Will's 6th Birthday


Ok, this is just too cute not to share.  William just turned six.  For two months his father and I have been asking him what he wanted for his birthday.  If he was anything like his brother he would have asked for an ipad or a Nintendo DS or a new bike or something like that.  But, he is nothing like his brother, and the only thing he wanted for his birthday, was a "stuffy".  A big stuffed animal.  That's it.

Well, wish granted.  We got that boy the biggest, fluffiest, softiess stuffed animal we could find.  A massive teddy bear from Costco.  It's about the size (and shape) of Daddy.

Now, I couldn't just wrap him up like any old birthday present.  No, no, I had a better idea.  I put a huge bow on him and a note that said "Happy Birthday William",and placed him on the end of Will's bed after he fell asleep for the night.

Now, personally, if I woke up and saw this big fella on my bed first thing in the morning, I'd scream my head off.  But not Will.  He came in to my room and gave me the biggest, sweetest Birthday Boy hug ever and said, "I love my present".  And he does.  He named his bear Francis because I told him that he was the same size as Francis, the teenage boy next door.  And this is how Will sleeps now.  Giving over 2/3 of his bed to his favorite birthday present ever!

Michy

A New Action Plan!

So, I've been reading this book, Drop Dead Healthy, by A.J. Jacobs.  He's a pretty funny guy.   In this book, he is on a quest to become the world's healthiest man.  He is doing this by researching and putting into practice all the best health advice he can find.  He's trying everything from high protein to veganism, from cave man fitness programs to brain exercises to laughing classes, all in a bid to be the healthiest person possible.  It's an entertaining read, but more importantly, I think he may be onto something.

Each month, A.J. focuses on a different part of his body, all the while maintaining certain habits he finds beneficial as he goes along.  I like this idea.  I have decided to focus on one healthy change per week in order to work towards my goal of good health, (and, who am I trying to kid, a smaller ass).

My goal for week number one, starting tomorrow, will be to drink five cups of green tea a day.

Green tea is wonderful for you.  It's full of antioxidants, inhibits the growth of cancer cells and lowers bad cholesterol levels.  Plus it's yummy, warm and comforting.  Five cups a day may sound like a lot, but it's not.  I'll suck back two of them before noon.  I'm also hoping that trying to meet this goal will cause me to have to forgo the ever tempting Diet Coke.

So, try it out.  Think of just one good healthy change you can make and try it for the week.  Maybe it's taking a multivitamin everyday or flossing everyday.  Whatever makes you happy. Maybe next week, when you pick something new to add, you'll keep up with the previous weeks change, (or not), and before you know it you'll be doing all kinds of things that are great for you and you'll be on the road to better health, (and skinny jeans), in no time!

Michy

 Camping:  Take 2

Well, another weekend spent in the great outdoors.  The family, and a bunch of friends, hit up Silver Lake Provincial Park this long weekend for a little fun in the sun.  I must say, I was very impressed with this park.  A far cry from our last camping trip, the "outhouses" at Sliver Lake were immaculate!  I swear they were cleaner than my bathroom here at home.  And they were blessedly critter free.  No big spiders or birds or anything.  They were, however a little pungent which sucked for my brother and sister in law who were camped right down wind.  Say la vie.

Now, I recently re-broke my collarbone, which is only slightly less painful than the first time, so I was pretty much useless this trip.  My hubby had to do all the packing and unpacking, including picking up our entire site and moving it to another spot when we discovered that I had accidentally not booked us for the whole weekend. Whoops!  Now, on one hand, I could have looked at this as a gift.  Most of the time I do pretty much everything when we're camping so this time was like a break for me.   But that's not really how it worked out.  Instead, I felt like a completely useless tool who couldn't do anything and was just in the way.  I hate that.  I'm a do it yourself kinda gal.  I hate waiting for other people to do things for me and that it pretty much the position I was in this whole weekend.  Grrrrrrrr!

