I'm Going On An Adventure!!

[Syrius]

 

[Saffity]

I did it!!! I sent my oldest child to first grade. How did we get here already (and also, why did it take so long at the same time!!!) Munchie is off with wild abandon and is happy to have a couple of friends in her class from last year.

I also did it yesterday, completing another room (plus a bunch of back tracking) in Labyrinth, and also day 1 of the burpee countdown.

I am... sore and tired, but feel strong, and I can turn my head to the right again finally.

 

[graoumia]

congrats

 

[Syrius]

 

[Saffity]

Ahh Biggie, how you love to share... especially your illnesses. Last week I was worried that Biggie was showing signs of Hand, Foot, and Mouth, but he got over it rather quickly so I was hoping we missed it. Now I've got some spots on my hands and mouth and feel like I have a cold. Hopefully Munchie avoids it and I get over it quickly. For now, I'm taking it easy and just trying to get better.

That being said, the Labyrinth is on a bit of hold due to my joints aching from being ill.

I know I will come back stronger and ready to go, but right now I have to listen to my body and let it heal itself.

 

[graoumia]

 

[JCU]

 

[astro_lizard]

 

[Syrius]

 

[Mamatigerj]

 

[Saffity]

Ok, no excuses, just updates.

I had a chronic illness flare up after that last illness at the end of August. What I thought may have been hand, foot, and mouth was the first symptoms of the flare up. My hands have lots of tiny little blisters on them, and my body has just been achy and muscles tight all month. This has also been compounded by stress, which always just happens to make things worse, but I think I've got myself to an even keel right now. Not great, but at least moving around.

Yesterday I found a walking exercize channel and did a workout at my standing desk at work. 5000 steps in 30 minutes (that wasn't counted in the slightest on my step counter grrr). Got the endorphins going, but not totally enough to pull me out of my mental funk. I just have to keep going and keep trying. There is another side to this, I will make it there, we will get out of the stress we're in and my body will stop throwing this temper tantrum.

I just have to ride this out as best I can.

In kiddo updates, school has started, Biggie is doing fab as always, though he is not a morning person and we've been dealing with and working through some melt downs. This morning he ate most of his waffle, then realized he only had a small amount left, decided it was 'broken' and nothing would do but giving him a new one, which we didn't have time for. It's silly little things, nothing major, but it does take time to help him regulate.

Munchie.... has "flat eyes" apparently. Something that kids can be born with, but can cause lots of issues like lazy eyes and headaches. We've caught this early (because we make sure things get checked like eyes and teeth young), and this should be able to be fixed with her wearing glasses for 6 ish months. Basically, her eyes have to work much harder to focus, which causes her eyes and brain to get tired. The optometrist was amazed that Munchie can read, and not only read, but... chapter books. He said she must be really smart because she's fighting her eyes every step of the way. Her glasses should be in early next week, which will likely make school easier, though she's saying that school is "Too easy" and she sometimes gets bored... so we're going to try and keep her challenged at home as much as possible. Smarts wise we wouldn't be surprised if she could skip, socializing wise, not a chance, so we're hoping to keep her in her age group, and just encourage her along the way.

Hubby is working... it's not an amazing job, but it's a job. He's frustrated with his coworker, she's pretty set in her ways, and takes smoke breaks and downtime. He's a bit of a workhorse and doesn't like sitting, so it rubs him a bit when her breaks slow him down. He's trying to find a balance where he can keep working without being held up by her.

There's been some family drama on his side contributing to our stress. The kind of drama that is cutting off the west coast branch because they involved lawyers and horribly misrepresented my MIL in reference to guardianship over another family member who has limited capabilities. The back stabbing that's happened has resulted in us in Ontario wiping our hands of the rest and saying "live in your misery". It's been very hard, but now that the final decision has been made by MIL, we're in the 'grieving the loss of relationships' stress time, and hopefully will get to the other side of that soon enough to go back to your regularly scheduled MIL drama, without the stupidity of the rest of her family.

I'm hoping October comes with beautiful leaf colours, a healthy body, and a happy birthday. The kids are going to be Rosalina and Toad from the Mario games and my mom is already working on their costumes. They are going to be SO CUTE!!!

 

[graoumia]

 

[Saffity]

All right. It is officially autumn, which means my body says "NEW YEAR!" (don't ask me why, possibly because school starts in September here, I've always felt autumn was the start of new beginnings, not January). Time to get back on track, forget about this flare up, and get my strength back.

Though... as evidenced by two half asleep children on Sunday after a grand adventure who both refused to have Daddy carry them up to bed, I can still heft 70 lbs of children up 10 steps to their beds at once.

