Saturday, December 13, 2008

December 13, 2008 Christmas shopping and Healthy Children's project

So Mike and I started off yesterday morning (Friday) by dressing and feeding Dan and sending him off to school. Emily had already gone off to work and with 3 hours to kill and no Christmas shopping done yet, we decided to head for Falmouth to get some done. Gotta love Walmart. We browsed, and purused each and every isle looking for appropriate and fun Christmas gear, and came away with nearly everything we were looking for except some Wii games of which Walmart was dreadfully lacking. We got in the van, looked at the clock and realized it was only 10:15am, still another hour and forty five minutes before we could pick up Dan so I suggested we drive into Woods Hole and find a coffee shop. Mike and I aren't generally the fru-fru coffee type but he agreed and through the cold mist we made our way into down town. Woods Hole is a quaint little town, much like Newport with less access which makes me dread it in the summer....you couldn't pay me enough to go there in season. But on December 12th it felt like a fine extravagance. We quickly found a parking spot and coffee shop and went in.
Working at Dunkin I've "done" coffee for years. Working there recently taught me the difference between Lattes, cappachino's, espressos, etc. I stay away from all of them at work. But this coffee shop was different and offered about 12 different flavors of Latte's and decided it was time to try one. I chose Chocolate mint, and with the first sip of froth from the top new this was my new favorite thing in the whole wide world. Mike ordered a Sumatra regular....a tough thing to do in a fancy coffee shop, we found a quiet banquet by the windows, I leaned up against him with my feet on the bench and enjoyed the luxury of my latte. We talked, laughed and drank for 20 or so minutes before getting back in the van for the 30 minute ride back into Mashpee. On the way we noticed that one of the shopping centers had a new game shop and decided with 20 minutes to spare to stop in. They had used games, cheap and buy one, get one so Mike and I deliberated the choices and purchased three.
We made it to school just in time to get Dan, who excitedly showed Daddy around. Then we went to Bobby Byrnes (Danny's favorite restaurant) for lunch to celebrate him starting school. A quick stop the toy store and we headed home so the boys could nap, and I could go out for a run before our warm wet day turned into a cold dry one.
While checking e-mail later I noticed one from a woman I hadn't talked to in ages and all of a sudden light dawns on marble head. Zoe worked at the center for breastfeeding with the healthy childrens project way back when Dan was a baby, and since we spent so much time at their playgroups became good friends. Well, Dan out grew them and we moved on. However way back in 2005 I took a course through them and became a Certified Lactation Councelor. Thinking back I decided to e-mail Anna the head of the program and Adjunct professor about any job opportunities she new of and although she didn't have any right now, she said she'd keep her eyes and ears open. Also, my CLC cert is due to expire the end of the month and she encouraged me to file for an extension then take one of their courses in March to fill the requirements for the recert. It's a field I love, one that coincides with my future midwifery training and one I'd forgetten nearly all about. As much as I like working at D & D, now that Dan has started school and will go to full time Kindergarten in the fall a real grown up job would be nice, while doing my training. I also sit as one of the board of directors for the Academy of Lactation Policy and Procedure, based through the Healthy Childrens Project, although at last meeting I think we voted to disolve it into the Healthy Childrens project. I might have to look into that more! http://www.healthychildren.cc/

Thursday, December 11, 2008

December 11, 2008 70lbs lighter !


Here I am on the left on May 28th, 2008 weighing in at 212lbs wearing size 18 pants.
...and on the right December 11th, 2008 picture taken by Danny weighing 142lbs wearing size 8 jeans.
Exactly 70lbs later. I feel great, and have so much more energy! I figure a few more pounds (my ideal weight is 136 BMI 22) and I'll try on my old size 18's and see how they fit now!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

December 10, 2008 GED Results, Preschool

We recieved Emily's scores in the mail yesterday afternoon. This is how they break down. Keep in mind she needed to score at least 410 in each of the 5 areas. 200 being the lowest, 800 the highest.
Language Arts-Reading- 670
Language Arts-Writing- 450
Mathematics - 440 -
Science - 560
Social Studies - 500
for a total of 2620 which averages out to 524. She had to have at least a 450 average.

