Easy Being Mom | As Any Mom Knows…I Jest

The Importance of Iron

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By now, even my husband is starting to wonder if I was ever going to write again.  The problem is that I seem to have no energy to do much of anything other than the absolute minimum required for survival.  About a year ago I went to my doctor regarding some “female difficulties” and a routine blood test showed that I was low on iron.  So low that I was immediately put on prescription iron pills and ordered back for a follow-up blood test in three months.

My three-month supply of pills is still pretty full, I’m supposed to take two pills per day but that rarely happens for very long.  I’ll be good for about a week and then the side effects kick in and I stop taking them.  I do notice a big difference in my energy levels though so will be making more of an effort to take the medication regularly from now on.

My Big Boy went through quite a rough patch around Christmas time, he was terribly emotional all the time, still sick from colds that had never left him since the first week of school and not interested in doing much of anything including going to school.  His teacher called us in for a meeting to see if we could come up with some ways to make him more comfortable at school, my husband and I went to meet with her and the ECE teacher hoping that they had an arsenal of plans to help kids learn to love school.  They didn’t, or if they did they weren’t telling us about it.  They did tell us more about his behaviour at school and how it had changed which led us to believe that he was just sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Just after school started back I took him to the doctor, just to rule out anything treatable that could be causing trouble.  Of course, our family doctor had decided to go on vacation for two months so we got to see someone new which usually bothers me but this time ended up being a good thing.  She wasn’t familiar with us so was willing to look at different things and take steps to rule out unrelated issues.  She asked if he would be okay with having some blood drawn, I wasn’t sure but that day he was unusually chipper so I figured that we would give it a shot.

I was astounded at how well he did! Of course he cried, but not the hysterical fit that I assumed would happen.  Once the needle was in I had him turn his head and watch the blood go out the little tube into the vial and he actually thought that was pretty cool.  A few days later I got a call (from the doctor herself!) saying that his iron level was low.  Not low enough to be anemia and require medication but she advised me to have him eat more greens and beans since he won’t eat meat.  I had told her that he won’t eat anything but I’m not sure she had a full grasp of the situation! (I should have told her to read my blog post about it!)

I was planning to do a smoothie push with the boys but they’ve never liked milkshakes and I couldn’t find a way to make a smoothie taste like a piña colada so decided to go the stealthy route.  I bought some Fer-In-Sol (the liquid iron supplement for infants) and have been slipping some into their juice every day.  I also got them both used to having a Flintstones vitamin each morning, Big Boy likes the crunchy ones but I have to get the chewy ones for Little Man.  I don’t care, as long as they eat them!

It’s cost me a bit of money in Hot Wheels bribes but it all paid off this morning when Big Boy asked me if it was a school day.  This is a regular first-thing-in-the-morning question for him, usually the “yes” answer is followed by a brief period of negotiation to get him into the school mindset but this morning when I told him it was a school day he replied, “Great! I love going to school!”

Somebody is feeling much better!

I need to go take a pill now, have a great day!

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It’s Resolution Time! (Really? Already?)

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It really is true, the years seem to fly by faster and faster as one gets older.  All of a sudden it’s the night before New Year’s Eve…I think.  It’s kind of hard to keep track of the days when everyone is on holiday from school and work.

I’ve never really been the kind of person that makes new year resolutions with any real intent on keeping them, I honestly cannot remember one true meaningful resolution that I’ve ever made!

Continuing in that grand tradition I shall now make up my list of (completely arbitrary) New Year’s Resolutions for 2015! (Back stories pertaining to each one are available to read by clicking where indicated :D )

  1. I shall teach my children to eat real food.  By “real” I mean something other than the cheese slices or rolled bologna that Little Man has been subsisting on recently.  I don’t plan to actively have to do anything to make this resolution happen, I’m just working on the assumption that eventually the boys will start to expand their terribly limited palettes.

2.  I will get Big Boy’s tonsils removed.  Hopefully that will help achieve Resolution No. 1 as well as resolving our nose-picking problem.  This one should also not be hard to accomplish since he’s had a referral in to a specialist since the beginning of October! (Which is absolutely ridiculous, this doctor had better be a freaking magician to warrant a wait that long just for a consultation!)

3.  I will get Little Man to poop on the potty.  The kid has been potty trained for months now but still insists on wearing a diaper and hiding underneath the piano to have a poop.  He’s supposed to start school in the fall and I’m starting to worry that he won’t be ready!  This one will take some work perhaps, work that I likely won’t bother doing.  He’ll get it eventually.

4.  I will spend less time playing games on my iPad.  This one won’t be hard.  My eyes are still not quite right so I can’t stare at a screen as long as I used to, plus I have now taken up knitting which, since it’s new, is infinitely more enticing to me right now.  Big Boy’s sweater is done and I have started on one for my husband which he is entirely uninterested in seeing the progress I’m making on, he just wants it to fit when it’s done. (Which may or may not actually happen!)

