Lately, there have been lots of ups and downs in our family's life. Some of the ups include oh so much better sleep. Pretty much every night between 6:30-6:45 we start our bedtime routine. At one point, the routine was way too complicated. I've basically pared it down to either bath time or washing up/brushing teeth, diaper changes/toilet time, 2 books, and maybe a song. We are usually complete with lights out before 7:15. Usually, the kids are asleep before 7:30, at least the twins are. Michael, on the other hand, needs his own wind down time by himself one the twins are asleep. He is usually asleep by 8:00 sometimes a little later. This has made life so much easier. I love bedtime so much more now.
The twins have turned 3 and are no longer eligible for early intervention due to age, but Eva Rose is getting speech once a week for articulation issues. She amazes me though, and even the speech therapist mentioned it today. She can say alligator pretty clearly, but she can't pronounce the ending of simple one syllable words like cat or cup. Thomas is not receiving any services. He is going to be watched, but he really doesn't need anything. Michael continues to go to a preschool program for 5 hours. His behavior seems to be testing limit setting at home and at school. I think I am going to talk to his doctor about my concerns at his 4 year visit to see if there is anything that we should have him tested for, if not just to ease my own mind.
In the down department, we have had some big issues with a family member who has been living with us. Life has been really stressful and we finally told him it was time to leave. There are way to many things to write about why it was so stressful, but I am so looking forward to getting our house and life back in order! I am not looking forward to the potential backlash from the family, but we needed to do what was right for our family not what was right for this family member. I am hoping that my kids will be better off and I know that I will be better off!
It has been an extremely mild winter here north of Boston, but I still can't wait for spring. I can't what to take the kids out and play. I can't what to go hiking and walk the zoos and farms and ll those types of things. I can't wait to start our garden again. This year, I want to start planting our early spring plants on time and not wait til it is too late.
Amy
Friday, February 17, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
My Latest Projects (and a couple of pics of the twins)
I am trying to spend some time being creative and also using up some of the huge crafting stash that I have accumulated. When I was looking at some of the things I thought about getting rid of, I realized that they were actually completed projects (if I was just a little creative in how I saw them), they just needed the finishing touches. I weaved in some ends, and Voila!!!!, a baby Belle granny square afghan and a granny square afghan for Eva Rose. Now on to using up some yarn stash to make the boys an afghan.
Eva Rose with her new afghan
Eva Rose's Baby Belle's afghan
The twins!
Amy
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Healthier Me
I've been joining in with another twin mom to challenge myself to get healthier. The first two weeks were rough, but I think I'm on my way way, at least with the exercising. The first week. My daughter was sick and then I got sick the second week. Finally, the third week, I am feeling more myself and was able to do 90 minutes of running/walking. I am down about 5 pounds and weigh less than I did when I got married and pregnant with Michael. Now I need to start doing some strength training and getting my food intake under control. Some days, I think that I want to run/walk more than every other day. I've been doing great drinking my green smoothies. I'd love to do a couple of days of detox smoothies just to see how I feel. I really need to cut out sugar, carbs, and fat, and even coffee.
Given the fact that I have decided not to pursue surgery for my BRCA2 gene positive status, it's really important to me to change my lifestyle. I need to continue to exercise, eat better, and deal with stress better. I realize that just because I have the gene, it does not mean that I will get cancer, but given that my great grandmother, my grandmother (who died of breast cancer), and my mom have all had cancer and my mom is also positive for BRCA2 gene,my chances of not getting cancer seem slim. I really need to do all I can to be healthy so that even if I do get cancer, my body is strong.
I really need to stop drinking coffee. I have switched to decaf, but I really want off coffee all together. I just bought some new tea. I have been trying to go from coffee to tea. Part of the issue is that I really like going for a ride with the kids and getting a cup of coffee. I think that I just need to let go of buying the coffee and bring my tea.
The other thing I am doing to get healthy is to get a little more organized and be better at cleaning my house. It will be an ongoing project, but one that I really need to keep working on. Some days, I think that I have some form of ADD, but hen other times I think I just need to be better organized and everything will be fine. I feel like if I get better organized, my stress levels will be better. Overall, if my stress levels are better, I will be better.
