Easter

Here are some pictures of our weekend so far. My parents are in town and we've been having a great time.

Vivi and Grandpa

Vivi and Grandma

Clay, Grandma and Viv

We attended church last night. Here's our obligatory family Easter photo

Everyone was excited that the Easter bunny came!

Clay checking out his haul

Vivi got some gardening accoutrements

Ready for the egg hunt!

Clay found one!

Vivi found a magnifying glass and thought it would help her odds....

Round 2 of egg hunts

Everyone was glad we did real eggs this year. We didn't have to worry about candy, and everyone had an insta-snack!

Giving Viv a hand

Carter's Most Recent School Work

We were almost on CNN today

We were running late picking Carter up for Kindergarten today. As we were hurrying out of the car and across the road to where we pick up the kids I noticed that Clay had brought with him a toy gun.
Now, it's very obviously a toy gun, it looks very much like this:

At first I thought nothing of it because...whatever, the boys are rarely without some sort of weapon. But then I was like, "OH MY GOD, WE ARE AT A SCHOOL AND MY SON HAS A TOY GUN AND WE ARE ALL ABOUT TO BE ARRESTED HERE."

So before I could have any sort of rational thought I grabbed it from him and SHOVED IT INTO MY PULLOVER. Because that was also a super smart move. Then, I was all paranoid because what if someone saw me slip a GUN into my jacket. What if they didn't see the orange tip? What if they thought I was concealing a real weapon. OHGODWEAREINFORITNOW.

This whole time, we are walking briskly towards the playground to where we pick up the kids and I might have been able to run the gun back to the van. But we were late. They were already releasing kids. Aaaah! I didn't have time to think of turning around to put the gun back into the van. I only had time to continue jogging towards the school in my black hoodie with a gun hidden underneath it and freak out about the situation at hand.

The next big question was, "Oh crap! What if it falls out of my jacket? Then I look even MORE suspicious because who conceals a toy gun?"

I didn't chit chat with my friends this afternoon at pickup. I grabbed Carter and high tailed it out of there.

LESSON LEARNED.

Paleo

Back in the good ol' days of my blog (when we lived in Korea) I used to blog about everything we did. Almost on a daily basis. I credit this to having only 1 or 2 children and having a house cleaner who did my laundry every week. Also, the fact that I did not have a car most days. I had a lot more free time on my hands and I kick myself every time I think about it for not taking more advantage of that time. Okay, maybe that's the wrong word. I kick myself for not appreciating it at the time.
But, here in America our schedules are busy and my time is a little more limited. (I'm plus one kid and down one house cleaner.) I used to especially look forward to something BIG to talk about. You know, any kind of big changes.
Now, I look at something BIG and think. Ugh, that's going to be a long post. I don't want to get into it tonight.
But, I've held off long enough and ready to talk about the fact that we made a big change in our lives this year.

We went Paleo.

I'm sure most of you have at least heard of the Paleo diet, or caveman diet by now. It seems to be in style these days and I'm totally getting why. Our whole family has been Paleo for about 10 weeks now, and we've never felt better.
It all started with our friends Bob and Karen who had started Paleo several months back and lent Cory the book The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolfe.

I hadn't been completely convinced because I hadn't read anything about it. To me it sounded like the old Atkins Diet (Not healthy!) and I wasn't interested in reading anymore about it. I wasn't motivated to diet, and I just wanted to eat chips and salsa for the rest of my life thankyouverymuch.

One night when Cory was reading the book, he was reading a particular chapter and woke me up to read it. Whoa, let's back up here. NO one WAKES ME UP unless there is blood, or puke, or someone is on fire. Otherwise, I am OFF LIMITS. And Cory knows this. So in retrospect, I have to realize how important he thought this was, so important that he woke me up to read a chapter of a book I didn't care about.
 And It was like Robb Wolfe was describing Clay.
I'm sure all of you know the trouble we've had with Clay. He has no serious diagnoses, but he has a sensitive and mysterious gut that has lead to numerous procedures, several hospitalizations, minus a gallbladder and years of his life spent in gastrointestinal agony. If you want to read about Clay's previous GI issues you can basically search my archives for anything I wrote from 2009-2010. We thought we had it all figured out  last spring when he was diagnosed as lactose intolerant. But as the fall approached in 2012, he started to get worse again and had recently started choking and not being able to swallow his food. (This is a brand new symptom he's never had before.) We were in the process of getting a new GI referral, but specialists in the state of CA take 3-4 months for new patients. So at the time, we were looking for SOMETHING to do to help Clay so he could eat.

