Cali Here We Come!

I am now officially on Spring Break, and Ray and I will be heading to California tomorrow for about a week. While I am super excited to be spending some quality time with my hubby away from the kids, I am feeling pretty sad to leave them, too. It doesn't help that they are sad as well that we are leaving. I know that this is a good thing for us to be able to get away and recharge for a bit and I am excited for that, but there's that little part of me that feels bad for leaving.

Anyway, sorry, this blog wasn't meant to sound down, but I am very tired, I have a lot to do still, and I'm feeling a little emotional at the moment. But I will have a great time in California, and I will try to blog while I am away, and hopefully I will take some pics to share while I am there.

Helicopter Fun

A friend of mine, who I met last semester in my A&P1 lecture class is a Firefighter/Paramedic for the county. We are taking A&P2 together this semester, as well, so we talk quite often. She happens to work for Sheriff's Office, and the helicopter is both dual police and air rescue. So depending on the call, she's either airlifting someone to the hospital or she's helping the ground police officers find a bad guy.

Anyway, she's mentioned to me before that I can bring the kids by sometime to see the hangar and the helicopters. A couple of Friday's ago, while her Lieutenant was training another person who wanted to be a Lieutenant for air rescue, she had some downtime because there's only room for three people (the pilot, the Lieutenant, and another fire/rescue person, in addition to the patient) in the helicopter. She basically stayed at the hangar her entire shift, so there wasn't a risk of having to leave on a whim for a call (they can also be very busy for hours upon hours at a time). So, she called me up and asked if I wanted to bring the kids by for a tour. After I picked Grace up from school, we headed down the street to the airport. It was a little dreary that day, and a tad windy, and pretty cool out (a front was coming through), but we got a good tour in. The timing worked out great because we had just enough time for the kids to go right out to the helicopter and sit in it for a few minutes when a call came in. The kids got to watch from close proximity the helicopter rev up the engine and take off. It was so loud and so windy, and the kids loved it. They had such a good time on the tour. We also got to see some mobile command vehicles, and SWAT vehicles, and some other grounded helicopters and a big tank like vehicle. It was a good time for the kids (and it was FREE!). So here are some pics from our time at the hangar. Now every time they see or hear a helicopter, they think its my friend.

Grace in the chopper

Closer shot of Nate in the chopper

Getting ready to leave

Waiting for Air Traffic to clear the skies for takeoff

Lifting off

Off they go

Nate's Dictionary: Acuz

Thanks to my friend, T who has been posting her little Hoper's dictionary online, I thought I would post some of Nate's here and there.

Today's word is:

Acuz (ah-cuh-z):

• conjunction: for the reason that; due to the fact that
• idiom: by reason of, due to

Example-
Mommy: "Nate are you eating your lunch?"
Nate: "No."
Mommy: "Why not?"
Nate: "Acuz I'm drinking my juice."

On a little side note, when I took Nate in to his 3 year old check up, the doctor discussed with me the fact that she thinks Nate may have a speech problem called Speech Articulation Delay. Basically, his vocabulary is fine, but by now, most 3 year olds should be able to have their words recognizable by strangers. His is not always that way. Heck, sometimes we don't even know what the kid is saying, ha ha. Thanks to insurance issues, I had to wait until after February 1st to bring in him for an evaluation. So on Tuesday we went and saw the Speech Therapist or Pathologist, or whatever it's called. Nate was a VERY good boy, and he sat very well. I was so proud of him. She flipped a book and showed Nate a bunch of pictures and asked him to name the things in the pictures while she wrote things down. She said he does have some issues with the way he is forming some letters, and its mostly due to an oral motor problem, which basically is a fancy way of saying the muscles around his mouth need some strengthening. He doesn't have eating problems, so its not severe, but he does need to be coming in to help correct the problem. We will also be working with him at home on some oral motor exercises to help strengthen those muscles more quickly. (For some reason "more quickly" doesn't sound like proper grammar, lol).

So that's the update, for now.