Mommy Strong is still in effect!

Flare up is flaring down, my osteopath is thankfully assisting with that. I'm still achy, but at least I have some of my energy back.

I'm going to stick with slow and steady right now. Probably do some walking workouts at my desk and/or the gym. Keep it low impact until my joints stop being so angry. Definitely want to look as nice as I can for Christmas. Christmas Eve dinner is always an unofficial judgment time for the girl cousins. Nobody's actually stated that it is, but the tension is there. Last year I did good, but previous years not so much. I'd like to keep on my trend this year if I can.

Biggie had to go to the doctor's last night. We've had rotating colds in the house, beginning of school fun and all, but Biggie has had a rattly, wet cough for about a week that he can't shake, and since last year he had the double whallop of bronchitis and pneumonia at the same time we wanted to get him checked.

The dude is apparently just starting to head into respiratory distress... like.. skin pulling in around ribs and collar bone struggling to breath kind of respiratory distress! He almost got sent to the ER for possible admittence yesterday and the only thing that stopped that was his lips were pink, nostrils weren't flaring, and his oxygen level is at 98%.

You would never know it from his energy levels and stuff. He just has a cough! I don't know what kind of beast I bore, but this child is the BIGGEST trooper I've ever seen and won't be left behind for anything! He's got games to play and holes to dig and has NO time for illness.

Munchie is doing SO MUCH BETTER at school! She got 100% on her first spelling test, and for the most part hasn't had any disciplinary issues. Last week we got a few notes that she wasn't listening the best Tues-Thu (Thursday she hid under the table during story time and refused to come out) but by Friday she was much better. We think she was dealing with her version of the back to school plague that Biggie has and now she's good to go.

Yesterday she even got a special ticket thing that the school does. If you're good to your friends, good with your work, good listening, etc. you get these tickets that can be spent on prizes. She got hers for doing a great job on her schoolwork during the day.

Even in the work she brings home we can see improvement, she's colouring in the lines, writing neatly, and following the instructions. Once she gets her glasses and can actually clearly see what she's doing, we're expecting things to go even smoother for her.

Additionally, the kids have allergy testing at the end of the month. This may mean we have to rehome our cats, which is heartbreaking, but we're already talking to friends and family about it to put feelers out. At this point it's really taking the kids' health into consideration, it's not like we can just lock the cats up in one area of the house, that wouldn't be fair to them either.

And with that October begins, with a new book club I'm joining, many pen pals to write replies to, and a birthday to enjoy.

Bring it on!

 

[Saffity]

Yay! Biggie is doing better! He slept much better last night, so well that Hubby went up to check on him and make sure things were ok.

I'm really hoping to get back to the gym, I do miss that part of my evenings. It's amazing how quickly you can get out of a habit like that and just get used to sitting down on the couch.

Part of the change has also been with how bedtime routine has changed. Biggie no longer cuddles in front of the tv till asleep or nearly asleep. We put him to bed, in his bed, at the same time as, or shortly after, Munchie. She conks out about 5 minutes after we do our routine, which right now includes a drink, lip balm (or lip BLAM as she calls it), quick song and a prayer (we have to keep the bad dreams away). She tries delay tactics: "Mommy let me tell you something!" but is pretty good all around.

Biggie however, he needs another song, his blanket is 'broken' (he's kicked it off), he wants you to sit in the room with him, close the door, open the door, do 'criss cross apple sauce', sing twinkle twinkle but with different words, where'd he's "denver" go?, mommy you dere?, close the door, hug and kiss....

You get the idea.

It used to be that I would settle Munchie while Hubby got Biggie cuddled on the couch and I would sneak out. Now I have to figure my exit around Biggie's stalls in order to avoid the worst of the meltdowns he can produce so it's just little whines and Hubby can deal.

Just the joys of kids growing up and getting through phases. Munchie was the WORST at this age for suddenly having to 'go pee' and then just sitting for half an hour singing to herself.

I'm doing my best right now to get my movement in, some stress is getting taken care of in life, so that's helping. My joints are still unhappy and getting out of bed in the morning takes me longer than normal, but I'm getting there, the flare is definitely calming down. I'm just an old lady I guess.

 

[Saffity]

We had beautiful weather this weekend, so we were out and walking around a bunch, and enjoying the nice sunshine. Biggie was very excited to spot the HUGE harvest moon coming up over the horizon. I'm hoping to get both kids out tonight to see it as it should be amazingly big, being a super moon and all. The kids have a song they love about the Harvest Moon called "Moon's on Fire" so, as long as the clouds behave, it would be fun to get them out to see it.

