Saturday, June 12, 2010

Babies and Birds

We have a bird house nailed directly above our front door. We didn't put it there. It was just there. And sure enough a Mommy bird decided to move in. A week or so ago I heard the telltale chirpings of a nestful of babies. You can tell when Mommy leaves because the chirping starts abruptly and halts the moment she returns. These chirpings have gotten noticeably louder in the past few days. The babies are almost ready to take flight.

My baby bird got a haircut last night. It was about time. He was starting to look like a homeless kid or at least a kid with a lazy mother. So I took him in to some Tunisian man who came highly recommended by our Armenian Godfather. He said I'd get a deal. Well, I didn't. Fifteen minutes of fast-flying hands and 25 euro later, we emerged...with the cutest haircut ever! All blowdried up in the front and held in place with some styling gel. With that one haircut, my little baby was no more.

And the next day was his last day of preschool for the year. He didn't cry this time but didn't quite sing with the other kids either, instead opting to sit with Mom. Oh well. No biggie. Four 6-year olds were "graduating" and they had a special little ceremony for them. As I watched a few of their mothers' eyes well up, I couldn't control my own. I cried for the very same reason they were: Realizing my baby is growing up.

And when you're only planning to have one, that realization hits home even harder. I will miss the days of carrying him around on my hip, spoonfeeding him, cradling him in my arms, running right behind him and catching afternoon naps together. I miss the little baby he was. And as I saw a few older folks perched on little chairs in that classroom, another lump rose in my throat. His grandparents have missed it the most. Even writing that last phrase chokes me up.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Quicky WAJ for Thurs

Mood: Excited (all booked for Montenegro 3 weeks end of August!)
Menu:
Brekky: The innards of a pathetically expensive sandwich on beautiful Ciabatta bread that I didn't eat.
Lunch: Some Asian buffet. I stayed away from the deep fried and the rice but all the meat and veg were sauteed in I'm hoping not as many carbs as I would have consumed if I had given into the carby options.
Dinner: Tacos...minus the taco part.
Fitness. My two work out videos! ouch...
Comments: So freakn' busy but so happy I made room for the fitness. My baby got a new haircut tonight. He looks so cute but so old :-(

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Wednesday WAJ

Mood: Hopeful

Menu:
Brekkie: Leftover hamburgers (sans buns of course) scarfed down by the kitchen sink with bernaise sauce residue cuz the hamburgers were steaming hot out of micro
Lunch: at like 4:30pm. Egg salad (1 M&M on the car ride home before egg salad)

Dinner: Low-carb meal at the Max hamburger franchise with half a side salad and 5 fries dipped in, you guessed it, bernaise sauce. And one and a half nuggets with the breading peeled off and 1 onion ring with the breading,cuz well, it was an onion ring!
Fitness:  40-minute power walk through mosquito infested woodland with walking buddy who told me the mosquitoes were biting because I wasn't walking fast enough!

Comments: I was teetering folks. I gotta be honest. After a long ass day in Stockholm and a shitload of rushing around this evening, I was ready to give my sore abs a rest tonight, ready for any excuse really. And then I saw Michelle's comment on my previous WAJ and suited up. Only to get a text from walking buddy. I.can't.feel.my.legs. Today was not a standard day in the life of "moi" but I managed. I did it. Golf claps please.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Tuesday WAJ

Mood: Motivated


Menu:

Brekkie: Egg salad

Lunch: Tuna salad with cukes & red onion

Dinner: Three homemade burgers with bernaise sauce (sauce is super high in fat at 77ish grams/100 grams but surprisingly low in carbs at 2.5/100 grams). Swedes eat this sauce with their steak. Me, I'd eat it by the spoonful if it wasn't so rich.

Fitness:
Bust Blasting Work-Out (6 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YBnm2ZJNCM&NR=1

Ab Work-Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YI0cxuNcq8&feature=channel

Comments: I was a bit worried about today when I got a call from my friend asking me to come and see her daughter's performace at 6:30pm. Not only would I miss putting the little guy down (I can't count on 1 hand how many times I've missed THAT) but it would throw my whole nightly routine outta whack and give me a good excuse to bypass the butt eliminating exercises. Well friends, I gave myself a pep talk and here I am...sweaty and in pain. You may have watched the videos and are thinking: Oh please..what on earth could she be complaining about...it's like a grand total of 20 minutes? Well, try it. I dare ya.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Weigh-in Accountability Journal

Y'all were likely getting as frustrated with me as I was with me. Well after a shit weekend of indulging and feeling awful about it, I left the pity party and decided (again) to take action. Since I continue to be inspired by all of your successes and stories, I figured I owed ya one (or many) and have decided that I will hold myself more accountable.