PS: Funny thing Nate just said while eating lunch today: "Mommy, this cheese doesn't look very tasty."

Nate Has A Chip on His Shoulder....

I know he's young, but for some reason, my little guy has a Chip on his shoulder. I really don't know how to handle this.


HA HA!!!

P's and Q's

Well, it's more like A's and B's but P's and Q's just sounded better. Just the other day, I started going over the letter A with Nate. I have no idea when Grace was able to recognize her letters, and I'm sure this is probably not a big deal for a three year old. I suppose most kids are probably able to recognize their letters at this age, but my son is very active and doesn't like to sit still for very long. For that reason, I haven't really thought he was able to learn anything that required more than 30 seconds of his attention. Anyway, we went over the letter A and he has been able to recognize the letter A (upper and lower case) every time he sees it. Then I did the letter B. He gets a little confused with the lower case B, but the upper case B he has been very consistent with knowing. I'm so proud of my little boy!

I guess the other reason I haven't felt like it was a big deal to rush this because I know once he starts school, they will go over this. I know with Grace, they were learning letters, and colors, and shapes and I was REALLY surprised they had to go over that at that age, since she had known colors and shapes at 2. All of my friends' kids knew that stuff early, and definitely by the time they started school, too, so I thought that was normal. Anyway, Nate knows his colors and shapes, too, so now we are working on letters, and then its off to phonics.

We are TRYING to work on potty training this little booger, too. That's not going quite as well. He is very stubborn. There are times he will tell us all by himself that he has to go potty. Most of the time, however, I have to put him on it myself and then he will go. I've tried putting him in regular underwear, but he will still go in his pants anyway. I will change him and he will go again in his pants. I'm not sure what else to do, really.....so I will just keep trying. Maybe one day he will get it.

25 Random Things

I did this on my facebook and thought it would be a good post to post here to give you few faithful blog checkers something to read to reward you for checking my blog. (If you're on my facebook, you will see I did make some changes, so read again anyhow).

1. I have a bad habit of making sure the dishes are completely rinsed off and free of food before they are put into the dishwasher. I'm not really sure why I don't just wash them.
2. My second nephew was born on Saturday! Welcome to the world, Elijah Luke.
3. When it gets cooler out here, I can feel a change in my skin: mostly my hands get VERY dry and feel all weird and gritty.
   
4. I have a scar on the right side of my upper lip. I was bitten by my dog.
5. Grace's middle name is spelled like this: ELISABETH
6. Nate's name was almost Cole. We couldn't decide, and just said that when we first saw him we'd see what he looked like more. He looked like a Nathan.
7. My birthday is in a week. I cannot even believe I am in my 30's much less going to be 32.
8. My husband is the best hubby, like, ever!
9. We will be celebrating 7 years of marriage next month. Here's to 70 more, babe!! <3
10. One of my favorite shows on TV is called "Deliver Me" about three OB/GYN docs in southern California. I love this show. I want to be an OB nurse!
11. I didn't go to college right out of high school for many reasons: I didn't get into the ONE school I applied to, I was never really encouraged to go to college, I wasn't guided into applying to more than one college (or ever the community college for that matter), I wasn't guided into applying for financial aid to help pay for college, I thought I couldn't afford college, etc. Now, looking back, I'm glad I didn't go. I may not be where I am today if I had. I probably wouldn't have gotten all A's and B's in college either if I had gone 13 years ago!
12. I will start the nursing program in either August of this year or next January- just not sure which one I am applying to, yet. (More-than-likely, its going to be January, though).
    
13. I trust my husband completely. He's one of the few good guys out there. And he's mine! :)
14. Sometimes I think about having more kids.
15. I don't like to cook dinner.
16. I hate cockroaches. I really, really hate them.
17. I'm glad I don't see cockroaches in my house.
18. I really want a puppy. And a flat screen TV.
19. Grace's birthday is 9/12. My birthday is 2/8. Ray's birthday is 7/4. If you add Ray's birth month to my birth month (7+2) you get Grace's birth month (9). If you add my birth day to Ray's birth day (8+4), you will also get Grace's birth day (12). Cool huh?
20. I get WAY better grades in college than I did in high school, go figure.
21. I am VERY afraid of not doing well in nursing school, thanks to all the horror stories I've heard about the program at my school, and also because I constantly doubt my academic abilities on a pretty much daily basis.
22. My middle name is Marisa
23. I am exactly 5 feet tall.
24. My husband is 6'5"
25. His arm is as long as my leg, sadly.