Did not get to the gym this weekend. Had an osteo appointment though, and that's helped me feel better. I'm getting more energy, it's still just a matter of getting back into the habit.

I did do a bunch of walking around though, so the steps helped. I cleaned up the kid's playroom. Munchie used to have a gated off section where she could go to get away from Biggie if she wanted... then she showed Biggie how to open the gate. So we did some rearranging and some toy sorting (some toys got put into bins in the basement, other 'new' toys got brought out) and I vacuumed and spot washed the floor. We managed to find a missing monster from a game one of my pen pals sent that appears to have been swallowed by the couch and then given back. The kids have enjoyed playing with it this weekend.

It's amazing how much work your muscles can get just from doing an overhaul clean. Got the kitchen tidied too, and now I'm looking towards the dining room since Hubby is starting a D&D group and is looking at hosting it at our place.

 

[Saffity]

Hoo-ah, busy day today.

Not a huge update, still didn't go to the gym, but did more stuff for mental health.

I received a free knitting book in the mail. Got this one because I reviewed the advanced copy, which was really nice.

The kids and I did a few toddler exercize videos, and I told them the Hive is going to need protecting soon, which they're very excited about.

We took the kids for a walk around the block and got to see the Harvest Moon coming up. Both kids were delighted, and were also having fun finding acorns and pretty coloured leaves.

Today I got a lot of little stuff caught up at work and I'm getting things caught up at home too. The playroom/living room and kitchen are all really clean and I have got Munchie's bedroom ready for a vacuum tonight. Going to get her to help me out with that.

We're trying to get the kids helping out with little tasks like wiping the door knobs, or helping to vacuum the rooms they use. So far they find it fun.

Just a lot of little life things going on right now.

 

[graoumia]

Happy Birthday

 

[Fremen]

Happy Birthday

 

[JCU]

 

[Syrius]

 

[Anek]

 

[Saffity]

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!

Not a lot happening over here after the flare. I'm still dealing with some of the fall out from it with aches and pains, but I'm getting there. Losing the habit of going to the gym is hard to get back into. I'm determined to get back to going 3-5 times per week, if not more. Walking does some, but I can feel the difference.

We did measurements of the kids for Hallowe'en costumes and Munchie wanted to measure me too, and some of the numbers came out smaller than I expected, so that's good.

I'm planning for this weekend to start the fun again with the kids. We will be protecting the hive with all of our mite!

Speaking of the kids. I had a minor "sniff sniff they're getting so big" moment going through pictures and finding a series of the kids on hiking adventures from the last 6 months.

They are such buddies who love getting outside.

Also, so many people don't believe Biggie is only 2.75. He's so massively tall! He also had another bit of a health scare. At first we thought it was another bout of pneumonia or bronchitis by his cough, but the after hours doctor who saw him was convinced it was asthma and that he was in respiratory distress. The only reason he wasn't sent directly to the hospital was because his lips weren't blue and he wasn't lethargic.

2 weeks on 2 puffers was fun, but he was very good with taking his "Breefing medcin" (Breathing Medicine). Once we saw his actual GP after the 2 weeks, she said his breathing was fine but his heart was showing elevated rate, and when we took his shirt off you could really see it pumping through his chest. So, we got sent for an ECG, which Biggie loved (this kid so rolls with all the punches) "Mommy I a robot!" no kiddo you just have stickers to let them attach you to a robot. His heart rate is showing elevated with small changes, nothing the doctor is SUPER worried about, but we've been referred to a Pediatrician to double check it. That appointment is in November.

Next Thursday I get to take both kids to get allergy tests. They're clearly reacting to something, and some of the colds and such from the months of hell last year may actually have been allergies. Luckily we got them into the specialist on the same day with back-to-back appointments so we get that done quickly. Our fear is that they're going to come up allergic to cats and we'll have to rehome our two. Hubby and I have been preparing ourselves for it, but we're worried about how the kids are going to react. They love the cats, and it's going to be really hard if we have to rehome them.

Munchie is doing AMAZING in school this year. Only one week where she had some listening issues, and that was likely due to her being ill. Otherwise it's been really great. She's had perfect scores on her spelling tests, and her school work is showing much more attention to detail and concentration. The glasses are helping too, though it's not like she was actually having trouble seeing, just that her eyes were working harder in order to see. She has a followup appointment on Monday to make sure all is well with them. She has been so good at taking care of her glasses, and the doctor said if all goes well, she may be done with them by summer!

For now we're just looking forward to Hallowe'en and the fun to be had with that. Last year Biggie stayed in the stroller while Munchie wandered around and did the trick or treating, this year we expect both kids to be happily racing around to get their treats. It's crazy how big they are getting!

