illness sucks

fun and trouble in Tennessee

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Our start to the New Year left a lot to be desired.  
This was Dexter, in the car at about 8:20am on January 1st, not 2 minutes after we left our house.  Our car was filled to the gills with gifts for my Tennessee family and our clothes, etc.  Everything we needed for a 4 day trip.  Luckily it was only on the straps and not down in the seat.  If you know me at all, you know this is just about the worst thing that could happen to me as a mom (aside from getting puked ON, which also happened recently). Anyway, we grabbed a bucket and decided to try again. I was a mess of nerves and on edge for the first couple of hours of the drive.  By lunchtime, I’d calmed down but started to worry again that he’d get sick after eating.  After eating, we let them play for 20 minutes or so to see how he was going to do.
We made it to Tennessee without further incident and everyone seemed to be feeling great. We picked up my mom and headed straight to Dollywood, another hour away.  The forecast was showing temps of 54 so it sounded like the perfect time to show the boys the beautiful light displays there.  
Too bad it was getting dark by the time we showed up and the temperature had dropped 484,923 degrees.  Okay, it was like 40 but we were all freezing.  We ended up only staying for an hour or so before finding someplace in Pigeon Forge to eat and heading back to mom’s.  

The boys couldn’t have been happier to leave Dollywood and get back to Grammy’s because they knew present-palooza #3 was waiting for them. 

Grammy with her littlest grandsons.

 

My sweet niece Penelope just days before her first birthday (today!)
Thursday we relaxed around the house most of the morning and then I spent a few hours with a dear old friend of mine.  While visiting her, I began feeling a little sick. By the time we got back to my mom’s I was ready to lay down and call it a day.  The same stomach bug eventually bit me and I was feeling pretty miserable.  I tossed and turned from the time I went to bed until about 3am when I finally decided to go sit in a chair in the living room.  As soon as I nodded off there, I heard Theo yelling from the next room and I knew what had happened. I jumped up and ran in there and turned on the light, only to find him sitting up, crying. He had thrown up all over my mom’s new comforter. NOOO.  I think I started crying right then. I was in no condition to be standing up, let alone cleaning up yet another pile of puke. I yelled for Ryan and sat on the floor with 2 crying kids while Ryan cleaned up the bed.  
Speed on through the next 12 nightmarish hours and miraculously, by Friday afternoon we were all feeling much better.  My sister and her husband had planned to take the boys to Build-a-Bear as part of their Christmas gift so I agreed to meet somewhere for dinner and see how that went.  Theo’s energy had returned but his appetite was missing. A-okay.  We proceeded to the mall so they could make their little pals.  
When I explained to Theo what Build-a-Bear was, he seemed disappointed and said he didn’t like bears.  Funny that they had tons of options and that’s exactly what he chose!

And he shall be called Honey Bear.
Dexter chose the mouse, who has been called everything including Squeakers, Squeaky, Mousy, Koogie, and Cookie.
Don’t we look just alike? No? I know.

What about me and my niecy poo? No? Still nothing?

Thanks, Hamer family!
I’d never done or seen the Build-a-Bear process before but I thought it was super sweet. The boys really got into it and are still carrying their little animals around and sleeping with them.  
We’d planned to celebrate Penelope’s 1st birthday on Saturday but we decided to cut our trip short and leave Saturday morning instead of Saturday night due to impending bad weather at home.  So she opened her gifts from us back at my mom’s on Friday night. 

And Saturday morning, we hit the road. But not before catching a quick glimpse of our star-athlete-in-the-making nephew in action. 

Crossing the bridge back into Indiana.
We got home around 6pm Saturday and nestled in for the snowstorm.
Looking around our house now, I have to say I feel a little guilty. Our kids have so much STUFF.  They love their toys and there aren’t tons of things that they never play with. I’ve been pretty good about going through them routinely and donating or passing down to someone else.  But I won’t be buying a single toy until their birthdays (Theo’s is in just over 2 months…how is it possible that my baby is almost FOUR!?). 
So that concludes Christmas 2013!  Here’s to hoping that we got all the puking out of our systems for a long while.  My stomach leaps out of fear every time the kids cough, hiccup, or gag at all.  NO MORE PUKE.
Health, wealth, and happiness to you this year,
~C~

weigh to stay: 9 months in

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Before October’s over, I wanted to get my weight loss post up.

