BOOGERS

The past few days have been all about boogers. Our dear Cecilia has a face full of them every time I turn around and she does NOT enjoy when I wipe them away. Maybe she is angry because she likes how they taste or how the slime moisturizes her skin or how they feel on her fingertips. No matter the reason, she wants to keep them and doesn't want to share them with a tissue or a towel or a little fleece sweatshirt I found in the car (desperate times and all that).

One swipe to the nose = total hysteria.

Not only is she a little booger face, but she has been tear stained and puffy eyed and has looked generally strung out.

And to make matters worse, she has a mom that will photograph her crying rather than soothe her. Poor kid.

Passing through Tantrum City

We've been seeing the above expression (with accompanying sound effects) entirely too often these past few days. August was a fantastic month; if you recall I even wrote about how agreeable Simon had been as of late, but that agreeable kid appears to have gone in hiding and a possessed version of himself has risen to the surface.

I know that the normal child he can be will win out again eventually, but man is it frustrating to deal with his bull shit in the meantime!

Interestingly enough, after the fit he threw in the grocery store I told him he was teaching Cecilia how to be naughty and he did not like that idea. I said he needed to act like a nice boy so that Cecilia could learn how to be a nice girl, and he actually stopped crying at this point to set a good example.

I will be using this tactic against him in the future...thank goodness he loves his little sister so much! :)

5 Minutes

I feel like I would be doing a disservice to my friends and family if I didn't share this with you...

A while back I posted about making homemade laundry detergent. It worked fine, but it was a teensy bit complicated and it wasn't formulated for high efficiency machines so I went back to using store bought detergents when we got a new machine.

I liked the idea of making my own, though, so I did some more research online and found a homemade detergent recipe that is A) good for any kind of washing machine and B) a million times easier than the last recipe I used.

Seriously, it is so easy. And so cheap. And it works significantly better than the kind I had been buying from the store.

So here's what you do...find 5 minutes in your day, finely grate a bar of ivory soap with a cheese grater and add it to a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda. Mix well. The end!

Yup, I'm excited about laundry detergent. Hellooooo thirties!! :)

{Store detergent in an airtight container. Use 1-2 tablespoons per load. For detailed directions and pictures, click here.}

Busses and Boo-hooing

The Bus.

The bus is a super convenient resource for parents, especially those with younger children at home. For example, today Cecilia fell asleep for her nap at noon and since Simon was taking the bus to school I didn't have to wake her up 45 minutes later to get him to school in time...she could sleep uninterrupted for as long as she needed. 

One big point for the bus. 

Plus millions of kids have taken the bus to and from school for years and years. Using the bus is the more environmental friendly option. Simon thinks it's super cool to ride the bus. We are already paying for the bus with our tax dollars. When kids use the bus who are eligible it keeps the parking lot at the school less congested.

Five more points for the bus.

The thing is, I've been holding that boy's hand through everything for the past four and a half years and today I had to let go. I had to watch him get into a moving vehicle with a complete stranger and watch it drive away. Even writing that sentence sends shivers down my spine. Would the driver follow the rules of the road? Would he use his blinkers and take his time slowing down? Would he go straight to school or would he just decide to kidnap all of them? And Simon, would he sit in a safe way? Would he be nice to the other kids? Would they be nice to him? Would he follow the rules? Would he fall asleep on the bus and get forgotten? 

All these questions were racing through my brain as we waited at the end of our driveway for the damn bus. 

I was hiding my tears behind my sunglasses and Simon was clueless playing next to me. When the bus came he excitedly got right on and didn't look back. The bus driver had him come back so I could get a picture (one point for the driver), and I was still holding myself together.

But then it drove away. 

With my son.

And it lost all its points.

My phone happened to ring at this moment and it was my older sister. I decided to answer it because I wasn't thinking or seeing straight and could barely choke out a hello. She was frantic on the other line thinking something actually bad happened. Eventually I was able to tell her, "Simon just got on the bus" between my sobs. She laughed, as she should have. Soon I was able to settle down, we had a nice long chat and I was able to make the most of the rest of my afternoon.

I was less anxious waiting for him to come home, but it being 18 late minutes didn't help. Luckily one of my neighbors was around and chatted with me while I waited which helped pass the time. And then there he was, in my arms. One second later he was trying to wriggle free so he could pet the neighbor's dog. It appeared as though this day did not mean the same to him as it did to me (probably a good thing).