It slow going, but I feel like I am my way to doing what I need to do. I'm really glad I joined in with this challenge!
Amy
Given the fact that I have decided not to pursue surgery for my BRCA2 gene positive status, it's really important to me to change my lifestyle. I need to continue to exercise, eat better, and deal with stress better. I realize that just because I have the gene, it does not mean that I will get cancer, but given that my great grandmother, my grandmother (who died of breast cancer), and my mom have all had cancer and my mom is also positive for BRCA2 gene,my chances of not getting cancer seem slim. I really need to do all I can to be healthy so that even if I do get cancer, my body is strong.
I really need to stop drinking coffee. I have switched to decaf, but I really want off coffee all together. I just bought some new tea. I have been trying to go from coffee to tea. Part of the issue is that I really like going for a ride with the kids and getting a cup of coffee. I think that I just need to let go of buying the coffee and bring my tea.
The other thing I am doing to get healthy is to get a little more organized and be better at cleaning my house. It will be an ongoing project, but one that I really need to keep working on. Some days, I think that I have some form of ADD, but hen other times I think I just need to be better organized and everything will be fine. I feel like if I get better organized, my stress levels will be better. Overall, if my stress levels are better, I will be better.
It slow going, but I feel like I am my way to doing what I need to do. I'm really glad I joined in with this challenge!
Amy
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Pictures
At the zoo
for a walk
reflections
Trying for a hug
The twins
My 3 kids
Michael
Eva Rose
Thomas
Being silly
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Illness and Other Things
I have been fighting a cold/bronchitis since Thanksgiving. Finally, I went to the doctors 3 weeks ago and got the Z-pak for bronchitis and was feeling so much better. I was feeling great for about 2 weeks and then my daughter got sick just before her 3rd birthday. She was miserable this past weekend. The poor thing was sick on her birthday party and her actual birthday, though she started feeling better on her actual birthday. I brought her to the doctor who felt that her fever was related to a virus and that it would just have to work it's way out of her system. He gave me some things to strengthen her immune system and help her body do what it needs to do to help her get better. She was fine the next day but guess who is using everything that she was told to use? I am once again sick. I am using the echinacea, the vitamin C and vitamin D and am hoping that I will start feeling better soon. I also need to start using my nasal rinse as well as eating better and probably starting my allergy shots again.
I started a Biggest Loser type program with another twin mom blogger. I have lost a little weight, but given the illness here, I have not exercised anywhere near where I should be. I am going to try to get on the treadmill today since I really am not sure who I feel about being out in the cold when I am sick or with my daughter who was recently sick. I am hopeful that I can at least use this challenge to lose a little bit of weight and get myself on the right track. Losing weight is so much harder when you have kids.
Here's a few birthday party pictures:
I started a Biggest Loser type program with another twin mom blogger. I have lost a little weight, but given the illness here, I have not exercised anywhere near where I should be. I am going to try to get on the treadmill today since I really am not sure who I feel about being out in the cold when I am sick or with my daughter who was recently sick. I am hopeful that I can at least use this challenge to lose a little bit of weight and get myself on the right track. Losing weight is so much harder when you have kids.
Here's a few birthday party pictures:
Sick birthday girl!
Birthday boy!
Big Brother
Birthday Cake Nonna made
Birthday Cake from Costco
In another month and a half, we'll be celebrating Michael's 4th birthday, but for now we are a house of 3, three year olds! Hopefully no one will be sick for Michael's birthday!
Amy
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Test Results
If you didn't know, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer just about 1 year ago. She has gone through chemo and radiation treatments and so far things are looking positive. Her lump was caught early, unlike my grandmother her mother, who almost 6 years ago died of breast cancer. Since my mom got diagnosed, she also got tested for the BRCA gene. She got confirmation that she is a carrier for the BRCA 2 gene. Currently, in my family, my mom, my grandmother, my grandmother's twin sister, and my great grandmother all have had breast cancer. My grandmother's younger sister also had and died of pancreatic cancer, which the BRCA 2 gene puts you at higher risk for.