Since, after finding out she'd passed, I didn't feel I could deny her anything we took a trip into Hyannis to the mall, to wander. Emily bought a couple of necklaces. Dan and I bought a couple of new pairs of pants and a new shirt for the first day of school. Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, he loves it. On our way home Dan asked if we could stop at Cape Maid Farms our local pet store. They have all kinds of cool animals including hairless hampsters, all kinds of snakes, lizards, spiders, and rodents, and this time we found a very nice feeder who brought out one of the ferrets for us to hold. Danny had a good time playing with them by putting a brush into their cage. Since they're were six young ferrets in there it didn't take much encouraging for their cage to turn into tumbling and nipping chaos. They had a great time, as did the kids and I. We might have to make visiting there an event we do more often. Em, Dan and I went home long enough to get our books together and head out to the Sandwich Library, where we returned and checked out more books and movies before meeting Mike at the British Beer Company http://www.britishbeer.com/local/sandwich/ for a celebratory dinner honoring Emily for her GED achievement. Em ordered Buffalo chicken tenders for an appetizer, Dan had Pizza, Mike had the French Dip, and I had a Greek Salad, one of the best I've ever had. It was a great night...

This morning Daddy woke Danny up a little after 7am and said Danny, you have to get up for school. That made Danny smile. Em and I will take him to school then go over to the Superintendents office to submit her GED results so she can be taken out of the their system. At 10am I have an appointment with Dr. Mann, my ENT then I have the rest of the morning for some Christmas shopping. I'm not sure I remember how to do that by myself !

Update: Unfortunately I forgot my wallet at home and since it was a 30 minute ride home to get it ran out of time for shopping before it was time to pick up Danny. He saw me, yelled "Mom" and ran into my arms. I'll take this over the clingy, whiny little boy I've spend so much time with lately. The teachers said he had a good day, and told him they looked forward to seeing him Friday....then a funny thing happened. As we walked to the van I asked Dan how his morning was and he said "not good" surprised I asked him why not. He said he couldn't do anything, they didn't play, they didn't go outside, nothing...in a very somber mood. I asked him if he was going to go back Friday and he said yes....now I'm confused. I asked him if he wanted to call Daddy and he said "not yet" Weird I thought. the teachers had mentioned that it was science day today so I prodded him further about what science he learned, at which time he got very animated. Told me all about the planets and how the "orbit" the sun. He said he had a great day, they played outside, he made lots of friends. Apparently he learned how to fool his mother in that very short 3 hour seperation! I'm glad he had a good day.

Emily's exit from the Mashpee School system was uneventful. We met Ellen Bankston at the door, she congratulated both of us, made a photocopy of Em's results and wished her good luck in whatever she chooses to do. Since she's being laid off just after Christmas I think she's scheming a ride down to Virginia with Mom and Mo to visit Vavo and Kathy for a while. From there who knows, maybe fly to Florida, and wait for us there, or fly home and make the trip with us. Whatever she chooses I think taking a semester off to do some traveling is the right choice for her. Carpe Diem honey!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

December 9, 2008 Big News!!!

Within 24 hours I have one child newly emerging from the public school system, and one entering.

Emily passed her GED. Not only passed it but averaged a score of 525, when she needed 450. I am so pleased, and feel completely justified in the decision I made to take her out of school. It was absolutely the right decision. She recieved her diploma today and will walk the stage at Cape Cod Community College on June 9th.
We haven't recieved the scores yet, but I did call the school to make sure, and the Director said she really did very well, I'll post the scores when I get them.

Danny and I checked out a couple of preschools on Monday and found one we liked. I brought home to paper work, filled it out and returned it this morning. Danny can be very charming when he wants to be and asked the secretary very nicely if he could start school tomorrow. She said Yes. Danny will be attending the Kids Klub in Mashpee on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9am-12pm starting tomorrow. He's thrilled and was so excited to pick pretzels as his snack.