This chapter that Cory was reading was it. This person he was describing was Clay. And I remember the last part of the chapter was something a long the lines of, "...If let to continue the person may even began having trouble swallowing. They may begin to choke at meals as swallowing becomes difficult."  And it was like he had described Clay's symptoms to a T for the entire chapter and then culminated with his brand new symptom. It felt like maybe this guy was worth a shot.
The next morning I spent all morning online researching the Paleo diet and if it was possible or even advisable for kids to be on it. The first thing that scared me (and I'm sure any adult) is the word "DIET". I don't need to put my kid on a diet. He has a hard enough time keeping the weight on. But as I read on....this "diet" has nothing to do with restricting calories or losing weight. It has to do with the quality of the food you consume.
When Cory came home from work, I still wasn't head over heels convinced that this way of eating was "better" or if this way of eating was even sustainable for a family of 5. I'd heard it was really expensive and it's not like we live in a booming metropolis with lots of fresh meat and produce choices. I didn't even know if we could make it work. But I thought that for Clay, we at least owed it to him to give it a try. What if this relieved even some of his symptoms? Didn't I owe it to him to give it a shot?
And so that's what we did. We gave it a shot for 30 days (This is how long Robb Wolf suggests giving it a go) and we never turned back.
I don't even care or know if I believe we were made to eat 'like cavemen'. That doesn't concern me at all. All I know is that Clay has had remarkable improvement and I have never felt better.

I'm going to write an entire post just dedicated to my transformation with switching to Paleo, (along with some examples of what we eat during the day) but I don't want to make this post any longer than it already is. But let me tell you. I've noticed more changes than I ever thought I would. And the best results aren't even the pounds lost. It's my mental state. It's my energy. I can't wait to tell you about it.

Happy Birthday to Me

My birthday was actually a few weeks ago and my parents, in laws and husband all gave me great gifts. Gift cards! I actually LOVE gift cards. I am indecisive and hard to fit clothes wise. So I love being able to have a gift card to pay for the *thing* when I find it! It's the gift that keeps on giving. Because I forget about it until I think, 'Eh, I shouldn't buy this. I should save the money." Then I remember, "But, I have a gift card, yay!"

But here's my predicament. I have all these gift cards (they are almost all generic, meaning I could use them anywhere.) but I can't decide what to use them for. It's not even what item I should use them for. But what kind of purchase I should use them for.

Like, should I go out and buy something really nice. Something I probably wouldn't buy at all. Maybe a nice purse? Maybe a nice dress from the full price clothes rack? If I buy something expensive and luxurious, I'll probably only be able to buy that one item.
Orrr, do I go to someplace like Target and buy several items, but not as good quality? Which do I want? One really nice thing? Or a few still kinda nice things?

Should I go in search of these items without having something in mind that I really want? I'm not 'in the market' for anything in particular right now. There's nothing that I've been thinking, "Oh, I really want that I just don't have the money." Or should I wait until I happen upon something I really, really want.
I think that's one thing I'm afraid of. That I'll spend it on something nice but nothing I had planned on actually buying. But then a week later, I'll find something I feel like I can't live without and be mad at myself.

Should I spend it on things for the house? I've been wanting to switch over to glass 'tupperware' and I want some canisters for spices and bulk items. I need some new spatulas, or I could get a dehydrator!
Or do I spend it on fun things like clothes, shoes and sunglasses?

I know, I know, what a horrible problem to have right?

