Halloween

Well, things didn't really work out the way we planned this Halloween, but everything is okay now. On Friday Shea got really sick. I couldn't get her fever down, and she got hysterical and her legs were trembling. So I took her to the ER.

I was really upset knowing I would miss trick or treating with Bethany, but more worried about Shea, plus Aaron planned to take her, so that was good. But then at the hospital when they triaged Shea, they rushed her straight back to a room and several nurses were in there trying to get her fever down and they catheterized her for urine, drew blood, and kept her arms taped to a board to keep the blood drawing catheter in her arm, and did x-rays. They were all worried because she was screaming and arching her back in pain before they even started all of the tests. Then they started talking about admitting her to the Pediatric unit, and I asked the nurse if I needed to have my husband come. the doctor told me yes, to call him up.

So Aaron left Bethany with a neighbor (not the crazy one) who agreed to take Bethany trick or treating with her kids. We were glad she could still go because she was so excited. Aaron got to the ER, and thankfully about an hour later, her fever broke. We then waited on the labs and x-rays for another 2 hours, but by the time they let her go home she was sitting up in the bed playing with Aaron's sunglasses and looking at books. She had kept down 1 1/2 pedialyte popsicles too. Aaron ate the other half of her 2nd popsicle, lol. We had to bring her back the next morning for a follow up, but she slept through the night and was doing well. She still is. We still don't know why she got sick, but whatever it was seems to have passes.

Our neighbor told us that Bethany was the most excited kid out there trick or treating. She was dancing around telling everyone, "I'm Tinkerbell!!" As a matter of fact she is wearing her costume now and asking Aaron to put treats in her basket. And I have to wrap this up because she just burst in the room demanding I find her Tinkerbell shoes. This is the first year she is really into the holidays, so we are having a lot of fun too. It is really sweet

I am Bella

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You are observant, diplomatic and often aim to please. You are unaware of your
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Dieting again

So I am back to dieting again. I started when Aaron left for JRTC on the 8Th, and at my first weigh in, last Monday, I had already lost 2.8 pounds! I chose to weigh myself on Mondays. I am not following any particular diet. I am just trying to cut down significantly on soda and sweets. No fast food. I am trying to drink lots of water and eat lots of fiber. I usually mix 1/2 a cup of fiber 1 into my better tasting cereal (Special K Cinnamon and Pecans) and that gets me at 14 grams of fiber right there! Then to meet my quota of fiber, I have to eat more veggies and fruits, and beans and grains. I try to make sure I am getting protein too. I have been working really hard at this for once, and I am looking forward to my next weigh in. I was so proud of myself when my sister (who is visiting) ordered a large cheesy pizza and cinnamon sticks with icing, and I did not touch any of it. I ate my lean cuisine, and had a low cal dessert. I let myself have the occasional 100 calorie packet of cookies, or a sugar free Popsicle. Last night my sweet tooth took over and I had a few of my sisters peanut M&M's, but I stopped after just a few. Normally I would finish the bag. So I just need to keep going! I am going to have to work extra hard when Aaron gets back and when my kids get candy on Halloween, but I am so sick of being fat. I am trying to ficus on the Christmas party that Aaron's company is planning this year. It is going to be semi formal for adults only, and I really don't want to look like a cow stuffed into a cocktail dress.

Bethany is doing so well!

I am so pleased. Bethany is doing so well! I had a meeting the other day with her teacher, the special ed. director, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and district rep. Bethany is doing wonderfully in school. The speech therapist told me that she doesn't need speech at this time, which was the second time hearing that this week. She finally got her speech evaluation at a speech center and she tested into the average range for her age! She is on the low side of the average, but it is still wonderful. At school they will retest her after Christmas to see how she is doing. The speech center is still going to take her on though to help her improve even more. She does still need occupational therapy. The OT discovered that Bethany has pretty low muscle tone, so that might be affecting her diet (hard to chew some foods), potty training (trouble with control), and some other things. So we have some things to work on there. But she is doing great in school. The special ed director asked her teacher what makes Bethany stand out in her class, and the teacher said that Bethany learns faster than any of the other kids in her class. She is very smart, and is soaking up everything they teach her. She is still working on social and behavior skills. She is a good girl for the most part, but she is also a 3 year old. Sh has gotten a little diva attitude lately. It is hard not to laugh because it is so funny. So overall I am very pleased that she is doing so well.

Out to dinner with the kids!

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner to the Golden Corral. We only have 2 kids, but we are a chaotic mess when we try to go out in public. Sometimes we do manage to pull off looking like a nice sweet family, but tonight was not one of those nights. We walked in and were lucky to have nobody in line in front of us. As the girl at the counter filled our drinks, some people came in, and Bethany started unwrapping and handing out straws. I stopped that as soon as I could. People were a bit confused, but they just said thank you. Then I carried the tray and Aaron carried shea who was twisting and whining because she wanted to be put down to walk, and he helped guide bethany who was not at all paying attention and kept wandering off. So we got to the table and I went to get the kids plates of food while Aaron got them seated. Then we took turns going to get our food. Finally we all sit together to eat. Shea is eating a bite, throwing a bite, so Aaron was trying to keep her from throwing food while he ate too, then Bethany had an all out screaming fit because we would not let her eat a piece of watermelon that she found on the floor under our table. She did not want to eat anything on her plate, but she decided mine looked like fun to play with. So I was trying to eat and keep her hands out of my food. Then shea started farting and giggling, so Bethany thought that was hilarious and started burping repeatedly. When they decided they had enough of whatever was on their plates, Aaron went to get them some ice cream. Bethany ate hers up then tried to help the kid at the next table eat his. Then she had a fit because we wouldn't let her. Meanwhile Shea was happily eating her ice cream, but she kept missing her mouth. She would take a big spoonful and aim for her mouth only to have it fall off her spoon into her lap. The lady at the table next to us started laughing when Aaron reached out and caught a big handful of melting ice cream and dumped it on a plate. She told us thats how you know you are a parent is when you do things like that. We were not so awful that we were disturbing other customers. (well maybe one or two), but we were definetly a mess and when we finally just started laughing (because what else can you really do at that point?) some other parents near us were laughing too. Thank goodness we were at a family restaurant full of other parents and kids. We know better than to go somewhere fancy. But I do have to ask myself is it was worth getting kids cleaned and dressed to drive across town and pay a restaurant to let us scarf down some food and keep our kids from causing a riot, when I could have just made a box of mac and cheese? The whole point of going out was to give me a break, lol. Going out takes more effort than staying in, I think.

Bethany was in a parade

Bethany's school had a freedom parade on 9-11. All of the kids marched in the parade. Shea and I watched and took pictures.

Labor day

We really had a great day today. This afternoon we went to our neighbor's house and spent the rest of the day with her and her kids. (Her husband is deployed.) We played some volleyball with the kids, and then the adults sat in the driveway chatting while we watched the kids color on the sidewalk with chalk and play in the sprinklers. Shea played in the baby pool. Then we cooked up some frozen pizza's and ate outside. We stayed outside until bedtime, gave the kids a quick bath, and they went right to sleep! I am loving that we live in a neighborhood with a yard now, so we can do fun things like this. We had a few funny moments like when Aaron sat down in the lawn chair and broke it, and when I discovered that Aaron had put Shea in a regular diaper instead of the little swimmer I got out for her. She had a really big bubble butt, so I took her in to change her to a swimmer diaper, and discovered her bathing suit had a huge pile of that stuff they have in diapers to absorb liquid. Poor kid. Aaron thought it was hilarious. The kids got good and dirty. At one point Shea used the hand she was holding her ice cream sandwich in to start digging in her ear. When we got them home they were covered in dirt, and ice cream. But they had tons of fun! We all did!