Happy Birthday Mom!

Just wanted to wish my wonderful mom the happiest of birthdays.  You are and have always been a great inspiration.  Thank you for being my mom.  I love you to pieces!!

Thank You

There are two posts on other blogs this week that I wanted to share.  

Thanks LW for this reminder of NASA's fallen heroes.

Thanks to Da Momma for helping me get past my feeling of inadequacy for being unable to breast feed my kids for more than a few months.  

Have a great week everyone.

25 Random Things About Me

I was tagged twice in the same day on facebook by 2 different friends to make a list of 25 random things about me.  They gave their list and tagged 25 friends to do the same so we may, perhaps, learn something new about our friends.  I thought it sounded like something fun to duplicate on my blog so here goes nothing.

25 Random Things About Me

1.  I HATE WalMart

2.  I regret that I shop at Sam's Club (same company as WalMart) because the closest Costco is 22 miles away from my house.

3.  Some days I almost drive the 22 miles to the other side of downtown Houston just because I really hate WalMart that much.

4.  I try my hardest to be environmentally friendly.  I recycle everything I possibly can, I drive a Prius, I use a Sigg water bottle, I use cloth grocery bags, I used cloth diapers on my oldest child...  I really work hard to tread lightly on this earth.

5.  Contradictory to #4, I am a HUGE fan of zip-lock bags.

6.  I am afraid of loud noises.

7.  I have near panic attacks in crowded spaces.

8.  Toilet paper MUST feed from the top of the roll.  (And don't come over here and change all of the toilet paper rolls in the house, PC!!)

9.  My children are the biggest challenge I've ever experienced.

10.  I would love to become a vegetarian.

11.  However, I believe I would die if I were restricted from eating a good burger or a steak.

12.  It is hard for me to ask for help.  

13.  I slept naked for 7 years before the kids came along.

14.  I've visited France 4 times.

15.  And I'd go back again tomorrow and live there for a few years if I could.

16.  I've also visited London and a small area in Germany.

17.  I would love to visit Ireland, Austria, Italy and Australia/New Zealand.

18.  I prefer the mountains to the beach.

19.  I prefer the cold to the heat.

20.  I always wanted to be a doctor.  However, I knew I couldn't handle having people die on me and abandoned that idea.  Well, that and I could never pass the science classes.    

21.  I have huge mood swings and I will cry at the drop of a hat.

22.  My favorite thing to do to relax is to watch t.v.

23.  I've gone skinny dipping in a high mountain lake in August when there was ice still on the lake.  Yep, it was cold.

24.  Grand Teton National Park is the most beautiful place on the face of the earth if you ask me.

25.  I'm an insomniac.  That explains #21.  Well that plus those evil things called hormones.

The Gods Granted My Wish

There is a store in the mall called Club Libby Lu.  It is supposed to be a store for 'tweens and has all of this girly, fu-fu stuff in it like lotions and glitter stuff.  Young girls have parties there and get makeovers.  90% of every birthday party I've seen when going by the store ends with a bunch of 8 year old hookers.  I swear these girls have their hair all done up and makeup on like a 20 something woman.  It gives me the creeps.

Then I gave birth to a girly-girl.  I anticipated that within 10 years of her birth we would be arguing about whether or not she would be allowed to either have her birthday party there or attend a birthday party there.  To be fair, I've seen one or two parties over the years where the girls come out looking cute and age appropriate.  They have cool hairdos, lots of glitter and maybe lip gloss.  Like I said, it just gives me the creeps and I didn't want M ever going there.

We were in the mall on Monday and walked by the store.  IT IS CLOSED!!  WAHOOOOOO!!!  I checked online and they closed all of their stores.  It is a small victory for mom but a terribly important one.  Thanks be to the Gods of mothers with 'tween girls.  

I've taught my kids the "F word"

I've tried to parent with the idea that I never want my kids to hesitate to talk to me about anything.  I hope to be able to speak without hesitation to them if they ask me a question about what shoes to wear or if they ask me about sex.  I don't want them to see any flicker of uncertainty in my eye nor do I want to display any discomfort about any topic.

With that in mind, O, M and I were watching the Biggest Loser from this past week.  I had already seen it but O has become quite a fan so I saved the show on the DVR so he could see it too.  I knew in advance that Bob, the trainer, was going to have a bit of a melt down and use some bad language.  In teaching my kids about bad language, I try not to make a big deal out of it.  I use bad language.  Not to an extreme.  But I have cussed in front of the kids.  I feel like if I make it some sort of forbidden thing that they will gravitate towards it as they grow up.  So, if they use bad language we have a chat about how some people see those words as "bad" and they need to be careful about where they use those words and who they say them to.  So far it isn't a huge deal for them.  O is now getting to that concrete stage of development where the rules are the rules period and he is the first to point out if anyone breaks them.