Red Rock Canyon

We went on a little hike yesterday after lunch. Cory took some time off and we drove to Red Rock. It's about 30 minutes away and the rocks are so neat! You've got to go when it's cooler though since there is no shade and the heat is killer in the summer. Cory brought Carter out here when we lived here last time, but I had never been. The boys had a great time playing Star Wars and pretending to spot Jawas the whole time. Apparently that part of the movie was filmed here. Vivi did pretty well until the last quarter of the hike. Then she wanted to be carried. We even took Bailey and she was happy to be included. Carter really wanted to do more climbing and exploring than we were able to do. We tried to explain that Vivi and Bailey were getting tired and it was pretty chilly out. So, him and Cory would have to come back out without little ones and old dogs for some better exploring.

Start of the trail.

Obligatory picture

Viv is pondering the meaning of life

Pretty view

About a quarter of the way, we had to stop for a 30 second rest

the 'camel rock'

Jawa caves

Potty Time

We are creeping up on potty training time for Vivian.
Sheesh, that seems impossible. How can it be that time already? It seemed like the boys were so much older when we hit this point. Like, they were kids and it was time and we should do this.
But, I don't feel that way with Vivi. In fact, to me, she's still a baby. A baby that talks, but a bald headed, happy baby. We were dealing with tantrums and timeouts and discipline when the boys were 2 1/2. Vivi has had to go to timeout TWICE IN HER WHOLE LIFE.
Trust me, I am not trying to rub it in. I have paid my fair share of dues. Viv is just such an easy baby. She's just SO EASY.

What am I thinking messing this up with potty training?

I trained both the boys at 2 1/2. Carter took about 4 days until he was day potty trained. We didn't even attempt night time at the same time. We tackled it about 6 months later and it took him about 2 weeks of wetting the bed several times a night until he caught on.

With Clay, he took longer for daytime potty training. But, only about a month until he really had it down pat. However, he did night time training at the same time and only wet the bed for a few days and was then fine.

For both boys, I had the same strategy: Naked from the waist down for several days (or until they really seemed to grasp the pee/poop on the potty thing.) Then underwear. If underwear didn't go well by day two, we go back to naked. We progress step by step. But there's no turning back. No diapers, no pull ups. It's either naked or underwear. With Carter - this part was easy. With Clay - it was kind of excruciating. Since it took him awhile to catch on (especially with #2) I REALLY wanted to put pull ups on him or diapers just sometimes, etc. But, I stuck it out and prevailed. I knew that if I kept going forward  - never back - he would do it.

It's kind of like ripping off a band-aid. You think that pulling it off slowly - maybe stopping to blow on it for a minute or two, maybe getting some adhesive remover - will be better. But it just DRAGS it out longer. And who wants to be doing something painful for 3-6 months? NOT ME. I want to RIP THAT DADGUM BANDAID OFF HARD AND FAST. And I will muddle through it and will have 1 month of torture vs. 3-6 months of 'not quite as bad' torture.
Because when month 3 comes along - I'll be done. And those other people will still be babying their band aid, still trying to get through it. And I will sigh relief, because my time has been served and we were done with it 2 months ago.

Now, I totally know that Vivi could throw me for a total loop. She could be COMPLETELY different. And I'm prepared for that. Clay wasn't the same as Carter. He refused to use a regular toilet for about 2-3 weeks. He took longer. I thought he would never poop on a toilet in his lifetime. But guess what. I stood my ground and changed a ton of underwear and did a ton of laundry, and he did it.
Cory even took him to a shuttle launch 6 hours away and over night and didn't give in. I really have to give Cory props for that. I know it must've been torture.

So here's the plan. Normally the kids turn 2.5 during the summer. So, I have the leisure to stock up on groceries and wine and stay home for a solid 5-7 days. Well, Vivi turns 2.5 in February. So, Cory is taking 5 days off of work so that I can devote my full attention to Vivi and not have to drive anyone to school or activities. This, my friends, is key. You've got to devote 5-7 days of TOTAL POTTY TRAINING BOOT CAMP. Groceries, or book club, or carpool or vacation cannot take precedence. This would put you in a compromising situation and you'll be tempted to cheat by using a diaper 'just this once' or a pull-up, and once they know they can pee in that thing without it running down their leg, the game is OVER. They will then forever be 'testing' to see if they can get away with it again (peeing or pooping without it making a mess).

So, instead of a romantic dinner for Valentine's Day, we'll be in the throws of potty training.
It's kind of like Valentine's Day except less steak and lobster but more wine.