Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
My little color-coded world
This, my friends, is a glimpse into the past month. Keep in mind that this is only one portion of the month - the sports schedule. This calendar is where I started 4 weeks ago while inputting information into my August spreadsheet. I only allow my kiddos one sport/extracurricular activity at a time and the above image is why.
Now, let's mix in there: school registration, a school in-service for the staff working with Sis, an IEP meeting, Meet The Teacher and Open House x 3, a full set of braces and 3 subsequent ortho appointments, 2 haircuts, Tag Day, physicals, court, 3 days in the Wisconsin Dells, Todd traveling for work and my full time job. Hopefully you'll begin to realize that my color-coded Excel spreadsheet isn't really OCD - it's sanity, at least a little glimmer of it. For 3 years, I've gotten by thanks to this little color-coded world.
I have managed to shut out all t.v. (except for the 3 Friday night movie rentals we've done) and have successfully completed 4 books this month, but other than that, I've really accomplished very little. Well, I've kept them all fed and relatively happy, so I guess that'll have to be accomplishment enough during this season.
Overheard at my house:
Sis: "EVERYONE in my class is obsessed with being popular. I don't really care about being popular, I just want them to like me."
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Searching
For several months, we've been searching for a new church. First, let's get out of the way that our decision to move on was not taken lightly or without pain. It's something we've prayed about and asked direction around for nearly a year. There are multiple reasons that we started to consider leaving, but only one reason we actually did - God told us it was time. Okay, moving on...
It sure is tough to find a new church to call home when you are coming from another that you were deeply connected to. I miss my relationships. This struggle to fill that hole from your last church hurts. A lot. And I'm sure you all know how I like routine. I like a plan - it gives me comfort. I like to be involved - I'm not a sidelines kind of gal. With our recent home move and school district change, I'm desperate for some stability and roots for our kids. Right now that's obviously not happening without a church home and it gives me a little anxiety and sadness.
Finding a new church is hard. With my mustard seed of faith, I grumble at God and sulk, struggle to keep to the discipline of prayer and reading my bible daily and continue to make the same mistakes... again and again. Personally, I’d like to go somewhere I can own up to all of that, a place with great teaching, but also great music – a place that allows me the mystery of God yet behaves as the family of God; one that stretches me to be more but still accepts me as I am.
As we've been visiting local churches, there are things I'm learning:
It sure is tough to find a new church to call home when you are coming from another that you were deeply connected to. I miss my relationships. This struggle to fill that hole from your last church hurts. A lot. And I'm sure you all know how I like routine. I like a plan - it gives me comfort. I like to be involved - I'm not a sidelines kind of gal. With our recent home move and school district change, I'm desperate for some stability and roots for our kids. Right now that's obviously not happening without a church home and it gives me a little anxiety and sadness.
Finding a new church is hard. With my mustard seed of faith, I grumble at God and sulk, struggle to keep to the discipline of prayer and reading my bible daily and continue to make the same mistakes... again and again. Personally, I’d like to go somewhere I can own up to all of that, a place with great teaching, but also great music – a place that allows me the mystery of God yet behaves as the family of God; one that stretches me to be more but still accepts me as I am.
As we've been visiting local churches, there are things I'm learning:
- I notice silly things. At one church, I really liked the carpet. Not that I ever disliked the carpeting in our previous church, but there was something more comfortable and non-sanctuaryish about it.
- Proverbs 3:5-6. I've been carrying around my list of criteria for a new church - size, youth ministry, worship style & focus, missions focus. So basically instead of treating God like the all powerful, all knowing creator of the universe, I'm treating him more like a realtor helping me to find a new house. A new realtor that I don’t fully trust. Sorry `bout that God.
- The kids opinions matter. One of Beebs first complaints one Sunday was that there was no breakfast at this church. Most kids, mine included, only have two speeds: normal and emergency. They either don’t have to go to the bathroom or “Get out of the way, I gotta go!" They are either not hungry or starving. So, Beebs' comment tells me that's his strong emergency sense - his priority - his comfort. Now, we won't be basing our new church on whether they serve community breakfast, but we have made it a habit to discuss each service as a family and note everyone's opinions.
- We need to go at least twice. If you visit a church only once, you have an 92% chance of going on the Sunday they let the weird lady who went on a mission trip play a rain stick version of “God of Wonders.” Unless it's clear that very first time that the church is ungodly or unbiblical, one visit is no way to get an impression of a church.
No church is perfect…and if it is, it won’t be as soon as I step into it! My focus right now is trusting in His direction for where our family should be. Now, if I could just shut up and listen.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Brought to you by the color RED
Over the past couple of months, I have started to notice extreme spurts of energy in Beebs. He's always pretty busy, full of typical boynergy, but we're talking a marked difference in his ability to sit, stay and speak (yes, I'm talking about my son, not the dog!).
It started on the last day of school, when I picked him up from Latchkey and the Latchkey Director asked me if he had any food allergies. She said that he'd had some extra "fun" snacks as they celebrated the end of the year and that they seemed to have affected him behaviorally. Knowing that the content of "fun" snacks = extra sugar, combined with the fact that it was the last day of school and he'd had a field trip, I made mental note of the list of what he'd ingested, including Hawaiian Punch©, as well as his behavior (including literally trying to climb the walls, tables, chairs, other kids...), but put it to the `likely never to be recovered because I have mommy memory' part of my brain.
As the summer wore on, I did notice a couple of these episodes with him, but they usually happened during a particularly stimulating scenario (i.e. loads of kids, birthday parties, swimming pools, etc.), including more "fun" snacks than my kids normally are allowed to consume. I pretty much chalked it up to sugar and over-stimulation. However, about a month ago, he was at Grammy's house for the day and had one of these extreme spurts of energy. He began talking so fast that he was gasping for breath and salivating because he would forget to swallow. He was running, jumping, climbing - generally being spastic. Grammy was in shock by the difference in his behavior. The only sugary, out of the ordinary thing he'd had was a frozen, fruit juice popsicle thing.