5.  I will get dressed in real clothes every day.  As most new mothers know, jammies or a rough equivalent are fairly standard fare for baby’s first year.  My babies are now 3 and 4 years old and I still spend most days wearing my jammies.  I think that if I can wear real clothes it will really boost my self-esteem (which has been lacking of late) and make me project more of an attractive version of myself (which also seems to be missing).  This will likely make me feel better about myself which will make me happier and therefore nicer to both my children and my husband, win all around!  In all honesty, I think that the only way that I’ll keep this resolution is to have sleepwear officially designated as “real clothes!”

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My New Merry Christmas

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I’ve always loved Christmas.  Having the family all together for merriment and mayhem is not an unusual occurrence in my world but it always seems to be better at Christmas.

I remember one Christmas (when my siblings and I were all in our late teens/early twenties) when my parents bought us new pillows and decided to get creative with the gifting.  We were told that Santa had left us a present but had stashed it in the camper parked in the barnyard.  You would think that we would have been able to act a little more mature but I’m pretty sure at least three of us ended up running outside and across the yard in our bare feet!  Of course, hilarity ensued.  We wound up having a snowball fight and scaring the crap out of the dog.

One Christmas Eve we ended up sitting around the table at midnight full of food and drinks listening while I read aloud from a George Carlin book that had been loaned to us.  I do believe that night was the first time that I had ever said such naughty words aloud in front of my mother but it was okay because they were someone else’s words!

Homemade decorations!

Homemade decorations!

This year I wasn’t sure what our Christmas plans were.  With the new housing arrangement going on we hadn’t discussed which side of the house would be the focal point this year.  As time went on it got more and more clear that we would be celebrating the season in the new part of the house. Notwithstanding our deplorable lack of decoration! That was fine with me, I had lots of time to get ready.

Until I didn’t.  Last week my little guy was admitted to hospital with pneumonia.  He and I spent three days camped out trying to get him breathing properly again.  Luckily, he’s a strong kid and we were able to come home last Friday.  I had been getting caught up in buying presents for the boys and wanting to host a wonderful Christmas for the family until I spent the night watching my baby struggle to breathe.

Now, I’ve cleaned the house (really well, actually but that was just to show my husband that I can when I absolutely have to) and got enough food together to feed an army but I’m not worried at all about the fact that I have not purchased a ton of gifts.

As we grow up and our lives change it gets more and more difficult to get the whole family together in one place at one time.  This year I am much more grateful that we will all be together for even a little bit of the holiday.  That’s the most important thing.  The trappings of the season keep retailers in business but they don’t mean Christmas to me anymore, my outlook on that changed the minute the doctors told me that they were trying to stop my son’s lungs from shutting down.

Maybe next year I’ll get sucked back in to buying a lot of presents that nobody needs (but everybody wants!) or maybe I’ll be able to fight the urge but for right now, as my heart still stops every time I hear that little body cough, I’m prepared to be blissfully happy in the presence of all my family.

Now, I must go and clean the one thing I forgot (myself, I need a shower!) then I shall pour myself a glass of something festive and watch anxiously out the window for everyone to come home.

I want to wish you all the merriest of Christmases, the happiest of New Years and the healthiest of holidays.  Enjoy every minute that you get to spend with the ones you love and treasure the memories that you make.

Much love,

Cristi

The Most Epic Time-Sucker Ever!

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My littlest baby is going to start school in September, I actually only have a couple more months before I’ll have to go to registration night again to sign him up!

I learned a lot at a recent job interview but ultimately decided to go back to school. I went for a meeting to learn about the program and take a tour of the facilities. An hour drive each way for a 15 minute tour did not impress me but the school has a great reputation and the course only takes nine months to complete.

I got home from that meeting and was telling my family about it, my husband was surprised that I wasn’t more excited about it as I was recounting the details.  He knows me.  He knows that I tend to get really, really worked up about something and generally drive him nuts with anticipation.

Not getting excited was something that I consciously had to choose.  The course has start dates every three months (one actually starts tomorrow!) but I still have my Little Man at home with me until September.  It just makes sense for me to wait and start school at the same time he does, that way I’m not in school all through the summer when both boys will be home and I won’t have to find (and pay!) someone to care for him.

Even I can’t fathom living in a state of anticipation for nearly a year so I decided that I needed to find something else to occupy my mind during the few bits of downtime that I get during the day.  What did I pick?  Knitting! Continue reading →

Nursing, Bras and Boobs – My Guest Post!

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A while back I was contacted by another blogger about doing a guest post for her site.  I really enjoy her writing and was thrilled that she asked me to contribute!

Today, as her featured #FridayFrenzy guest I talk nursing, undergarments and boobs (or lack thereof) and I would truly appreciate it if you would stop over to her site The Inklings of Life and take a look around! (After you read my amazing post of course!)

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