So, as we are watching the show and Bob is screaming at one of the contestants, O says, "Oh, I know what he said.  He said shoot."  I kind of laugh and neither confirm or deny his assumption.  Then he realizes that Bob probably really didn't say shoot.  So he starts pressing me, "what word did he say, mom?"

What was I supposed to do?  So we had a chat about the F word.  How it is a really bad word and the kids need to be careful not to say it.  Then he wants to know what it means and we touch on how it is slang for sex but we also use it in other ways.  The whole time I'm thinking, "how do I get into these conversations with my 6 and 3 year old kids?"  I feel like I explained things to their satisfaction and at their level.  I asked if they had any questions.  We also talked about alternative words to use.  I told them that a lot of people use the word "frick or freak" instead.  He giggled and laughed as we watched Bob have his fit and we all knew what he was saying even though they beeped it out.  

I think it was a good bonding experience for us.  I also took the opportunity to remind them that they can always come and ask me about anything.

Now I wonder if frick and freak will become a regular part of their vocabulary!  I can't wait.

Happy Eyes

Yesterday I had my annual eye exam.  I have had an annual eye exam every year for the nearly 30 years that I've worn contact lenses.  It is just the norm for me.  At my appointment last year, it was revealed that I might be developing signs of glaucoma. My intraocular pressures were high which is the first indication.  This disease of the optic nerve almost always leads to blindness and, while it can be treated, is not curable.  I was devastated upon hearing the news.  At a young age, I had decided that losing my sight would be the hardest thing for me to cope with and I would choose to lose my hearing, a limb...anything else instead.

So, after discussing options with my eye doctor we decided to take a "wait and see" approach.  Her thought was that my symptoms weren't dramatic enough to begin medication, especially at my age, knowing that I would be on medication for the rest of my life in order to try to control the damage.  We planned for a 6 month follow up to do another visual field test.  The visual field test basically looks for blind spots in the visual field.  The visual field test that I had done in January of last year showed some possible abnormalities but nothing major.

I decided to put my faith in acupuncture and Oriental Medicine to the test.  I quizzed my instructors and I set up appointments with several interns who worked really hard to research acupuncture, chinese herbs and eye diseases.  We all worked hard together for 6 months to get my intraocular pressure under control.  Without any specific symptoms of the disease it was difficult to tell what, if anything, was working to my advantage.

I went to my 6 month follow up with much hope.  The tech did the test for my intraocular pressures and they were down!  Back to high normal.  Then she did the vision field test.  I had to wait to see the doc to get those results though and when she looked at them, the results were confusing.  Looking back, I believe that the tech switched my eyes when she input the info because the results came back opposite to the results 6 months previous.  The doc was baffled.  So, we redid the test and it came back correct--well, the same as it had 6 months before.

So, in the middle of all of this testing I was excited to tell my doc that I had been using acupuncture and chinese herbs to try to bring down my intraocular pressures.  She immediately was alarmed and wanted to know what herbs I was taking.  I told her that I could get her a list but that she would probably have to look them up.  She didn't seem to be listening.  In fact, she actually said, "the only herb that I know for glaucoma is pot."  I was really shocked that she said that and that she was so closed minded--she wasn't even listening to what I said.  The rest of the appointment went downhill from there.  She was focused on the fact that I was possibly "over supplementing" according to her.  She said she had a friend who is a rheumatologist and she treats so many people who take herbs and medicines from other countries.  While I could appreciate that that was her experience I was just uncomfortable that she really didn't seem to know what to do.  We agreed that we would wait another 6 months and see where things were then.

In the fall I began thinking about changing doctors.  I wanted to find a glaucoma specialist and I also wanted to find someone who was more open minded about alternative treatments.  I found a doc that I emailed and she seemed great.  So, when it came time for my annual exam (ie, I was out of my disposable contact lenses!) I decided I would go see the new doc.

Immediately I saw the difference.  The office was bigger, there was more staff, everyone was kind, helpful, cheerful.  Not that the other office was negative or rude.  It was just a different feeling being in the new office.  The testing that they do just as routine was much more thorough and I really felt well taken care of.  More importantly, I felt listened to.  That means everything to me.

So, to make a really long story short, after all of the tests and conversations, the new doc was comfortable saying that she sees absolutely no sign at all of symptoms of glaucoma!!  In fact, if she did not know my history she would not suspect a thing.  YAY!!!  I am going back next week once in the morning and once late in the day just to make sure that my pressures are within normal range and that my new contacts are working out fine.  I feel so much better.