After that we get nearly a month of down time before the insanity of Birthdays/the Holidays begins and December will be go, go, go.

Happy fall everyone!

 

[Saffity]

I'm here, I have survived. Halloween to time change in 2 days is too much!!

Lots of good walking this weekend. Friday the kids ended up going for about 2 km for Trick or Treating, which isn't bad at all for a 5 and 2 year old at 4C with 25 km NW wind.

(Rosalina and Toad from Super Mario Galaxy)

They are two young, adorable children, and were given HANDFULLS of candy rather than single candies. The haul they brought home will last them into the next year.

They were measured at my mother's this weekend, and Biggie's mark is 1 mm beneath Munchie's mark from March 2024. Just in case anyone was wondering if he's still a giant.

In other news, our local food bank has put forth a program to make farm fresh veggies available for everyone. They have stands in various places throughout the week with specific veggies available. You're able to pick a certain number of each vegetable (and they always have 1 fruit at least), and pay what you can for a minimum of $10, or some churches have vouchers available for those who need them. I have been taking the kids to help me grab these 'baskets' and letting them help pick. It's allowing them to see and touch new veggies and learn how to pick good ones.

They aren't super interested in eating them, but it is increasing my veggie intake so I'll take the wins where I can.

I have restarted the Labyrinth. Munchie counted the squats and calf raises for me, and decided we are heading downward this time.

This whole getting back into the habit of going to the gym is rough, but I'm determined to kick my butt in gear and get to it.

 

[graoumia]

so happy you survived

 

[Saffity]

The getting going, getting on is still happening.

I have managed to do 2 more rooms on Labyrinth. We're working through to see if we can make it out.

Hubby and I have discussed bedtimes again for the kids and how it works best for me to get out of the house which should help with me getting to the gym again.

I took 2 months off, and my osteopath said she could tell the difference. Definitely wanting to get my schedule back again.

In good news, I have a knitting buddy on Wednesday nights which has been helping me mentally, and allowing me to get some of my knitting work done.

One step at a time though, and one step closer to the Christmas Battles!

 

[Saffity]

So 2 months off of exercize definitely has an effect on injuries.

I went to do some lunges and my bad knee is sounding like rice krispies again, so I've started rubbing it which, of course makes it angry at me. It sucks that I didn't realize how tight it was getting, because I almost had the crunchies gone. The good news is, my hubby has hit the point of time at his work that he gets his benefits started up. This means that I can (most likely) get started back up with physio soon which will help.

Beyond that, still keeping on with Labyrinth, and still working on getting out of the house to the gym in the evenings.

Munchie is doing SO WELL at school this year. They have special tickets the kids can earn for "Excellence in school work", "Good Behaviour", and "Respect". This week alone she's received tickets 3 days in a row, two for school work, one for behaviour. The vice principal who was a bit judgy towards her last year is now seeing who Munchie really is when she's not egged on by students and let down by her teacher.

Biggie has a pediatrician appointment at the end of the month. His heart is beating faster than it should be, which causes issues if he gets a cold as his oxygen doesn't get moved around as well as it should be. We're hoping it's something small that he'll outgrow, but for now we're waiting, and watching him grow grow grow.

This weekend we're getting our first snow dumping. We're right on the border for 10 and 20 cm, but normally we end up on the lower scale because of our location just outside the snow belt. @Laura Rainbow Dragon I wish you luck, you look like you're dead centre of the heavy zone.

I'm sure the kids will love it.

Have a good weekend everyone.

 

[graoumia]

for biggie and you

 

[Syrius]

Way to go Munchie!! for both you and Biggie

 

[NancyTree]

Good to hear that Munchie is doing so much better! I can imagine it's also a huge relief for her.
for biggies pediatrician appointment, hopefully nothing serious

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Big cheers for Munchie doing so well in school this year!
Best wishes for getting back into the exercise swing, Biggie's upcoming appointment, and hopefully easy-to-deal-with news from the allergist.

I saw the call for snow this weekend. Was going to wait until Monday to get groceries, but then I saw the forecast and said, "Nope! Not going to try to pull my little wagon through whatever mess from that is still on the sidewalks on Monday." So I fetched the groceries tonight! I hope you get enough for your kids to have some fun, but not so much that it's dreadful for the grownups having to shovel it and drive in it.

 

[Saffity]

Did I not update about the allergist?

THE KIDS AREN'T ALLERGIC TO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In fact, none of the standard group of tests popped a positive.