Fast forward to two weeks ago and the babysitter mentions that after eating a Fruit Roll-Up©, she noticed Beebs got very hyper. Now, let me explain to you that I have pretty much the most flexible, reliable, tolerable babysitter in central Illinois (jealous, much?!), so for her to mention unruly behavior, it must have really been out of hand. Last week, one morning he was nearly impossible to entertain or redirect, the sitter noticed a 1/2 eaten unfrosted, strawberry Pop Tart© on the counter. Hmmm...
So, what do you know, my mommy memory isn't as much as a black abyss as I'd originally thought! I started realizing there might be some common denominators preceding these "episodes" - and it wasn't all excessive sugar either - sometimes it was real, fresh fruit, like strawberries or apples. The only commonality I could find was that everything he'd recently eaten/drank was red or purple.
I started doing some research and there are, like nearly everything with kids, very different camps on the idea of food dye allergies and intolerance. In fact, it's been a recent topic of discussion at the FDA. I'm not sure what I think, since I can't seem to pin it on anything else, except RED. He definitely doesn't have what you would classify as an allergy, which would manifest in physical symptoms such as hives, swelling, etc. but he does seem to have an intolerance (read: extremely hyperactive, impulsive and sometimes aggressive behavior).
I don't doubt that Red #40 (the most common Red food dye) was tested back in the day and was deemed safe for consumption, but I also don't doubt that, like anything you consume, there can be side effects. Aspirin has side effects...eating chilies has side effects... And we can all agree that the FDA/USDA have approved things that have later been shown to be harmful and I can also say that Red #40 (along with many other artificial dyes) has been banned in the UK. Most of what I've read says that consumption of Red #40 doesn't actually cause hyperactivity but can exacerbate it in children with ADD/ADHD. Obviously I'm going on purely anecdotal evidence right now, basing my own theory on what I'm seeing, but I'm gonna try to eliminate Red #40 as much as possible to see what happens, but lemme tell ya, it's in a ton of food!
This morning I discovered Red #40 in the ingredient list of my whole wheat waffles! Ugh.
Overheard at my house:
Beebs "My birthday is September 18th, but I was born a few days before that."
It started on the last day of school, when I picked him up from Latchkey and the Latchkey Director asked me if he had any food allergies. She said that he'd had some extra "fun" snacks as they celebrated the end of the year and that they seemed to have affected him behaviorally. Knowing that the content of "fun" snacks = extra sugar, combined with the fact that it was the last day of school and he'd had a field trip, I made mental note of the list of what he'd ingested, including Hawaiian Punch©, as well as his behavior (including literally trying to climb the walls, tables, chairs, other kids...), but put it to the `likely never to be recovered because I have mommy memory' part of my brain.
As the summer wore on, I did notice a couple of these episodes with him, but they usually happened during a particularly stimulating scenario (i.e. loads of kids, birthday parties, swimming pools, etc.), including more "fun" snacks than my kids normally are allowed to consume. I pretty much chalked it up to sugar and over-stimulation. However, about a month ago, he was at Grammy's house for the day and had one of these extreme spurts of energy. He began talking so fast that he was gasping for breath and salivating because he would forget to swallow. He was running, jumping, climbing - generally being spastic. Grammy was in shock by the difference in his behavior. The only sugary, out of the ordinary thing he'd had was a frozen, fruit juice popsicle thing.
Fast forward to two weeks ago and the babysitter mentions that after eating a Fruit Roll-Up©, she noticed Beebs got very hyper. Now, let me explain to you that I have pretty much the most flexible, reliable, tolerable babysitter in central Illinois (jealous, much?!), so for her to mention unruly behavior, it must have really been out of hand. Last week, one morning he was nearly impossible to entertain or redirect, the sitter noticed a 1/2 eaten unfrosted, strawberry Pop Tart© on the counter. Hmmm...
So, what do you know, my mommy memory isn't as much as a black abyss as I'd originally thought! I started realizing there might be some common denominators preceding these "episodes" - and it wasn't all excessive sugar either - sometimes it was real, fresh fruit, like strawberries or apples. The only commonality I could find was that everything he'd recently eaten/drank was red or purple.
I started doing some research and there are, like nearly everything with kids, very different camps on the idea of food dye allergies and intolerance. In fact, it's been a recent topic of discussion at the FDA. I'm not sure what I think, since I can't seem to pin it on anything else, except RED. He definitely doesn't have what you would classify as an allergy, which would manifest in physical symptoms such as hives, swelling, etc. but he does seem to have an intolerance (read: extremely hyperactive, impulsive and sometimes aggressive behavior).
I don't doubt that Red #40 (the most common Red food dye) was tested back in the day and was deemed safe for consumption, but I also don't doubt that, like anything you consume, there can be side effects. Aspirin has side effects...eating chilies has side effects... And we can all agree that the FDA/USDA have approved things that have later been shown to be harmful and I can also say that Red #40 (along with many other artificial dyes) has been banned in the UK. Most of what I've read says that consumption of Red #40 doesn't actually cause hyperactivity but can exacerbate it in children with ADD/ADHD. Obviously I'm going on purely anecdotal evidence right now, basing my own theory on what I'm seeing, but I'm gonna try to eliminate Red #40 as much as possible to see what happens, but lemme tell ya, it's in a ton of food!
This morning I discovered Red #40 in the ingredient list of my whole wheat waffles! Ugh.
Overheard at my house:
Beebs "My birthday is September 18th, but I was born a few days before that."
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