The other thing I learned in this trip:  never forget your hat.  I left my beloved sun hat behind on this tip and my hair will never forgive me.  With no hat to keep the sun off my face I had to spray myself with sunscreen every hour or so, dumping liberal amount of it all over my head.  Evenings were spent doing the same with with the bug spray.  By the end of day two I couldn't run my fingers through my hair.  They just got stuck and inch or so from my scalp.  Even after a shower, when you're all clean and fresh, you know you're just gonna hose yourself down again in ten minutes.  Mosquitoes can smell when you're clean.  That's when the attack with extra force!  By the end of the weekend, I could twist a piece of hair straight out from the side of my head, and it would just stay there like a stiff noodle.

Needless to say, when we got home, a shower was priority number one.  Check out this awesome before and after shot.

Hmmm.  Lets just say I was not at my most impressive.  It didn't help that the gals I was camping with are all slim and beautiful.  Grrrr.

So.   Definitely some good things learned for the next camping trip.  Hopefully my collarbone will feel better by then.  If not, I'll find myself a good book and a comfy spot to watch my husband work from!

Michy

Will Visits a Naturopath

So Will, my sweet baby boy has some issues.  Asthma, food allergies and eczema. The trifecta as it were.  These three conditions often go hand in hand.  He has also be congested for the last two years straight.  He's on meds for his asthma and he has an Epi Pen for peanut emergencies, but his eczema is always present and his nose is always plugged.  I believe that these problems can be solved, but the doctors he's been seeing seem to brush them off with a shrug of the shoulders.  They seem to think as long as he doesn't have an anaphylactic  reaction to something he's fine.  I disagree.  I don't think having scabby skin and not being able to breath out your nose supports a great quality of life.

So I have made Will an appointment with a Naturopathic Doctor.  I am very excited.  I'm a big believer in naturopathic medicine and the body's ability to heal itself.  I truly believe food is the best medicine, (no, not a tub of Ben and Jerry's to fix your depression, but real whole food). I am looking very forward to picking this guys brain.   But first, the awful part.  The Patient Intake Questionnaire.  The doctor e-mailed me his seven page intake questionnaire, full of questions about Will's general health and lifestyle.  Now I know I'm not in the running for the Mother of the Year Award, but if you ever want to feel like a total failure as mother, try answering some of these questions;

How would you describe your child's temperament and behavior at school?  Ok.  We do pretty good at this this one.  Will's pretty awesome.  Except when he's being surly or lazy or having a temper tantrum or being stubborn.  He's doing great at school, never been in trouble.

What is your child's favorite activity?  Um.  Watching tv?  I mean there are other things, but if we're being honest.

How much television does your child watch per day/week?  Oh Gad!  Do I have to answer this??  Is there like, some magical number where if you're over it they call CAS??  If I'm honest, on most week days, it's about 3 1/2 hours a day.  That's probably low balling it too.  1/2 hour before school, maybe two hours after school depending on the weather and if there are any friends outside to play with and then if Jake declares it one of his many, many "Movie Nights", another two hours on top of that.  We won't even get into the weekend.  Oh God, I am a horrible Mother!  Can this get any worse?

Does you child exercise regularly?  Define "regularly".

Do you know of any toxins or other hazards you child is regularly exposed to?  Aside from the 25 year old carpet in our house and the mold in the bathroom ceiling?  No.

And worst of all, how would you rate your child's diet?  Oh shit.  No, that's how I would describe his diet.  Now, that's not all the time.  We're about 50/50 around here for eating great and eating crap I wouldn't give my dogs.

Let's take a look at this weekends menu.  Breakfast:  Will had pancakes with syrup, bacon, ham and sausage, (he hasn't quite picked up on being a vegetarian).   For lunch, (at his birthday party), he had a big ol' greasy slice of cheese pizza, a bag of chips and an apple juice, and let's not forget a big slice of marble cake.  Dinner was the best though.  Daddy brought home a bucket of KFC.  Fried chicken, popcorn chicken and chicken fingers with fries and gravy.  I can't believe no one had a heart attack.  I did't eat any chicken, but it wasn't because I held myself to any higher standard.  I had a Taco Bell 7 Layer Burrito and Nachos Supreme without the beef type substance.

I have to say, going over what your kids ate in the last 48 hours is a real eye opener.   I am really curious what the Doctor is going to make of all this.  I'll let ya know.  In the mean time, turn off that Barney show and give your kid a carrot stick!