So we're at the point where, we have no clue whatsoever as to what they're reacting to. The doctor even said it could be non allergic rhinusitis so who knows! They've been given prescription allergy meds that work the same as OTC but are covered by my drug plan, and a nose spray steriod that should help the swelling there. (We haven't tried the noe spray yet, we're trying to work up the emotional strength for it all going wrong).

As for working out, I appear to have over massaged my knee where it is tight, I have a funky bruise that I can only assume is from over working it. I did some of my physio exercizes on Friday and my knees have been grumbling at me since.

Took the kids for a walk on Saturday, there was a lot of stress in the house because Biggie got his new big boy bed, and Munchie was out with Hubby and MIL grabbing groceries and stuff. Once everyone got back home, the bed was done, and we were trying to get things sorted, the kids were just NOT in good moods, so some fresh air was in order. It wasn't snowing yet, so we took the opportunity to pick up leaf bouquets (Biggie is still all about his nature collections), and then finally settled down for dinner.

I'm still grabbing the veggie baskets every week. It really is a good deal, and gives a wonderful variety of produce. When I get a vegetable that roastable (root veggies, squash, etc) I've started taking Sunday afternoon to roast them, let them cool, then shove them in the freezer. I'll nibble on them over the week in various meals, and when I start to get a bunch I'll do what I did yesteryday: Caremelized some onions (I have yellow, red, and shallots so needed to use a bunch of those up) and mushrooms, cooked up some potatoes, tossed in some broth and all leftover frozen roasted veg (1/4 butternut squash, some sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips) cooked them a bit more, then mashed the heck out of them. Tossed in some corn and beans and herbs & spices and let it cook for another 30 minutes or so. Beautiful soup for the next week and a half, and my house smelled amazing.

I also currently have some roasted spaghetti squash and beets from this week!

Right now MIL is feeding the kids supper after school so that they can eat at a decent hour. By doing this, they're not getting the crazies around 5:15 anymore and then Hubby and I cook ourselves something when we get home. If the kids want a little they definitely can have some, or they just get a slightly bigger snack than they used to. It's helping out a bunch, and we're hoping to get into a bit more of a schedule with that on weekends, because on Saturday I completely lost track of time, and it was definitely a factor in the behaviour issues.

The snow arrived as expected and the kids were THRILLED! We didn't actually get to play in it yesterday, but they'll probably get a bit of running around in the backyard before it melts. From the looks of it, we have it until Thursday and then we go up to a bit more seasonal again.

I think that's all I have for the weekend update.

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

While it's frustrating to not know what your littles are reacting to, I'm so happy they're not allergic to cats!

Also: your soup sounds yummy!

 

[Saffity]

So Monday I did 2 rooms in Labyrinth at my desk, still picking away at that one trying to find the key.

Yesterday I had the day off, and I listened to our local radio for our cenotaph presentation.

I did some laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, batch cooking, and took the car down to get winter tires on.

Then the kids came home and I got them through dinner, play time, and baths to dinner. By that point I was pooched and went to bed early.

Today is knit night so not as much exercize, but I'm going to see about doing a bit more at my desk tomorrow.

Looking foward to the Turkey Trot, and so happy the Secret Santa is back! Yay for holiday events!

 

[Saffity]

Dear Santa,

I have been, ok, this year. I had a really great first 3/4 I'd say, but September took me out. I'm trying to get back into a routine, but it's slow going. There are so many distractions.

I really enjoy story based routines, my favourites so far have been Zero Hero and Spellbound (I've not managed to finish Spellbound yet but it and Pathfinder are on my big list for next year). I'm still dealing with a slowly healing knee injury so all my exercizes need to be low impact or be able to have modifications for it.

I have two young children, almost 3 (Biggie) and almost 6 (Munchie) who enjoy 'helping' me with my exercize, and love to dance. I also have access to a full gym, which I'm really trying to get back to more often.

I'm really looking forward to my gift and thank you in advance for putting it together.

Saffity

 

[Saffity]

All right,

Turkey Run has Munchie demanding Turkeys. She had me do 5 burpees and 200!!!!!!!!!!!!!! butt kicks so that she could press the box button.

Then she did 10 butt kicks herself to press again. This kid has all the luck and got 50% Turkeys on her boxes.

Labyrinth clearly took a back seat. I really don't know where my motivation has gone. It's just not there right now.

And it's not just exercize, I'm struggling to read, I haven't written back to a pen pal in weeks, my Librivox work has fallen behind. I don't know what's happening! I'm doing my best to get back in the swing of things, I just feel so dragged down, and I don't know by what.

I'm hoping the holiday events get SOMETHING moving so that I can find that umph that I apparently need.

 

[Saffity]

Ok, weekend update.

