Wednesday, July 31, 2013

THAT Mom…


            This is mostly addressed to all the other fellow mom’s out there, have you ever felt like THAT mom? The one with the unruly child(ren), hair unkempt and looking like she’s ready  to be admitted to a “loony bin”? I’m not even sure that woman really exists, but I sure felt like her the other day! I’m also pretty sure we’ve all had those days.

            For this story to make sense, you’ll need a little background. About a year ago during the Love Bug’s routine check-up his pediatrician noticed an abnormal heartbeat. Every 12-15 beats, his heart beats faster than it should according to its normal rhythm. She did an EKG and it was there too, she wanted to wait until his next check-up to see if it was still there and then make a decision from there. Fast forward to April, it was still there and she contacted the pediatric cardiologist. Well, we finally had our appointment where he did an ultrasound of the Love Bug’s heart. Much to my pleasure the anatomy of his heart is completely normal, but the electricity in his heart is where the problem may be. So the cardiologist decided that he wanted to schedule a follow up later that week to perform another EKG and put a 24 hour monitor on. The Love Bug was an angel at this appointment despite the fact that he was feeling under the weather.
This is a picture of what the results of an EKG look like, but ARE NOT the Love Bug's.
The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog.
Attribution: By Michael Rosengarten BEng, MD.McGill
[CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
 
 

Well two days passes, I’m at home with the Love Bug because he has a fever, we take him to his normal pediatrician and discover he has a pretty severe ear infection. Two more days pass and he’s on antibiotics and semi back to his normal self, although now suffering for diarrhea because of the antibiotics (can I please get a break!?) and we now have to go back for the monitor.

Well we end up running late, but make it before the office closes. Love Bug is not happy, he has really sensitive skin and usually breaks out when they put the EKG “stickers” on him. Needless to say, when he sees the machine he flips his lid! He goes into full on terrible two’s tantrum with kicking and screaming. My angel child disappeared and I’m trying to hold him down so they can get a good result on the EKG, which requires him to be still. Can you say NIGHTMARE? Then they had to pull the “stickers” off him to put the monitor “stickers” on. At this point he’s screaming bloody murder, I was sure someone from the other doctor’s office was going to come in. Finally he starts to calm down as he gets used to the monitor being on his body. My angel child then returns when he gets to choose a sticker to put on his shirt.
What EKG "sticker's" look like and how they are placed.
The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog.
Attribution: By Rennett Stowe from USA (Heart Monitor  Uploaded by russavia)
 [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
 

As we were on the way home (it’s a one hour drive from the doctor’s office), it was later than I was expecting, due to my own tardiness. I realized we would have to stop for food for the Love Bug somewhere. He currently has an obsession with McD’s, I know go ahead and judge me as a bad parent but with the week I’d had with him, it was one of those weak moments where I would do about anything to get him to be calm and happy. That assumption would be the mistake that led to me becoming THAT mom. We stopped about half way, went inside and ordered his food (see previous dieting post on why I did not order anything). As he is still working on his coordination skills I asked him if he wanted to drink out of the jug or if he wanted me to pour it into his sippy cup. Being the big boy that he is, he said what I thought was, “Want to drink out of jug Mommy”. Great, we sit down, I open his milk place it in front of him and meltdown ensues. While he’s doing this I proceed to set up the rest of his meal, breaking up his meat, cutting his apple slices and putting a few fries out there. Once I finish I try to understand what I could have possibly done wrong.
Attribution: By Lucas, catched from PDphoto.org (PDphoto.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
 

I soon realized it has something to do with him milk as he pushes it across the table at me, yelling, “No Mommy! I want jug!” Trying to figure out what he wants, I ask if he wants his cup, “NO!” At this point I’m probably looking desperate as I try to calm my screaming child. Then the sweetest thing happened, a gentle old man brings over a high chair and suggests maybe that’s what he wants. So I ask the Love Bug, in a much kinder voice, “No.” Finally, I look up from where the old man came from and see napkins, straws, etc. I realize he probably wants a straw. Sure enough, as soon as I plopped that into his milk he was a happy camper. Thus ends my journey to THAT mom.
The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog.
Attribution:By P.J.L Laurens (Wikimedia Commons)
[CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
 

If you are confused how jug and straw sound similar, they don’t, however the Love Bug’s “J’s” and “S’s” sound the same right now. I’m just grateful that there was someone else there who realized I might be struggling a little bit and willing to help me out. That doesn’t happen very often in this world and I think we especially as fellow mom’s need to not pass judgment. We don’t know the personal circumstances behind someone’s day and what life might entail for them. So when you see a fellow mom out there (or anyone in general) who looks like they could use a hand, don’t hesitate, it might be the saving grace they need.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Growing Up… Why Haven’t I Figured this out Yet?!