Scary

The other day, Nate gave us quite a scare. He had his first MAJOR fall at the park. We go to this park quite often so the kids are really familiar with the whole playground and have gotten good at climbing and jumping and running and playing on it. Well, the other day Ray took the kids to the park while I was home studying and they were all running around playing. We still don't know the exact cause of the fall, but Grace and Nate were attempting to climb down a ladder about 6 feet-ish high up in the air from one of the platforms on the playground. Grace may have bumped into Nate or she might not have, we're not sure, but somehow, Nate took a tumble about 6 feet down off the ladder. Apparently it was so scary that quite a few people came over to see how he was doing while Ray was taking care of him. I obviously didn't see it, but I am glad I didn't. I would have been an emotional basket case seeing my little buddy fall that much. Ray was close, but unfortunately not close enough as he tried to make it there in time to break the fall. The good news is my little guy is a strong little booger and he didn't even get a scratch! Thank goodness. That was quite a little scare.

My Kids

I remember vividly, at various ages, not being able to wait until I was older. When I was 7 I couldn't wait to be 8. When I was 15 I couldn't wait to be 16. When I was 20, I couldn't wait to be 21......24 I wanted to be 25. That's where it stopped. Ha! I never wanted to be anything higher than 25. Well anyway, I think that's normal with every kid. They always want to be older. Well, all of them except for mine! I have no idea why. Grace has said various times she does not want to be older. Today, I asked Nate what he wants to be when he grows up. I asked if he wanted to be a fire fighter. No, he told me. I asked him if he wanted to be a police office. Again, he said no. Then he said, "I don't want to get bigger. I want to stay little." It was so cute the expression he had on his face as he said it. I think they realize that when you are bigger you aren't with your parents anymore, and that is kind of scary to a little kid. It's cute of them to think, right now, that they want to stay with us forever. I know in about 6 years there will be a way different feeling for my almost teen (YIKES!!!) daughter who will then want nothing to do with her parents. But for now I will bask in the fact that they want me always closeby and that they want to stay little forever. I wish I could keep them little forever, too.

Chilly

Yay, I'm so happy its chilly outside. Today, I went to bring Grace over to Elizabeth's (she takes her to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings) and when I walked outside, I could see my breath!!! How wonderful is that? I LOVE it!!! Today is a great day. Yippee! Here's a screenshot of weather.com. I think I may frame it, lol.

My Son

Three year olds tend to say the darnedest things sometimes. My son is no exception. Last night before bed, I told him, "Nate, you need to go right to sleep, okay? Say, 'Yes, mommy, I will go right to sleep.'" He then says, "Yes, mommy, I will go right to sleep."

A little while later, after he had been making noises and obviously not going to sleep, Ray went in to tell him to go to bed. He says to Nate, "I thought you said you were going right to sleep." Nate, being the ever-so-clever three year old that he is, says, "Yeah, I told that to mommy."

Sigh. Three year olds. Can't live with them, can't live without them.

Week One Update- I Forgot.....

I forgot to include my weight loss results for week one yesterday in my post. I am down 4 lbs, and thats including eating about 3 puddings the night before for some throat comfort. I haven't been eating much these last few days, so I'm sure the lack of food may negatively affect my results for this week. Last week I was trying hard to make sure I ate every 3 hours or so, and I haven't been doing that since I've been sick. We'll see how this week goes. I won't sweat it. I'm sick, and as long as I don't gain, that will be fine. I'd really like to get exercising, but as of right now I just don't have the energy, and plus I would probably hack up a lung if I got even remotely out of breath.