Now that my mom got tested, my sisters and I had to decide if we were going to get tested. At first, I was leaning totally against having the gene test. After talking with my doctor, I decided that it would be better to find out if I had the gene, because with my family history, without getting tested, I would need to have increased testing to ensure that things were caught early just in case I was at higher risk and didn't know it. I got met with a genetic counselor right after Christmas and with my husband decided to have the test. Just about a week ago, I found out that I tested positive for the gene.
I wasn't totally surprised at the results, but I was still in shock from actually seeing it on paper and having one of my worst fears confirmed. Of course, the immediate recommendation was to have a bilateral mastectomy and oophorectomy. I was told that I needed to meet with an oncologist and discuss my options. If I decided not to have surgery, I need to have a mammogram and a MRI every 6 months alternating each time. If I don't have the oophorectomy, I need to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound and a CA-125 blood test every 6 months. Even though I don't have cancer, I left that appointment feeling like I had been given a a death sentence, especially if I didn't have surgery. Not exactly a great feeling to have especially not actually having cancer. I thought that since my family tended to get cancer later in life, I have a decent amount of time to decide, but no, they just lucked out (if getting cancer at all can be considered lucky) and got cancer later in life. The BRCA 2 gene tends to cause earlier cancers, something I did not expect to hear.
I am still trying to figure out where to go from here. I have 3 small kids and a great husband. I don't want to get cancer. I don't want to go through the pain and suffering and even potentially die, but I also don't want to have surgery. There are too many reasons to go into right now, and at some point I will probably write about it just to put it in words that I can actually read. My New Year's goals go along with the changes that I want to make especially now that I have tested positive for the gene.
My diet needs to change and so do my exercise habits. I have joined in with another twins mom's blog for a healthy challenge. I am hoping that this challenge will help me make the changes that I need to make and hopefully make theme stick.
Amy
Now that my mom got tested, my sisters and I had to decide if we were going to get tested. At first, I was leaning totally against having the gene test. After talking with my doctor, I decided that it would be better to find out if I had the gene, because with my family history, without getting tested, I would need to have increased testing to ensure that things were caught early just in case I was at higher risk and didn't know it. I got met with a genetic counselor right after Christmas and with my husband decided to have the test. Just about a week ago, I found out that I tested positive for the gene.
I wasn't totally surprised at the results, but I was still in shock from actually seeing it on paper and having one of my worst fears confirmed. Of course, the immediate recommendation was to have a bilateral mastectomy and oophorectomy. I was told that I needed to meet with an oncologist and discuss my options. If I decided not to have surgery, I need to have a mammogram and a MRI every 6 months alternating each time. If I don't have the oophorectomy, I need to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound and a CA-125 blood test every 6 months. Even though I don't have cancer, I left that appointment feeling like I had been given a a death sentence, especially if I didn't have surgery. Not exactly a great feeling to have especially not actually having cancer. I thought that since my family tended to get cancer later in life, I have a decent amount of time to decide, but no, they just lucked out (if getting cancer at all can be considered lucky) and got cancer later in life. The BRCA 2 gene tends to cause earlier cancers, something I did not expect to hear.
I am still trying to figure out where to go from here. I have 3 small kids and a great husband. I don't want to get cancer. I don't want to go through the pain and suffering and even potentially die, but I also don't want to have surgery. There are too many reasons to go into right now, and at some point I will probably write about it just to put it in words that I can actually read. My New Year's goals go along with the changes that I want to make especially now that I have tested positive for the gene.
My diet needs to change and so do my exercise habits. I have joined in with another twins mom's blog for a healthy challenge. I am hoping that this challenge will help me make the changes that I need to make and hopefully make theme stick.
Amy
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Getting Our Family Healthier
One of my big goals this new year is to work on being healthier. I don't want to make this a resolution, but with the new year, I decided to start thinking of new goals, or at least re-focusing on goals that I have already had.