Recently, my husband has started the adventure of venturing out into a new career, in which he must endure numerous hours of training. I must admit I’m pretty excited for him, after all this is his dream job; it is also pretty interesting material. It’s made me really consider my career path and education, along with my goals for the future.

Now don’t get me wrong, I loved my college experience. I was super involved: sorority, student government, 3 part time jobs, a few student clubs and even a semester abroad! I loved my major and all the wonderful and interesting people I got to meet. I loved my college, small, private and intimate. I wouldn’t have changed anything about my college experience or my major.

Amsterdam, 2007
See end of Blog for more College Adventure Pictures!

 
However, I almost wish I would have continued. With all that I was involved with by the end of my undergraduate degree, I was burnt out. I was ready for a change and to make my mark in the “real” world. I really was one of the lucky ones, I graduated before the student loan markets really started to tank and I was able to get a great job within 4 months of graduation with an organization that I had moderate interest in. I’m currently with my second job since I graduated and I love the people that I work with and enjoy my job. However, both of these positions are not in a career field that I imagined I would be in. Is that a bad thing? No. Am I grateful? Yes. However, I often go back to thinking this one question I was asked as a child, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

This really is a scary thought, especially as a get closer to the big 3-0. I feel that by the age of 30, I should have an established career, a house and know what I want to do with my life. Where I stand now (a few years shy of 30), I feel nowhere close to knowing what I want to do with my life. I have numerous interests and have even contemplated going back to school for a graduate degree. The problem is I can’t seem to make up my mind. I’ve considered teaching, social work, law (lawyer & peace officer) and nursing. I think I could do any of those things and be excellent at them, but just as I get really excited about prospects and am about to engage reality hits.

Where will I get the money to go to school? How will we get out of debt if I go to school? How will we care for the love bug if I’m going to school full time? Can I work and go to school full time? What about my dream of eventually being able to be a stay at home mom (SAHM)? Wouldn’t that be a waste of resources to go to school/training for a career and then after a few years decide to be a SAHM? And the ultimate question, “What do I want to do with my life?”

So that’s where I am, clueless. I want to find something I’m passionate about and get involved. I don’t want to be one of those people that just goes to work because they have to. I want to go to work and love what I do. Anyone else out there feeling the same? I’d love to hear your thoughts or resolutions if you have them!
 


Vienna, Austria. 2007

 
 
 

Budapest, Hungary. 2007
 

Budapest, Hungary. 2007
 

Budapest, Hungary. 2007
 

Central Park, New York, USA. 2006
 

Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. 2007


Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. 2007
Iwakuni, Japan. 2007

Iwakuni, Japan. 2007
 
Vysehrad, Prague, Czech Republic. 2007

Vysehrad, Prague, Czech Republic. 2007


Vysehrad, Prague, Czech Republic. 2007

Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic. 2007

United Nations General Assembly, New York. 2006

United Nations, New York. 2006

Vienna, Austria. 2007
 

Monday, July 29, 2013

The Love of a Child


   The love of a child is best described as unconditional and never ceasing. Being a mom is one of the greatest adventures I have experienced. You never know what is going to happen, you are in charge of another human being, who has their own thoughts, actions and independence. What a ride! I’m lucky enough to be blessed with a loving, caring son who has boundless amounts of energy and love. I call him my little love bug.
 
   Often as a parent, you get to experience their love through the eyes of another person. My love bug and I have a pretty good routine, he comes with me to work in the morning (there is a child care center right next to my office) and I pick him up in the afternoon. We ride home together singing songs, talking about the how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful (yes, he uses that word!) part of the world and the things we see (usually cows, horses and agricultural lands).
 
