the laughing gas because it made me sick to my stomach. It wasn’t like I neglected my teeth; I didn’t. Continue reading
Sometimes when things sound too good to be true, they are. Our family decided to take a trip up to Sedona, AZ to celebrate the new year. Each year the Los Abrigados resort hosts an event called Sedona’s Red Rock Fantasy, a holiday lights display. We were looking to get out of town and still enjoy the spirit of the holidays. We took our girls last year and they had a great time.
While our daughters where having a great time destroying the hotel beds by jumping back and forth between the two, I picked up the local magazine which had a featured article on chocolate. Being a terrible chocolate junkie, I was curious as to who had the best chocolate in town. Opting to try something different I focused on the two bakeries that offered raw chocolate. I had heard of good-for-you (and raw) chocolate, specifically Chava Chocolate, and was curious about it. Continue reading
This started off as a little bit of a rough year. A family member was sulky, didn’t want to get dressed, and always seemed to have a smart comeback for everything. Even getting him to get dressed in the morning was a little bit more challenging than usual. No, it wasn’t my husband. It was my older son (OS), and despite the description, he is actually 5 years-old, not 15 years-old. A lot of my friends were also experiencing the same thing with their 5 year-olds and after having a conference with his preschool teacher to make sure that everything was alright at school, we chalked it up to his age.
Waiting it out seemed to work. OS has recently gone back to being his usual self. Sure there’s still the snarky attitude here and there, but in general he seems so much more relaxed. He’s a lot happier and just more fun to be around. It’s been rare for me to have a problem getting him up in the morning.
Which leads me to my younger son (YS) who had a physically challenging start to the year and also seems to be on a better track now. Yesterday was his first weight and height check since having his tonsils and adenoids removed in an effort to help him gain weight. While he only put on one pound, he grew two inches since his surgery in January! Needless to say we were thrilled.
Shortly after I got home from the appointment, I called my aunt to tell her the good news. After I told her about the appointment, she asked how YS’s snoring was now that his adenoids removed. I said that it’s gone. He sleeps great, and I do think that the doctor was right when he speculated that YS mostly likely had sleep apnea. He now seems well rested when he wakes up in the morning. My aunt commented that it must be a relief for OS. That threw me. She elaborated that since the boys share a room, YS’a snoring must be really disruptive to OS’s sleep. I explained that I don’t remember him having any issues when YS snored. The more we talked, I realized that I’m not so sure that he wasn’t bothered. Sure he never woke up and complained to us, but that doesn’t mean that his sleep cycle wasn’t disrupted.
After I got off the phone with her, it hit me. OS was behaving like a teenager in disguise when YS’s snoring was at its peak. That was also when we had the conference with his preschool teacher. In fact, when I thought about it, his good nature reemerged after YS’s surgery.
Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but I do wish when his pediatrician and his preschool teacher asked me if he was getting enough sleep, I would have thought about YS’s snoring. Since most of his friends have their own room, the idea that he shared a room with his brother probably never crossed anyone’s mind. Mostly it’s just further proof that the surgery was a really good idea.
However, my boys share a room by choice and now I’m thinking that maybe room sharing wasn’t as good of an idea as I originally thought it was. Of course now the problem is fixed and they’re both happy, so a shared room is still part of the picture.
by Alex Elliot
Photo graciously provided by madaise, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
This is a silly post. I generally don’t discuss exercise or health issues here, but I found something that is a must share.
Magazines tout “Flat abs in less than 15 minutes” all the time. For the past 5 years I have been searching for the abs workout that would touch my love handles and the belly that looks like I am continually 3-4 months pregnant (which is really a bummer when you are not). While my workouts seemed to make small improvements, my clothes still didn’t fit.
When I was at my friend Jan’s house I spotted this interesting looking hula hoop. I asked her about the hoop and decided to give it a try. Since I hadn’t used a hula hoop in a long time it took some getting used to, especially since it weighed 3 pounds. She gave me the run down, it is supposed to help get rid of love handles and tone the abs.
I rushed out to by one. I debated at first because I thought the $45 price tags was a little much for a hula hoop. But I am glad I did. To prevent severe soreness, which Jan warned me would happen if I used the hoop too long, I decided to only do a few minutes of the circuit workout that came with the hoop. A warning – it really hurts your sides, not because it works your muscles, but because the darn thing is so heavy. I had bruises from the first use that lasted at least a week.
In hindsight, I should have measured my belly before starting the hoop workout. I have seen a noticeable difference in my waist line as well as my love handles. This thing works. My current workout are about 30 minutes long. And I use the hoop both directions! The other day my husband made a comment that it seemed as if my hula hoop was working because it looked like I was a little thinner in the midsection to him. And his biggest compliment was that my stomach appeared flatter. Wow. I really noticed one day when I put on my jeans – there was a difference that I could see AND feel. My pants are fitting better and I’m not totally hanging out over the sides.
It is a fun workout and the best part is that it fairly short too (30 minutes about 2 times per week). I’m not sure the soreness is from the workout but rather from the weight of the hoop beating at your sides for the length of your workout. While it may sound terrible it isn’t too bad, especially since it seems to be working.
Anyway, just in case you want to get into shape for the summer – consider the 3 pound hula hoop. I would think this think would work for guys who are a little heavy around the midsection too. Make it a family workout by having your kids join you with their light-weight hoop.
by Kelly Damron
Photo graciously provided by Tony the Misfit, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
Our weekend started out great. Saturday morning, I made crepes with chocolate sauce (melted semi-sweet choco chips). It was a lazy morning with no meetings and no schedules. I decided to run a few errands and took one of my daughters with me for the first few and the second for the others. They loved spending a few minutes alone with mommy.
I convinced my husband to take our girls to the park because it was a lovely day. He wanted to go to Costco and was irritated that the girls and I overruled him with the park vote. My girls chose the park. However, according to my daughter, Copy Cat, it was the wrong park. We agreed to play at the “wrong” park. One of my girls played on a swing, while the other played on the monkey bars.
Pack Rat is much more athletic than Copy Cat and was able to easily navigate the monkey bars. But then Copy Cat decided she wanted to try the monkey bars too. She asked me to help her. As I was getting situated to take my place under her, she was arranging her hands on the bars. Her hands slipped and she went tumbling onto the ground. I wasn’t close enough to catch her – or not quick enough.
She started screaming the minute she hit the sand. I was afraid to pick her up because I didn’t want to make any injury worse, especially her head or her back. The poor thing had sand in her mouth. She was crying and her wrist felt flimsy. I knew right away that she broke her wrist. My husband thought she was fine, but I knew.
We waited about 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the Urgent Care waiting room. And then another 60-90 minutes waiting for the doctor, taking X-rays, etc. Copy Cat was a trooper through it all. She was more patient than I was at times. Never complaining that her wrist hurt. I was/am so proud of her. It will be an interesting 6-8 weeks with a 5 year old in a cast!
But I feel like a bad mom. Kicking myself for the fact that she fell and that I didn’t catch her. Hoping that she realizes one day that I would have rather it been my wrist than hers…
by Kelly Damron
Photo graciously provided by wokka, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved