Joys In My Life

I don't know looking back if last week kicked my butt or if I managed to still kick butt back. All three of us were fighting off different kind of bugs, but no one was sick enough to stay home sick. So Leo was traveling, I got Phoebe on and off the bus, we did all after-school activities and managed to keep moving. I made chicken soup on Friday night to help us all get rid of our different sicknesses. Some people were asking how to get to the "corner turning" we seem to have achieved in Phoebe's focus. I think it has to do with Flylady routines. For those of you who have never checked her out - DO IT! I've been flying off and on since Phoebe was born and it's always helped us keep our heads above water. And with this school year it seems to have helped Phoebe too. She has her own list of things that have to be done after school. We started this last year, but she still fought doing it on her own. I think now that it's a whole new year and she's...

Phoebe has seemed so much different in the last week or two and in such a good way that my brain is amazed at her transformation. Firstly, she seems to have a lot more focus. Both her ice skating coach and guitar teacher have made this comment last Thursday. All of a sudden she is much less talk and more doing what she needs to do. They both made comments at what a difference there seems to be. And let me tell you, my heart swelled triple-size to hear her praised like this. The other thing that I've noticed is that I don't need to nag her to do the things that she needs to do as much as I used to. Last week, if I came home after her (DH was working from home a lot last week, so I could do this) I'd find her sitting on the couch, no TV on, reading a book, which is part of her homework to read for 15 minutes. It was such an odd thing to see! And then Saturday I took her grocery shopping with me. Usually when we get back from grocery shopping, she makes a beeline for ...

I think I've decided to vote for Obama. To set the record, I am a long-standing, tofu-eating (granola is really not that good for you), tree-hugging, national health insurance wanting, democrat. I waiver these days on voting Republican for one reason and it's not because they have Sarah Palin. It's taxes. Leo and I have our income fall into a bracket that needs to pay the alternate minimum tax. Please note that this was a tax that was supposed to keep really high-income people from not paying their fair share of taxes. This is increasingly netting more people in this bracket every year, but the government is not doing anything about it, because it is keeping the national budget from being as bad as it could be. Now let's be plain here. We're not the Rockefellers. We're not bad-off, but this is also because we both work in very high-stress jobs. We both get paid well to do this. If we weren't married, we would not fall into this bracket, but because...

I've been tagged by Trace The Rules: 1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively. 2. link back to the person who tagged you 3. link back to this parent post 4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all 5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them 1. I have made some great friends to support me through both infertility as well as parenting. Parenting after infertility is much different than parenting after a "normal" pregnancy. You think about things a lot more and want to make sure you make the right decisions. Not that other parents don't do that. It's just different. You seem to appreciate your children in a different way. 2. I've learned a lot by reading other bloggers' experiences how much a person can go through and still come out OK. It's amazing the human capacity for survival. 3. There will always be a part of me that Leo doesn't understand because he is a man and that's OK. ...

I know I'm going to be doing IVF again in October, but keeping my weight at a healthy level is part of a larger goal for me. I want to make sure that when I get pregnant next time, it is a very healthy pregnancy and that I stay in shape. This has nothing to do with the actual weight on the scale. I just want to make sure I'm in the best place physically when I get pregnant again. We have an elliptical machine at home that I absolutely love and I'm trying to create a habit to spend 45 minutes on it every day. This started about three weeks ago. Last week it didn't go so well because DH was away for work and sitting on the couch with DD is so comforting when he's not around. But I'm back to it this week and it's going well. My butt is starting to not sag so much and getting itself into a better, perkier shape. BUT ... I did have some strange weight shifts with the last IVF cycle. My stomach. It's bloated, especially in the evenings. In the mornin...

As Alli mentioned, I need to get back to posting every day! I'm going to work on that truly I am. I think between the miscarriage and the back-to-school stuff, I needed to step away for a bit. All of Phoebe's afterschool and weekend activities are in full swing now. Her schedule, other than school is the following: - Monday - off - Tuesday - CYFF (aka CCD - Catholic education) - 6:30 - 8:00 PM - Wednesday - ice skating group class - 7:00 - 8:00 PM - Thursday - ice skating private lesson 5:00 - 5:40 PM - Thursday - guitar lesson - 7:30 - 8:00 PM - Friday - off - Family Night - Saturday - Opera Delaware play - 11 AM - 2 PM - Sunday - Opera Delaware play - 11 AM - 2 PM Busy girl, eh? We have no more room for anything else. I don't think she's overloaded. We still get homework done and she has plenty of time to play with her friends, so I think this is the right balance. Last night was "Back To School" night at her elementary school, ...

One of my favorite comfort foods is also a recipe that is supposed to be good for cleansing and digestive issues. Mung beans are supposed to be the easiest of beans to digest and soaking your beans makes them even easier to digest. I thought I had posted it on my blog, but when I went to search for it so I'd have easy access to the recipe I couldn't find it. I had to go searching all my whole foods cookbooks to find the computer print out the original version was on. There are many different recipes for kitchari. This is mine which is tweaked from a recipe that Yoga Journal published once on their website. Enjoy! 1 cup mung beans (soaked in water overnight) 1 cup brown rice (can be short grain or basmati) 1 tablespoon chopped ginger 2 tablespoons shredded coconut (can be dried) handful of cilantro 3 tablespoons of butter or ghee 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, cardamom, ground cloves, tumeric 3 bay leaves In a blender, blend the ginger, coconut and ci...

I need to get back to blogging everyday. With the vacation and Phoebe starting school again, it's been difficult. But we'll be gearing up for our next IVF cycle and my goal is to make life as relaxed and productive as possible until then. Last night was a good start. I'm getting back into my Flylady routines and we had leftovers for dinner (whole-wheat pasta, sausage and roasted brocolli), got dinner cleaned up, got Phoebe ready for bed, which included making sure all her toys were put away before bed (that hasn't happened in a looooong time!). I was also able to go on the elliptical machine for 45 minutes and did some yoga for about 20 minutes afterward. BTW, I've noticed my belly still doesn't realize it's not pregnant. When I try to pull my belly in when doing forward bends and other poses, I noticed it really wants to stick out. So my butt is looking better from the past two weeks on the elliptical machine, but my belly looks worse than ever. I...

I'm exhausted from this week and looking forward to a quiet weekend what with the hurricane coming up the East coast and all. We're going to be going grocery shopping shortly. We went to the doctor today and I mentioned I haven't stopped bleeding yet. He said let's wait until mid-next week and if I'm still spotting to come in to see him and he'll find out what's going on. If it does stop over the weekend, we're cleared to have Ahem! marital relations! We haven't had that kind of fun around our parts since July and I'm looking forward to it! We've been told to use condoms, he he, to make sure there won't be any infection, not a pregnancy. Anyway, last update is that the couple I through the baby shower for had their baby yesterday. They named him the same name as an old friend's son. I really like that name - Rohan. I wish them all the luck in the world. Can't wait for them to bring him in the office!

My week off was wonderful, but now it's time to get to the back to school/work routines. Phoebe had her first day of 2nd Grade today. Hopefully, I'll have time tonight to post the pic Leo took of her on the front step in her "Back to School" clothes and new backpack. She looked so cute!!!! I can't wait to get home today to find out how the first day of school went. She kept telling me she didn't want to go to school today and that she doesn't like school. But when we went to visit her new teacher last week, she didn't want to leave the library!!! And she gave the librarian a big hug. It was so sweet. I hope she has a good time this year. She does very well in school, so that's not an issue. So now we'll be getting back to after school activities. Ice skating starts tomorrow!!! She's in Gamma 1 for those that out there that know about ISI levels. She went up a level over the summer, she worked so hard. CYFF (Catholic education ...