Firstly: Paediatrician visit for Biggie's heart came back that it all looks normal, though he's having an echocardiogram this Friday to make sure he doesn't have an extra flap in his hear that apparently 20% of the population have that may be causing his higher heart rate. This doctor believes that Biggie IS allergic to cats even though the skin prick test came up negative. He's giving Biggie a new medication, and has told us to bag up all of our stuffed toys (though Green Sloth can get a hot bath and then a trip to the freezer every 15 days so that Biggie can keep him) and see how that goes for 6 months. He's also asked to see Munchie (her appointment is in March) to see if she's in a similar boat.

Kids are SO much fun.

Secondly: I woke up Saturday morning think it was Tuesday and panicked that my alarm didn't go off. I had got both kids out of bed and was about to start breakfast when hubby realized and reminded me it was the weekend. Munchie went back to bed, but Biggie was ready to go, so away we went.

Saturday was a stay at home day. Hubby worked, and the kids and I hung out. We did some toddler exercize videos (which are still no joke, and serious cardio depending on what you do), chased some turkeys, and I cooked a bunch.

Roasted a pie pumpkin, some beets, and a rutabaga and got them in the freezer. Pumpkin will be for a Christmas pie, the beets and rutabaga are destined for the next round of soup. I made "Chippy Fries" where in I thinly sliced some potatoes, blanched them, then fried them, so they tasted like fries, but looked like chips, tossed some chicken on their plates, and they ate them all up!

Then Hubby came home with this week's veggie basket and the eggplant NEEDED to be used, so I whipped up a very quick saucepan Eggplant Parmasean. Standing and cooking tires the body out almost as good as a short workout. This week's basket had the afore mentioned eggplant, some carrots, tomatoes, red onion, sweet potatoes, cucumber, and apples. Looks like this next soup is going to be nummy.

Sunday we got up, went to church (where the kids got to spend their "Kids bucks", Biggie got some bubbles and a little water game, Munchie decided to get a floor chess game saying "Don't worry Daddy, I'll teach you how to play!" to her.... multiple medaled and nationally ranked chess playing father......

Then we dropped them off at Grandma's for the afternoon and went home to clean the main floor for Christmas. And boy, did we clean! We have the dining room FINALLY excavated and set up. The Christmas tree is up. The play/living/family room is cleaned, vacuumed, and many toys sorted and rotated. The kitchen has been cleaned, mopped, and ready for all of the big dinners coming up this month.

And I can barely move.... my knees are SO sore, but I still managed bath and bedtime with barely a complaint.

Then I apparently put Biggie's emergency diaper on inside out when he needed to pee at 10, and at 4:30 he woke me up with a wet bed.... that was fun.

It's just been a time, but I survived, and we head onward to the future.

 

[Saffity]

Last night I decided to relax. I was still stiff and sore from cleaning on Sunday, so after getting the kids through bath and bed, I took time for a bath for myself.

Sometimes mental health is what needs priority.

I'm going to get Fit December done, and possibly doing the December challenge.

Not a huge update today, been a bit busy.

 

[Saffity]

Last night was a whirlwind. The Saturday setup for the veggie baskets has stopped for the winter as it's the only one that's outside and it's now too cold to maintain. There's only one other pickup I can make due to my working hours, and it's Tuesday as we drive home from work. So we stopped at the church that what hosting it and I was so happy to get my leeks and chard and other great stuff for this week's soup.

Got home, made my supper, got the kids through baths and off to bed. Munchie found out that Skittles are listed as gluten free, but has grape flavours so she wanted to share her Skittles with me "But I'll eat all the grape ones Mommy, so you don't get sick." (I'm allergic to grapes and didn't have the heart to tell her that the grape flavour was completely fake.)

Munchie and I also recorded her Christmas Poem for LibriVox. I already chased Biggie around the room getting his, editing that one was entertaining. The kids love recording (when they're in the mood for it) and it will be really cool to hear their speech development through this.

Overnight, Biggie had a rough night. I'm guessing he realized that I skipped Fit December yesterday and wanted to make sure I made up for it. From 2-2:30 AM he required cuddling and rocking, which meant all 36 lbs of him was dead weight on my shoulder and arms. We haven't done this for months and my back is NOT used to it. I managed though and, while it took a while, got him settled down and back asleep. Nice to know my arms are still able to give him the cuddles he needs.

Today I'm determined to use the standing desk to get some Fit December and December challenge done.

 

[JesseW]

Munchie and I also recorded her Christmas Poem for LibriVox. I already chased Biggie around the room getting his, editing that one was entertaining. The kids love recording (when they're in the mood for it) and it will be really cool to hear their speech development through this.