I tried for the rest of the night to get him to tell me something about his day, but all I got out of him was "I liked my seat." When pressed further he indicated he was referring to both his seat on the bus and in his classroom...aka he didn't care about this conversation anymore and wanted to appease me.

Tomorrow is another day and I think it will go better. For me. I assume (hope) it will go about the same for him :) 

30 Day Challenge Update - 2 Weeks In

Tomorrow will mark the half-way point in my little exercise-more-drink-less-coffee adventure.

I'd love to tell a tale of having exercised every single day as planned, but I was a slacker on Labor Day. I can't say I'm too torn up about it, though. It was a holiday, so I took a holiday from exercise. Holidays should be exempt from self-imposed rules, right? I think so.

On the contrary, I did not give myself a holiday from my coffee pact because, frankly, after a week without it I just didn't really care about it anymore. I was doing fine with plain old tea.

But I was still caffeine dependent, my teeth were still slowly yellowing with each sip and my damaged esophagus continued to burn every day (all of which were secondary reasons for giving up coffee after no longer wanting the extra calories from the creamer). So I figured maybe I should give up tea too. I can't remember exactly when I had it last, but I do know I had a few foggy days without it this week. I had a hard time feeling focused and felt almost bored (for lack of a better term) despite a hundred things I could be doing. I really think it was caffeine withdrawal.

In any case, I switched to water and however many days it has been seems like it was enough to get over the hump and feel okay. Stupid reflux is still in full effect, though. Maybe one day I'll figure that hot mess out.

So there you have it. An update :)

And here are two pics of Cecie just because...

 

Bristol Renaissance Faire

Yesterday we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire. It's a place for all kinds of interesting people to get together and party like it's 1599 (according to their website anyway). Workers and visitors alike talk and dress like it's several hundred years ago which makes for great people watching. We saw knights, pirates, whores, sword fighters, jesters, royalty and even one ninja (I think the ninja may have been confused about this place, not sure).

At one point the queen was making a grand entrance right where we were standing. This guy was very excited to see the fake leader in her costume. He may have pooped himself...

In addition to the spectacular people watching, there's also a ton of food, shops, shows and other stuff for kids to do (most of which I guarantee you were not around in 1599...iced cappuccinos anyone?). All around it was a fun, freaky place to go with family and friends on summer day.

Here is Simon shooting a bow and arrow; he was very excited about it...

Here he is digging for treasures with Danielle. And by "treasures" I mean drawer handles, bloody fingers, shells, plates and other crap people wanted to throw in the garbage but instead donated to the Faire so suckers like myself could pay $3 for their kid to find said items in the sand. At least he got to keep one treasure - a snake - and it kept him busy for a long time.

Tiffany time...

Cecie just doing her thing...

Simon watching the knights go by on horseback...

And a pony ride, his reward for being a good boy all day! The funniest part was that the only pony left for him was also named Simon :)

30 Day Challenge & A Cecie Update

Seven days strong.

The coffee thing hasn't actually been that much of an issue. I think making the announcement actually did help me to feel more committed to this goal. I've had a few people reach out to me about the whole creamer obsession which was very nice...they just wanted to make sure that I knew there were ways to make your own creamer and/or get natural varieties. I was using a natural kind already so at the very least I wasn't pumping my body full of fake fillers, but I was still getting a lot of extra calories from it. I've switched to plain old green tea and that seems to meet my need for a warm drink throughout the day (why I need this year round, I'm not sure), plus rumor has it that green tea has a lot of health benefits so I'm glad the switch has been working!

As for the exercise, I have stuck to it but realized how engrained excuses have been in my day. Anytime I would think about working out I would immediately come up with a laundry list of reasons why it just couldn't fit into my day. For the past seven days, however, I have had to completely change my thought process and rearrange my day so that a workout wouldn't get left out. Today I went immediately after having a pancake breakfast. I never would have done that before, but I knew that if I didn't go right then the day was going to slip right by me. This is how my husband thinks about fitting exercise in...Just ate? So what. Sun isn't up yet? Well later I'm busy. It's almost time for bed? I guess I'm going to go to sleep a little later. He takes a look at the day figures out where it's going to fit best for our family and rolls with it. I am trying to learn from him in that way!

Like I said, though, seven days strong. I'm feeling determined to get to that 30 day marker before taking a day off from exercise and coffee, well I think I need to say never again because one cup and I'll be done for all over again...

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And as promised, a Cecie update. I realize I just wrote a lengthy post about her 3 days ago, but I wanted to share a couple of videos because in baby-land a few days can make a big difference!

and...

Please forgive the obnoxious parents in the background :)