What's in a Name?

1.26.2012

What to do...

We have been a little ill around here lately.  The boys have avoided the yucky cold, but the rest have fallen prey, and Isabel went down the hardest. 

So, what do you do when you are home with a little girl whose nose is a faucet?  One who wants to cuddle on the couch constantly, except when she is demanding more tissue, "and some lotion please for my red nose".  Well, you cuddle.  A lot.  And you read books and sing songs.  If she's really ambitious, you may make it to the table for some crafts (preferably painting or play doh - the messier the better).  Finally, when she is tired and just wants to zone out you put on a movie ("Annie" being the latest favorite) and hop on the bike trainer to sneak a little exercise in while she is occupied.  aaah - the life of a Mommy. 
The cuddles are great though.

1.23.2012

Big day


I cleaned out my sock drawer today.  Whoop!  Do I know how to have fun or what?!

1.21.2012

Just Label It

When is comes to food, I've been a label reader for the last fifteen years.  It started when I decided to make a change for my health and primarily focus on losing weight.  I had always been athletic and active, but was never thin and my weight crept up through high school and college.  So I was learning about eating better and watching fat and calorie intake and reading labels.  When I started buying food for my kids, I would look at ingredients to ensure that I wasn't buying things like bread and apple sauce with high fructose corn syrup.  My thought was that my kids didn't need the extra sugar in the things that they eat every day (the bread) and the things that they like without the extra sugar (since I never add sugar when I make applesauce from scratch). 
Some of my friends have made pretty extreme changes to the foods that their families eat.  One cut out gluten because potential links with their child's ADHD.  Another removed casein and gluten because of the impact on Aspergers.  One went vegan because of possible links between animal proteins and her autoimmune disease, and noticed a positive affect on her husband's Chrone's disease. 
While my family has been lucky enough not to have any health issues that are tied to foods, we are also concerned about all that we have been hearing about high fructose corn syrup and genetically modified foods.  We live in a rich country that has more food than ever, and yet there are more food issues and allergies than ever.  The more Andy and I learned about food processing (thanks to movies like Food Inc and countless websites) the more we are concerned about what we are feeding our families.  Food manufacturing and processing has changed exponentially over the last 20 years and I firmly believe that the methods used are a huge contributor to the rise in obesity and food allergies that we see today.  The food that we ate as kids may have the same name, but it is not made the same way as the food we used to eat. 

Andy and I are still label readers, but now our focus is more on buying food that is natural rather than low fat. If my kids can't pronounce the ingredients then we probably shouldn't be eating them. 



1.15.2012

Devin's Eclipse

The kids were doing art projects today, and Devin came up with this:


Every now and then I have a moment when I realize that Devin is growing up, and this was one of them.  I love his creativity and ingenuity.  He is learning so many new and interesting things, and our conversations (and his questions) are getting more complex and challenging.  I love it.

1.05.2012

Izzy's Jukebox

Isabel has been singing all day long.  Here is her play list:

Love You Like a Love Song - Selena Gomez
Someone Like You - Adele
Shake Those 'Simmons Down - Music Together
Tik Tok on the Clock - Ke$ha
Save Me San Francisco - Train
Everybody Dance Now - C+C Music Factory
Play the Drum - Music Together
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Chicken Fried - Zac Brown Band

I certainly appreciate her varied music taste, and take comfort in the fact that at least a couple of the songs are intended for little kids (the ones from her Music Together class).  I managed to catch one of her performances*.  Check it out:



* Please note: wearing pajamas at 2pm is perfectly acceptable in our world.  Enjoy the booty shake.

1.03.2012

Doubt Me

Last night I dreamt that a poem I had recently written was getting published.  Clearly this was a dream, since it has been about fifteen years since my poetry writing days.  But in my dream I was a writer of poetry and a pretty good one at that.  The poem that was getting recognition was bitter and more than a little pissed off, kind of like an Ani DiFranco song I used to listen to in my "single in the city" days when dating was complicated and sometimes painful. 
But this poem wasn't about dating or even about writing.  It was my response to someone who thought I was incapable of doing something.  It was about someone doubting me and I was mad.  My dream never revealed who didn't believe in me or what they thought I could not do; the dream did made it clear that I not only proved myself, but went on to write about it.
I woke up feeling surprised.  First of all, I am surrounded by the most supportive and encouraging family and friends, and I cannot think of anyone who would tell me that I cannot achieve something that I want to do.  Second, I was surprised that doubt could be such a motivator for me.  Cognitively, I understand that "proving yourself" relies on some amount of doubt, but I rarely feel like I have anything to prove.  Mostly, I was surprised at the anger I felt toward whomever doubted me in my dream. 
I really wish I could remember that poem.