So much can go wrong in a week...so why not check-in daily? I will not torture myself with daily weigh-ins but I WILL chronicle my food intake and exercise. These posts will be titled WAJ (for Weigh-In Accountability Journal) so feel free to dismiss them if you don't feel like a blow-by-blow of Jenn's Daily Regime. Here's my insightful intellectual reasoning behind this: I'm definitely gonna think twice before scarfing down the crust of the little man's toast in the morning if I know I have to tell you all about it later in the day. So here goes, Monday WAJ:

Mood: Motivated
Menu:
Brekkie: Egg salad
Lunch: Tuna salad with cukes
Dinner: Oven chicken with Greek salad and brocolli
Fitness: I found these Spark People Fitness Videos eons ago and decided to give them a go. Consider them dusted off and in full use for this week:
Bust Blasting Work-Out (6 minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YBnm2ZJNCM&NR=1
Ab Work-Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YI0cxuNcq8&feature=channel

Damn. Sweat was beading in every crack people. Shows how out of shape I really am.  Butt Crack Sweat is like Sweet Honey when said sweat contains tiny molecules of fat dripping from my expanded ass.

The walks were great BUT I really need company for those and seeing as though my company has gone MIA (yeah, I'm talkin' bout you "T"...though I'm to blame for the last bail out), it's my living room, a mat and my new BFF Nicole from YouTube.

Today was a good day friends! One day at a time and one WAJ (pronounced like the slang word for our you-know-whats but the "V" is silent) every night.

Growing Pains

This morning I was too lazy to reach for my usual mug, clean in the dishwasher, and opted for the Mickey Mouse variety from the cupboard directly above the machine.

I sat down next to the champ, slurping away on Honey Nut Cheerios and watching some crazy cartoon.
"Mama, that's Daddy's coffee."
"No, it's Mommy's. Daddy's still in bed."
"But that's Daddy's coffee."

Because Daddy always drinks his coffee from the Mickey Mouse mugs. And Mommy from the daintier variety. Gotta love how children always notice when something's out of its natural order.

Yesterday it was warm enough to set up the inflatable kiddie pool in the front yard. I realized as he ran around the yard in the buff that it's not as "cute" as it once was. Not that there's anything wrong with nudity. Just means he's growing up. His chubby little legs and arms aren't so chubby anymore.  That and try to carry his dead weight at 10pm every night from his bed to the toilet for a pee.

Ask him to do anything, from brushing his teeth to putting on his socks to going outside and the first response is a stern, "NO! I said No." Funny how he sounds just like his Mom when he responds that way? Not really. Trying to use softer tones before I get a call from the school.

Saturday and Sunday afternoons are usually reserved for Skype calls with the grandfolk. They're all so far away and it's breaking hearts. "I don't want to talk to Nanny and Papa". "But I don't want to." He doesn't quite get the concept that they're missing him like crazy and this is their once-a-week window into his little world. And why would/should he? Though I have tried to explain the situation out of desperation. Helps if we introduce all of his toys.

This Friday is the last day of regular school for the little man. Then it's two weeks of summer school and then he's off for like 6 weeks...(this is me freaking out). So of course there is a little party planned (it's my turn to bring the coffee) and also a performance associated with this event. The last three party performances have been disasters for the little guy and for us. He is, like us, rather outgoing and friendly and bubbly. But when it comes to singing with the group, he gets a bad case of performance anxiety (soooo not like us). It goes something like this:
  • Parents come to the school at appointed time.
  • Parents get ushered into the classroom. while kids wait (im)patiently in their hallway cubbies.
  • Parents wait anxiously perched on tiny chairs or cross-legged on the floor, cameras at the ready, for the procession of kids.
  • Kids file in.
  • And...there's my kid at the end of the pack sobbing and holding onto a teacher's hand.
  • He comes straight to me, snot dripping from his nose.
  • Kids proceed to sing their Swedish songs (which our little man sings freely at home) while I try to reason/motivate/push him back into the circle.
  • Hubby takes video of the class, minus our sobber.
Now, I wrote about this before. How at the Christmas concert, I sort of "lost it". I became angry. It was not a nice scene. I resolved to never, EVER do that again, EVER, EVER. The last time, even after trying to prep him for the event, it dissolved into a puddle of tears again. Although dissapointed, I didn't let on and I refused to let those toxic feelings enter my soul.

I started the week off by talking to him about the upcoming party and how much fun it will be when he sings with the kids. I think the problem might be that he doesn't like to see us go into the classroom while he has to wait outside. Any suggestions that could ensure we get to see him sing with the others AND more importantly, he gets to feel great about being a part of it?