Ooh, that sounds like a neat idea to do with our little one once he's speaking!

 

[Saffity]

Yesterday I managed to get day 1 and 2 of the December Mobility challenge done at my desk. I started to do day 1 of Fit December, but suddenly everyone was walking through my area so I only got 1 repeat done.

Then my neck started to tighten up, so I decided to take the pause.

Last night was knit night and I had a lovely time hanging out with the ladies working with fibre, even if I was un-knitting due to not reading the "At the same time" part.

Munchie woke up with a pretty bad nightmare, after an hour of trying to get her back to bed it took sending her downstairs to where her Dad was chilling and letting her basically fall asleep on the couch before bringing her back up. Biggie did fine though through the night so that's something.

Now to get to finishing my secret santa gift.

 

[Saffity]

Welp, the season childhood plague has reached the house. Munchie was down with a fever last Thursday, but bounced back pretty quickly. Then Biggie had a fever the last two days, and last night was up from 11-3:30, and spotty after that, due to a very sore throat. Of course, Mommy was necessary in helping him and no one else would do, so I was also up from 11-3:30 (and in fact didn't get a chance to go to bed because I'd just been heading to bed when he woke up.)

I'm working from home today while Biggie rallies when his meds hit, and fusses when they start to run out. All while surviving on caffeine and Advil.

Got my Secret Santa completed in time, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they think. Munchie was very involved with picking out the exercizes. We thought long and hard about what movements were needed to represent the tasks that were in the story. She loved it, and is very excited to see what we have to do this year.

My knees are acting up again, partly due to not going to the gym for almost 3 months, but I think it's also partly due to the weather. Especially my left knee which has felt summer thunderstorms since I was 18.

I really need to catch up on Fit December, which I'll work towards today since I'm home.

 

[Saffity]

I DID IT! I went to the gym last night and ACTUALLY WORKED OUT!

And you know what's amazing? I have more energy today than I've had in a long time.

Now, this might just be sleep deprivation insanity from dealing with poor Biggie the last few nights, but I'll take it!

Biggie update is: We took him to the doctor Wednesday evening. They did a strep test, though I haven't heard back on that yet, and gave him antibiotics. His throat was red, swollen, with white spots which means definitely infected. His ears and lungs were clear though. Due to him having a cough/runny nose, they don't think it's strep, but better to be sure.

Also, thank the universe for antibiotics, it was night and day yesterday. Biggie was 48 hours off of Daycare, which meant I stayed home a second day (though I actually took the day off because I was exhausted), and Hubby/MIL are splitting today due to work needs.

Munchie's having a rough week too, her behaviour has had a real slide, which makes me think she's fighting something because she usually really misbehaves when she's ill. Hoping it clears up quickly and we get back to our sweet girl again. (Could also be jealousy that her brother has been getting more attention, but we'll see).

I'm going to do a workout rundown again:

5 Minutes warmup walk
100 squats for my ornament
Day 2 Fit December
70 Second Elbow Plank (doubt I'll make the 5 minutes goal I had at the beginning of the year, but I'm still working toward it)
House cleaning: 2 loads of handwash dishes, folded 3 loads laundry, washed 1 load laundry, kitty litter, changed kid's sheets (2 beds)

My left knee has been acting up. I think I have the outside quad muscles tight and the inside quad muscles loose making my knee cap slide diagonally and grind a bit. I'm doing some exercizes to work to stregthen the inside muscles and massaging the outside muscles to ease up. It's helping, but what will really help is to get back to physio when I can.

Time to take this energy and keep it going.

 

[Saffity]

Yesterday was quite productive, and the whole "an object in motivation stays in motivation" continues.

I did day 3 and 5 of Fit December at my desk, and day 4 at the gym.

I also did 150 more squats toward my ornament which brings me to 250 total (half way there!)

Biggie is doing much better, and we're off tomorrow morning to Toronto to visit Hubby's Great Aunt and do a small family celebration for Biggies 3rd!!!!!!!! birthday.

Of course, in Biggie fashion, he decided he didn't want to go for nap today, did a slide dive around me and decided to crawl face first down the stairs, he managed the first two, I ALMOST caught his ankle, then his arms gave out, gravity took over and he somersaulted down the stairs. I don't know if I wrote about this way back when, but he did a somersault down the stairs when he was 7 months old that had us taking our first ambulance ride to the hospital for concussion protocol. Luckily, while he did bonk his head on the way down, most of it was on his bottom. His head is more of a floor rash than a big bump, and he was up and talking. Though he got his way, his nap was delayed while I made sure he was all right.

Then when I said it was finally nap time, he climbed into bed, good as gold, never would you think he'd ever tried to avoid nap by parkouring down the stairs.