Previous updates HERE.

I was excited to weigh in a couple of days after we returned from vacation to find that I actually lost 1.5 pounds on our trip.  I’m pretty sure they’ve caught back up with me since we’ve been home.  I’m still successfully keeping the weight that I lost away, and in excess of my original goal.  My goal was 20-24 pounds and I’m staying around 25-26 pounds lost.

I knew I wouldn’t log in to MyFitnessPal on vacation and I’ve had a really hard time getting back into it since we’ve been back.  I’m sure I’m eating more than the recommended calories, but not enough to gain all my weight back (in the last 2 weeks anyway).  About 4 weeks before we left, I made a goal of running 12 times before vacation and I came pretty close – 11 runs.  I saved the last one for the day before we left and that was a mistake – there was just WAY too much to do.

I walked nonstop while on vacation, but haven’t gone on a run since we’ve been back.  Do I have excuses? Sure.  Are they good? Eh.  Kinda – I’ve been coughing since before we left and pretty sure I had the flu this past weekend.  Just kind of waiting to feel better. I was looking for some inspiration yesterday and came across this quote:

I don’t know who said it.  It’s relevant for many things, but couldn’t help but immediately relate it to losing weight, living a healthy life, etc.  There’s always an excuse.  So, in short, I’m still doing okay.  I could be doing better.  I don’t plan on getting back into the bad habits I had a year ago when I could barely stand to try on clothes or look in the mirror at myself.  
I’ve talked about it before – I hate winter.  It’s no secret.  I feel a little sad in the winter. Tired. I don’t like to be cold so I don’t like to leave the  house.  I’m euphoric in the springtime.  So it will take a little extra mmmph to get me up and out and moving, but I know this is what I want for my self, my life, my health. So I have to find a way instead of an excuse.  
xo,
~C~

the Disney World vacation chronicles: day 4

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Get caught up by clicking below:

Days 2&3
Day 1

Monday, October 7, 2013.

Animal Kingdom is only open until 5pm so we planned to exhaust every possible option in the park and then hop on over to Magic Kingdom to meet up with the rest of our gang and catch the 8pm electric light parade together.

A very cloudy start to the day with predictions of scattered thunderstorms all day. Boo.

First things first, a photo op with Rafiki.

The boys shared a snack while my mom and Ryan rode Dinosaur.

The boys played at the Boneyard Dig playground while mom and I rode the nearby Triceratop Spin rollercoaster.
This was the first day that we used our Magic Bands to reserve FastPass+ times for rides before arriving at the park. We had some trouble managing the members of our party on the smartphone app, but concierge was able to figure it out for us eventually.  My mom was never able to log in to accept my invitation to manage her activities but it didn’t matter once the front desk at the resort pushed whatever buttons they needed to push.  So a brief description of the Magic Bands – rubber/plastic wristbands that act as your room key, credit card, and FastPass+ tickets.  You use them in collaboration with the phone app.  They are still in the test process with this, so there were minor glitches here and there but cast members were understanding and accommodating.  The biggest problem with the whole thing (that I experienced) was that the app was VERY slow.  The wi-fi on property does not have the capacity needed for quick, efficient use.  That being said, I was able to make our selections and manage any changes that needed to be made throughout the day. 
For park entry, you hold your MagicBand up to a post and this links up to your fingerprint.  For charging to the room (which is backed up with your credit card of choice), you hold your MagicBand up to a device that is similar to any credit card swipe machine, then use a pre-identified pin number to verify.  The same technology is in place on the hotel room doors and ride turnstiles.  I liked using it for Fast passes because in the past, you went to the ride and if it was very popular, you might not be able to return with your fast pass for 4 hours.  When you select your attractions and times on the app (you can choose up to 3 per day), you can go back into the app and change either the attraction or the time to better suit your needs if you see that you are moving faster or slower through the park than you anticipated.  
This is how we received our MagicBands in the mail.
Overall, I really liked the MagicBands and think that they have the capacity to be SUPER awesome once the minor kinks are worked out. It was really nice not having to keep up with paper fast passes. The size is adjustable and one band really does fit all.  I was a little concerned that the boys would not tolerate wearing them or would lose them, but they were fun, comfortable, and fairly secure.  They didn’t take their MagicBands off without asking first and really enjoyed them.