Michy

Great Michy Slim-Down Update

Um. So, 182.5 is higher than 180, isn't it?  Well shit.  It would appear that the great Michy Slim-Down has gone way the Ef off  course.  I'm not sure what it was exactly.  It could have been the Father's Day ice cream cake (of which I ate 3/4), or the multiple all you can eat sushi lunches, or maybe it was the Taco Bell, A&W and Arby's I scarfed back this week.  I don't know.  I guess it will remain a mystery.

Gad, what a tool!  On a positive note, I did bike a lot this week.  I think, however, if I'm being realistic, I would have to bike from here to Toronto to work off just one Taco Bell Burrito Extreme.  It doesn't help that my husband considers KFC a food group.  When I left yesterday to do the grocery shopping he hollered up the stairs to please get some "healthy" snacks.  By this he meant, Veggie Sticks, Rice Cakes and 100 Calorie Packs of treats.
    
 NEWS ALERT!!!  These are not healthy snacks!!  They are garbage!  I did get him healthy snacks though.  They're called fruits and vegetables.  Fancy that!

So.  Today is a new day.  Starting fresh with a clean slate.  This mornings menu included homemade Oatmeal with just a hint of cinnamon, maple syrup and brown sugar and a half a grapefruit.  My kids gobbled it up which is awesome.  I would love to keep sugary cereal out of our house and reduce the amount of milk we use, so oatmeal solves both these problems.

For lunch I'm planning on a toasted tomato sandwich with vegan mayo and maybe some homemade corn and jalapeno chowder.  Yum!  Fat pants be gone!

Michy

Balloon Boy!

So, I try not to ramble on too much about how awesome my kids are, but sometimes I just can't hep myself.  Today was Alex's grade two class talent show.  He was not feeling real good today.  He was complaining of a stomach ache, but he wanted to go do his part of the talent show, so off he went.  Like a proud Mama, I went to watch and when I got to the class, Alex wasn't looking so good.  He stomach was still aching and his teacher said he was real quiet all morning.  She said, "you know when Alex is quiet, something must be wrong".  So true.

But, the show must go on!  They moved Alex to the first spot so he could leave early if he needed to.  He got up, look center stage and this is what he did.   Allow me to preface this by saying no one taught him to do this and he didn't read the instructions in a book.  He reverse engineered it from one that his Dad made for his brother.  Amazing!

And what a little showman too!  About ten minutes after this performance he was barfing his guts out in the teacher's bathroom!  What a trooper!

So there you have it.  Bragging moment over.  You can go back to your day.

Michy

The Great Jam Miracle

Well, if you haven't noticed yet, it is strawberry season!  Yum.  Fresh, super sweet strawberries are yours for the picking at local farms, or you can go the lazy way like me and buy them from a farm stand.  Just so you know, I consider it sacrilege to buy strawberries from the supermarket at this time of year.

So, fresh strawberries means it's jam time!  Now, I'm pretty new to the jam making scene.  I've only made it once before, but I was very gung ho this year.  I have been babying my rhubarb all spring for just this time so I could make strawberry rhubarb jam. Mmmmmmm.

So jam making day came.  I had everything ready and I was planning on a really great day.  Life, on the other hand, had other plans for me.  I don't recall exactly what ticked me off that morning, two many things to do, too many interruptions  . . . I'm sure my husband a kids had something to do with it, but by the time I started making my jam I was in a foul mood.  I was slamming spoons and growling to myself and then I lifted up a mason jar and saw this;

If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is.  A sign that was telling me to slow down and enjoy the process of what I was doing (pardon the pun).  It changed my whole attitude.  I wasn't just making jam, I was making love in a jar!  All that growing and hulling and boiling and sugar was gonna make something special!  Often people are so busy being wrapped up in themselves, they completely ignore the present moment and it passes them by.  This was my chance to tune out everything around me and enjoy the task of making my jam.  And I did.  And it was worth it.

By the time I started cleaning everything up, I was humming to myself.  And that's when I moved a wooden spoon and found this; (I swear, this is for real)!

Wow.   So that is The Great Jam Miracle.  Get out to the farm stand and have on of your own!

Michy