Now that my heart rate is back to normal, I've been doing some editing for LibriVox, including two adorable Christmas poems read by the kiddos.

I'm going to do some Day 6 and some squats in just a bit. Biggie just woke up and he's showing how absolutely fine he is.

Just gotta keep this motivation train rolling.

 

[Saffity]

My baby is now 3 years old, and now I'm staring down the fact I'm soon to be the mother of a 6 year old. Biggie had much fun, enjoyed his cake, and loves his new excavator. We drove out to Toronto to visit hubby's great aunt (the kids' great-great aunt) who I haven't seen in about 2.5 years, and I got to glow in the fact that I hadn't even taken my coat off and she asked "Have you lost weight?!" So good to know that even though I've put a bit more on since Biggie weaned a year ago (is it only that long?!) I haven't lost too much ground.

Biggie's favourite thing that we did yesterday was allow him to turn his wrapping paper into confetti. This boy loves to shred paper, and he's usually told a very emphatic, NO, so being able to have one type of paper he could shred just made his day. Kept him busy for about 2 hours.

Munchie had an off and on day, and lost devices for the day due to not listening. So no TV to be background noise. I turned on the radio for some Christmas music (but it's not the same). She found the inner part of the box for Biggie's excavator and said it could be a little house for her Bluey toys, so while Biggie was making confetti, Munchie and I used the outer box to make cardboard furniture for her house. They have a beach house that came with the toys, but if you know anything about Bluey, Lachy and Lachy's Dad live next door in a separate house, so Munchie decided that's what we were going to do. We had bunk beds, a living room (complete with tv), kitchen, dining room, and bathroom!

Then as the sun was setting, he and Munchie turned the cat's chair to the window and waited for our backyard lights to turn on.

And yes, Biggie did get every piece of confetti into a bag ready for garbage! Mommy wasn't going to let him get away with leaving that mess.

We then snuggled up with some snacks and watched Frosty the Snowman. So all told, a very nice birthday.

Due to all of the excitement, I knew I wasn't getting to the gym, so while I was giving Biggie a bath I did Fit December Day 7 and 50 squats (10 squats at the end of each set), much to Biggie's amusement.

Once they were in bed, I took the opportunity to have a bath of my own (I think my knee issue is stemming from something being up with my hip causing the outer quad muscle to tighten and pull my kneecap diagonally across the joint, I have osteo this week that will hopefully help that, but warm bath and massage is temporarily helping until then). Then I did some more editing for LibriVox, and some organizing for how I'm going to proceed with that in the new year.

I've realized that I just don't have the time for recording and editing. I may do small bits next year, like the weekly/fortnightly poetry, or a small part in a dramatic work, but I just don't have the time for editing big sections.

So I'm going to finish the first part of my current solo, and then migrate it to a group work where other people can record the rest of it and I'll coordinate and proof listen. I also have two sections left of another project I'm helping with for someone else, and once I get that done (hopefully before the end of the year) I'm going to focus on just coordinating and proof listening.

I'm also considering the podcast, since I'm 90% sure no one else is going to pick it up, is there a way I can change the format to not rely so much on other people's submissions and just do a monthly update/discussing a small topic. I'm going to go back to listening some of the first podcasts that were done way back in 2007, and see if maybe a short and sweet 5-10 minute bi-weekly update might be a better go for a bit. We'll see, definitely not making any definitive plans on this one.

Just trying to get some of my goals in order for 2026, and make them achievable, even if I do have a setback in health or what have you.

For now, I'm going to glow in the 'lost weight' compliment and try and get a few more days of Fit December caught up at my desk.

 

[Saffity]

Discovered that I can put family names onto ornaments for the tree, so definitely had to add the kids.

Over the course of the day I did:

150 squats to get me my ornament
2000 punches for Munchie's ornament
2000 arm circles for Biggie's ornament
Days 8-10 of Fit December

Also, can I just say, it's amazing how quickly my body gets back into shape. After 3 months of basic neglect in the exercize realm due to a chronic illness flare that started up in September, I was getting a bit fluffy, but after a week and a half or continuous hard work, the fluffy has disappeared for the most part.

I am a bit stiff and sore, but it's a good sore.

I have Wed/Thu off to get the house clean for Christmas, so I'm going to make sure I get Fit December caught up by Thursday.

 

[Syrius]

Congrats on the ornaments!!

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[Mamatigerj]

Happy Ornaments Day!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

Congrats on your Ornaments achievements!

Great work getting back into the workout habit after your enforced time off!

 

[Haleth]

Congratulations on the Ornaments!