It's been quite a day!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

December 7, 2008 Christmas trees/parties, midlife crises', more hiking

First off I'd like to comment on the comments made by anonymous'. One referring to whether or not Emily passed her GED, and the answer is we don't know yet. Good question though since I've had a profound lack of blogging motivation lately. The second questioning about whether I might be in the throws of a midlife crisis makes me laugh, aren't I too young for a midlife crisis? I will not blog about personal matters but if your truly concerned, please feel free to e-mail privately and I'd be happy to discuss it with you further.
Lots has happened. Mike celebrated his 41st Birthday on Thanksgiving day this year. Dan gave Daddy a Lion Webkin he named Max, and we gave him the World Tour game for Guitar Hero. Mike, Dan and I enjoyed a late fall letterboxing adventure at Crocker Neck Conservation area in Cotuit named Dr. Doolittle. http://www.atlasquest.com/ Then we started cooking and joined Mike, Laurie, Janni, Chris and Matt at their house for 5pm dinner.
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November 30th I drove down to Middletown to meet some old highschool friends at Holly's house for a mini reunion. It was good to catch up with Kristy, Selena, Sarah and Holly. Afterwards I met some former -Dunkin friends in Dartmouth for dinner. We had a terrific time catching up, we'll have to do it more often!
I went to see Dr. Mann again two or so weeks ago and since the no salt regime didn't seem to be making much of a difference he prescribed for me methozolamide (a diuretic) and after only the first few days noticed a significant improvement. School for me is going great, three tests down, 1 to go, and an extra credit paper passed in last week.
Mike and I have enjoyed two holiday parties so far this season, one for the woodturners, the other the annual Progeny party which was held in Warwick, RI on December 5th. Mom watched the kids while Mike and I spent the night at the hotel...very nice. Mike, the kids, and I drove down on Friday and since we were there decided to get our tree at Sweet Berry Farm. http://www.sweetberryfarmri.com/ We talked Mom into joining us, not as bad an experience as she remembered I don't think. Mike and I had a great time at the Progeny party, late night but we had a beautiful room this year and the food was terrific. Mike headed home @ 9am Saturday morning to Green Briar for a wood turning demonstration while I enjoyed a lazy morning at the hotel. Actually it wasn't particularly lazy considering I was in the fitness center at 5:30am, and in the Jacuzzi by 6:15 which is where I stayed enjoying the quiet morning with my book until I deemed it a reasonable hour to wake Mike up for breakfast. I went to RI to pick up the kids. Since Em, Taylor and Mom wanted to go see Twilight I thought it would be a perfect time to take Dan up to the Norman Bird Sanctuary to climb hanging rock. He'd never done it and I was excited for him to have the experience. http://www.normanbirdsanctuary.org/ He had a great time and was pretty excited to call Daddy from the top to tell him where he was! We made it home in time to unpack quickly, and for me to kiss everybody good bye for work. It was good spending some time in RI, I definitely miss it sometimes!

Emily is doing great, working, and driving. She's very responsible, and we've not once had to limit her adventures. She has become juggler along with Mike and I instead of a jugglee. She's such a big girl now.

Dan's doing well too. I think we've come to the realization he's just not getting enough interaction with me here during the day, and even though we try to stay busy, he's not spending enough time with kids his own age. He's outgrown many of the programs he used to enjoy and with the weather so cold we're just not getting out enough. Tomorrow morning we're going to talk to the intigrated preschool that's run out of the K-2 program at the KC Coombs school to see if they have any openings.
Even still, Dan and Daddy have a pretty cool crystal experiment they've been working on and is actually starting to produce. Dan's happy to see something finally happening.
Sunday morning found us all ready to get into the Christmas spirit, Mike brought our tree in just as the rain started to turn to snow, Mike the kids and brought up the Christmas decorations, turned on some Christmas music and quickly realized we couldn't find the tree lights. We did what we could and decided on a road trip to Hyannis to pick some up. Kmart had just what we needed and since it was lunch time we decided to go to our new favorite restaurant Sam Diegos. http://www.samdiegos.com/ I always thought it was a chain restaurant so wasn't
much interested, but after the woodturners party there Wednesday night I was hooked on their fish tacos. One of the woodturning members owns the restaurant and gave us a very impressive tour of the kitchen during the party. Mike and I were sure the kids would love it as well, and weren't disappointed. We came home with full bellies and quickly set to decorating the tree before the 4:15 Patriots game and 5pm work for me.