The boys LOVED the Finding Nemo show. 

Tree of Life
We had a fast pass for the Kilimanjaro Safari and I was pretty happy about that as it started to sprinkle.  It’s a long ride and we were under cover (sort of) on our safari bus. 

But then it started pouring and all I could think about was how our helpless little strollers were sitting there soaking up the rain.  Along with the boys’ backpacks – which contained the boys’ changes of clothes. And Dexter’s diapers.  UGH.

It continued to rain after we got off of the ride and we quickly found cover and some lunch.  It was delicious. We found a quick service place in Asia that served amazing egg rolls and tasty sweet & sour chicken, honey chicken, and beef lo mein.  The best part of it all was that the boys LOVED it. They chowed down and although the portions were very generous, we wished we had more once it was gone.  The rain stopped as we finished eating.  We were all wet from walking in the rain. The strollers literally had puddles in them.  The diaper bags were dripping.  I threw away a couple of Dexter’s diapers but the ones on the inside of the stack were mostly dry.  His spare outfit was drenched.  

Waiting for ice cream after the Lion King show.

Rushing to see the Bug’s Life show before the park closed. 

Ya know, upon further review Dexter doesn’t look so good here.  
Then there’s this photo…taken about 30 minutes later on the bus to Magic Kingdom. 
It rained again the whole time we were on the bus and stopped as soon as we arrived at Magic Kingdom.  Lucky timing for that at least.  And friends, that’s where the photos end for Monday, October 7th.  Unless you saw this on Instagram:
You read that right.  When we got to Magic Kingdom, we went straight to Monsters Inc Scare Floor and while we were waiting to go in, I was holding Dexter. I kissed his forehead and thought “does he feel hot?” Seconds later, he puked all over me – and then did it again while I was standing there in the shock of this horror.  Two words:  EGG ROLL. Of course this occurs as the doors are opening to the attraction and we’re all scrambling and standing there like “what now!?”  I told them to go on and I would get myself and Dexter cleaned up.  Everyone went into the scare floor and I looked around.  Lots of closed doors and no cast members.  So I found an emergency exit and wandered around in my puke-covered clothes, carrying my puke-covered toddler at arm’s length while my mind raced and I tried to figure out my first step. 
We went over to stroller parking and I got out the wipes.  I tried wiping us both off the best I could.  Not super effective.  I stripped Dexter down to his diaper (classy) and wiped him off with wipes.  He was crying the whole time.  I dumped the puke out of his shoes and tried to wipe them out.  I put wet clothes from the diaper bag on him and sat him in the stroller, then ran into the nearest gift shop to buy the first shirt I could find in my size.  Went to the bathroom to change and rinse out our disgusting clothes.  
So. Gross. 
If you know me well, you know that dealing with puke has been one of my greatest mommy-duty fears from day one. Not spit up, but real, smelly, grown-up food puke.  I can’t take it.  I’m not sure how I powered through this situation, I guess because I had no choice  Poor Dexter literally slept the rest of the night in the stroller while Theo rode Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean.  After that, we decided to go home.  I waited awhile to leave because I wanted to make sure Dexter wasn’t going to throw up again. Can you imagine that?  On a crowded bus with nowhere to go and no way to get out? We missed the parade.  I felt so bad as we were leaving.  Like we were these parents that were just trying to rush to get a good spot in line for the bus.  Dexter slept all the way back to the room and went to bed immediately when we got back.  No more puke!
Stay tuned for Day 5 and more,
~C~