My husband and I decided to start eating healthier, both us and our kids. For me, this is a tricky goal. I want to be healthy, but I have horrible food cravings for foods that are not good for me and unfortunately often give in. Also, my kids are on the very, very bottom of the growth scale, so I am always conscious of how much they eat. They are also very very picky eaters. With the new year, my husband and I started green smoothies again. Much to my elated surprise, my oldest son is loving them. He liked them the first time we started and he was about 18 months old, but quit eating them soon after. Now he is still loving them and having easily 2 shakes at breakfast. This means he is getting some sort of leafy green (kale, swiss chard, red leaf lettuce, etc.), and fruits. Finally I can feel like he is getting some good nutrition easily instead of fighting to get him to eat healthy foods. My twins, on the other hand, barely touch the shakes. The good news is that they are eating vegetables much better than before so I'm not as concerned with their healthy eating. I am trying to be better at meal planning which means I am not so crazed at dinner time trying to figure out what to cook. Also, I spend less money and waste less food because I know what to buy for when.
One of my friends, another twin mom, is doing a sort of biggest loser challenge on her blog http://goddessinprogressblog.com. I wasn't sure about joining in, but I decided that it is only ten dollars to contribute to the winning prize. Also, I figure maybe this would be a friendly way for me to challenge myself and have some accountability. So here I am joining in. My husband just bought new running shoes. I bought new ones last summer, and probably only used them and handful of times so far. The other thing that we splurged on is winter gear. We do have a treadmill, but I like getting outside and I can take the twins with me even if it is just a walk and no running.
I actually can't wait to start exercising again. My husband mentioned getting up early on alternate days so that we can go running without having to push the kids and then getting it out of the way. I really don't like getting up early and for me the thought of getting up at 5:30am instead of my usual 6:45am is not something I am looking forward to. I am however, looking forward to feeling better and getting in shape and hopefully liking how my body is going to look.
Plans are in motion to get at least a couple of my goals met. Hopefully my husband and I can set a good example for our kids early in life so that they don't have to deal with for addiction, food cravings, inability to stop eating even when they are full, and hopefully they will be active. Hopefully all of this will help them be healthy kids and even grow into healthy adults.
Amy
My husband and I decided to start eating healthier, both us and our kids. For me, this is a tricky goal. I want to be healthy, but I have horrible food cravings for foods that are not good for me and unfortunately often give in. Also, my kids are on the very, very bottom of the growth scale, so I am always conscious of how much they eat. They are also very very picky eaters. With the new year, my husband and I started green smoothies again. Much to my elated surprise, my oldest son is loving them. He liked them the first time we started and he was about 18 months old, but quit eating them soon after. Now he is still loving them and having easily 2 shakes at breakfast. This means he is getting some sort of leafy green (kale, swiss chard, red leaf lettuce, etc.), and fruits. Finally I can feel like he is getting some good nutrition easily instead of fighting to get him to eat healthy foods. My twins, on the other hand, barely touch the shakes. The good news is that they are eating vegetables much better than before so I'm not as concerned with their healthy eating. I am trying to be better at meal planning which means I am not so crazed at dinner time trying to figure out what to cook. Also, I spend less money and waste less food because I know what to buy for when.
One of my friends, another twin mom, is doing a sort of biggest loser challenge on her blog http://goddessinprogressblog.com. I wasn't sure about joining in, but I decided that it is only ten dollars to contribute to the winning prize. Also, I figure maybe this would be a friendly way for me to challenge myself and have some accountability. So here I am joining in. My husband just bought new running shoes. I bought new ones last summer, and probably only used them and handful of times so far. The other thing that we splurged on is winter gear. We do have a treadmill, but I like getting outside and I can take the twins with me even if it is just a walk and no running.
I actually can't wait to start exercising again. My husband mentioned getting up early on alternate days so that we can go running without having to push the kids and then getting it out of the way. I really don't like getting up early and for me the thought of getting up at 5:30am instead of my usual 6:45am is not something I am looking forward to. I am however, looking forward to feeling better and getting in shape and hopefully liking how my body is going to look.
Plans are in motion to get at least a couple of my goals met. Hopefully my husband and I can set a good example for our kids early in life so that they don't have to deal with for addiction, food cravings, inability to stop eating even when they are full, and hopefully they will be active. Hopefully all of this will help them be healthy kids and even grow into healthy adults.
Amy
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