I'm still sick, but the kids seem better, thank goodness. Nate hasn't had a fever since yesterday evening, and Grace has been fever-free since Sunday evening. Grace went back to school today, so I will see if she's still feeling well after school later when I pick her up.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks to Ray's mom who is on her way over now to bring me medicine and chicken noodle soup. She's my hero! And she cooked us dinner the other night, too. Ain't she awesome?

Sick Update

Grace seems to be better. She had not had a fever all day yesterday, then yesterday evening she started running one again and looking like she did on Saturday. We kept her home from school because of the fever she had last night, but she hasn't had any fever sin

I, on the other hand, have definitely gotten sick. I don't know what this is, but its not good. This is the sickest I think I've been in a long time, and last night Ray even said he's never seen me this bad. I've been running a low fever, but I feel the fever, you know, when you feel feverish-feeling very hot inside my body, while the outside is very cold. I have chills and shivers, then I have sweats. My head aches mostly all the time, my body aches, I have absolutely NO energy, and I am very tired, yet I can't sleep very well. I have a horrible cough. Whatever it is, I wish it would go away.

On top of that, now my little Nate started running a fever. Poor thing. I feel bad for the kids, because if they feel anywhere close to what I feel, I know it must be hard for their little bodies . Their temperatures have been higher than mine, but I know my body fights things pretty hard, and I rarely ever get fevers. Mine has been around 2ish degrees higher than normal, while the kids have been around 3ish higher than normal. Anyway, I hope this is the end of it for Grace, and I hope that Nate feels better soon, too. As for me, I hope I feel better soon as well. Its hard to just lay around all the time and not do anything at all. We have a great week of weather coming and I'd love to take the kids to the park- if we're better of course.

And Ray has been the best husband anyone could have. He's been such a big help to me, I don't know what I would have done without him. Unfortunately, he will have to go to work tomorrow, so I am REALLY hoping I'm better then.

Gracie-Lu

My little Gracie-Lu is sick. Not sure what's going on exactly, but she started running a fever yesterday evening. She looked sick, too. She didn't really have any symptoms except that she had a headache, she "said" she coughed, but I never heard her, and she said her throat hurt her, but that was only for like 10 minutes. It stopped hurting and hasn't hurt since. Today, she still has a fever, and the fever keeps coming back. She looks pitiful, ate only half a slice of toast and its almost 1:30pm- by now she's normally had quite a bit to eat. She hasn't moved off the couch, except for once where she laid on the living room floor, and then got back up onto the couch. She even took a nap this morning.

So, I'm not really sure what's going on with her......just keep her in your prayers. And I think I may be getting something, too. I've had a headache, which isn't whats making think I'm getting sick (but Grace has been complaining of her head hurting, so who knows), but I feel my chest getting tight, and I feel the way I feel in the beginning stages of a nasty cough. Ugh. Anyway, I'm more concerned with Grace, poor thing. Here's a pic of how she looked just a little while ago, just so you can see what I mean by "pitiful".

Love you Gracie-Lu. Hope you feel better soon!

What Do You Do?

What do you do when your two kids share a room and one wants a night light on because they're scared of the dark, while the other wants it off because the shadows scare them?

Oh yeah, and how do you get your three year old to go right to bed without calling you in 15 times every night after putting him to bed?

I need answers people! :)

Must.Resist.Cocoa.Rice.Krispies

Today is day 1. My start over day. The day I've chosen to re-embark on a journey I set out so long ago to finish. Here I am, starting over for the 100th time. But I am here. I'm ready (I think) and so we begin.

I made it to about 10:00am and then found myself staring at a box of cereal assortments, which included Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops and Cocoa Rice Krispies. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I only found myself drawn to the Cocoa Rice Krispies more than the others. I REALLY wanted to pour myself a nice big bowl and eat away. But I didn't. I resisted. I told myself that I really wouldn't be doing my body justice by eating it. I made some eggs instead with a one slice of Ezekiel bread. A nice little balance of protein and carbs, and much better fuel than sugary cereal.