Her only suggestions for me are to take a supplement with luteine and make sure I wear sun glasses with 100% UV protection.  This supplement has shown to help with vision problems especially those related to macular degeneration.  Macular degeneration (another eye disease that causes blindness) runs in my family.  That, in addition to the fact that I have blue eyes and fair skin, puts me in the high risk category for macular degeneration.  The luteine supplement along with taking care to wear sun glasses and continuing my yearly eye exams will help as I age.  

Over the past year I've also come to terms with the fact that I may eventually have serious vision problems.  I've discovered that I'm pretty sure that I would be able to deal with such a situation.  So, over all,  the news and the results are more than I could have hoped for.

First Diss by O and the long, slightly related story

On Wednesdays, O is set up to take a kid transportation service from school to the childcare place we use since I'm in class when he gets out of school.  I drop M off at childcare on my way to school, O joins her after he gets out of school and C picks them up when he gets off work.  Understandably there are several people who need to know that O needs to do this since it is not a regular/daily thing:  I remind O before he gets on the bus in the morning, I remind the bus driver that he won't/shouldn't be on the bus after school, I put a note in his folder to remind his teacher, I tell the childcare people when I drop M off to expect him after school and I pay the transportation people for their service.  You'd think that would cover it, right?

Yesterday I forgot to put the note in O's folder.  I decided that I would surprise him by joining him for lunch (M and I do that a few times a month) and, while at school, pass the note along to his teacher.  Problem solved.  We arrived a few minutes late so his class was already seated at their assigned table.  I ran into his teacher in the cafeteria though so I gave her the note and said that this would be the norm for the next 3 months or so.  She appreciated the notification and said she would make a note for herself just in case I forgot to send a note.  Perfect.  I can depend on her even if I mess up.

M and I head over to O at the table and he is enjoying lunch with his friends.  The kids each have assigned seats so if parents and siblings come for lunch then we go out of the cafeteria to eat in the common area where they have tables provided.  O was very excited to see us but made no move to collect his lunch to move to the common area.  I asked if he wanted to come eat with us.  He said, "but Robbie is going to tell us a funny story!  Can you sit here with me?"  I told him that there was no room for us and we'd have to go out into the common area.  He suggested that we could just stand there while he ate with his friends.  I told him that he didn't have to eat lunch with us if he preferred to eat with his friends and he said ok.  So, M and I left.  At first I was ok with it because I had achieved my goal of getting the note to his teacher.  Plus since I hadn't taken the time to pack a lunch, I was not really looking forward to a school cafeteria lunch!  Then, as I was driving away, I found myself getting a little weepy.  I realized that he just chose his friends over me.  It makes me infinitely happy that he has good friends.  I also knew that this day was coming.  But I was still a little sad that it had finally come to pass.

I went on with my day without thinking much more about it.  I got to school and had only a fleeting thought during the class break to check for messages.  However, I got distracted as I chatted with fellow students about a group project that was just assigned so I didn't check messages as I had planned.  Once class was back in session I remembered to check my phone and saw that I had had 5 missed calls.  I walk out of class to check my messages finding 3 of them:  one from the school district transportation service stating that O had mistakenly gotten on the bus and was at the bus stop, please call them; another from a great neighbor who's son also rides the bus, she was trying to help correct the situation; and the third message was a reminder call for my dr. appointment this morning!  I rarely get phone calls and they all seem to happen at the same time!

This had all taken place roughly 45 minutes before.  First, I'm concerned wondering where my son is.  Then I'm pissed because, for crying out loud, what do I have to do to get him where he needs to be when I can't be there??!!  Finally, I'm wondering, who am I supposed to call?  The school district transportation people?  The school?  The neighbor?  The childcare place?  The kid transportation service?  S*#T!!!  AND I'm missing class to deal with this!!!  Grrrrrrrrrrr...

So, I call the neighbor.  Not sure why.  She was the one furthest removed from the situation so I couldn't blow up at her.  I guess that is why I called her first.  Amazingly, she knew what was going on!  The bus driver had taken O back to school and the kid transportation van met her there to pick him up and take him to childcare.  I thanked her profusely and she assured me she had had a similar experience with her son this year.  I calmed down then and called the childcare place to confirm that he was actually there.  He was present and accounted for so I headed back to class.

The exact same thing happened once last spring with the same results.  I guess if it happens again I know it will get taken care of.  What a pain in the butt.  Seriously, I have enough stress without these experiences!