   On this particular day, he was pretty quiet, so I was pretty
much having a one way conversation, until we reached landmark’s he recognized as being close to grandma’s house. He lit up with excitement. He LOVES grandma and grandpa’s house, it was all he could talk about. Later on that evening, I was talking to “grandma”, aka: my mom, about the love bug and his day. She went on to state she had asked the love bug what he saw on the way home, his response in the most charming and loving way was, “Mommy”. She said the look he had when he said this was one of complete love and care, he was gushing on me! He melts my heart when I hear or see him do things like this. It breaks my heart to know that when he grows up his unconditional love will be broken by others and life. I wonder if we all started out “bright eyed and bushy tailed” and eventually fell a notch or two because of our life experiences.
 
What are your thoughts?

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Starting Over... My Weight Loss Journey So Far

This was the post that really pushed me to start a blog, it's the one I wrote on my weight loss community. Thought I'd share to give you some history and background. I hope you enjoy!

I'll admit it... we fell off the wagon and we fell hard. You see, my husband and I are both former members of the military. We took the "time off" to heart and enjoyed it... maybe a little too much. We were enjoying life and started a family, we have one son.

During my pregnancy I had gestational diabetes, was that ever a wake up call! After the birth of my son, I dropped the weight pretty quick (breastfeeding helped a ton). However, when I stopped breastfeeding, I kept eating those "extra" calories I used to need. It got out of control and before I knew it I was 230+ pounds!

I'm sad to admit that I wasn't even aware of how large I was and it wasn't until my "crazy" (and athletic) family decided on Thanksgiving (of all days!) that we wanted to train and prepare to run a half marathon together. When I get an idea in my head, I'm stubborn and determined. It had been years since I was in the military and I realized I needed help if I was going to be running with my family, rather than cheering on the sidelines. As soon as we returned home, we went to one of our local gyms and joined. A few of our friends went there and highly recommended it.

At my gym, when you join you get a free health assessment and free session with one of the personal trainers. Again, I had NO IDEA how bad it really was. When I stepped on the scale I was in disbelief, which was made even worse when I found out what my body fat percentage was. I went home and cried, I had never been so out of shape in my life! What had happened? How did I get there? After trying out a few classes and careful consideration, we decided to get a personal trainer. We realized with the goals we had in mind as a family and individually, there was no way we would get there on our own without help.

It has now been 7 months, in the first few months I dropped weight like crazy! In three months I lost 25 pounds... then the plateau hit. We adjusted a few things (exercise & a tiny diet plan) and I started losing again. I completed my first 5k and finished 7 minutes faster than I was expecting. Things were going great! Then my grandmother passed away unexpectedly and being an emotional eater, I gained a few pounds back. My trainer sat down and had a heart to heart with me, if I wanted to get where my goals were I was going to have to buckle down hard.

I started a pretty intense "diet" plan and an even more intense exercise routine. However, I wasn't happy with what I was eating, it felt the same and there seemed to be no variety. That's why I started WW again, I had done it successfully before and lost. I knew I would have tons of resources (meetings, recipes, blogs, etc) to help with my "dieting".

It's almost been a month since I've been back and I feel so happy! I have so much more energy and I'm actually enjoying what I am eating! My trainer can tell a difference in my exercise level (due to more energy from better eating) and he is able to push me harder. I tell him I feel like a machine... if you told me 7 months ago, I would be running 12+ miles, plus walking 3+ miles, plus 3 30 minute training session every week I would have told you that you were insane! But I AM really doing it!

Here's to the machine in all of us, keep going and until next time know that I know YOU can do it!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Beginnings


Today’s the day! What an exciting prospect huh? I wish we could look at every day as a fresh start a new beginning, but life happens and doesn’t always allow us to do so. This journey here started as an idea a few years ago… I’ve contemplated blogging, but wasn’t sure what to blog about, how personal it should be and where my “voice” would fit in.
Well the last few weeks I’ve been really feeling motivated to start and share my “voice”. As you’ll learn, I’ve been on a weight loss journey and figured I could start sharing my progress with others. However, I wanted more than that. So as an experiment I wrote a blog and posted it on my weight loss community and shared with a few friends/family members, who then shared it with others. I received positive feedback and decided to go for it! Granted, I know that not all comments are going to be positive, but I’m a pretty patient and forgiving person, naturally I think I can handle it. We’ll see! I want this blog to be about my life, specifically my life as a wife, friend, mom and modern woman. So here it goes, welcome to Insights of a Modern Mom!