Back On The Wagon

Last summer I was 10 lbs lighter. Not to say I'm "fluffy" now but I can definitely see and feel the 10 lbs. I could say that "I just have no idea how I gained it. I eat really healthy" but I would be lying. I know exactly how it got there. Revenge.

I find that I take it WAY too personally when Emmeline wont eat. I get really hostile about it when she turns her little nose up at whatever super yummy high calorie food I have presented to her. It usually goes down like this.

"Come on Emmeline, just taste it. It really is yummy."

"See? Everyone eats." (while modeling a bite)

"What's wrong with you? This is delicious!"

"You don't want it?! FINE!!"

"I'll eat it then!! See it's all gone!"

This "exchange" is always followed by me doing some very depressing math to figure out how in just 4-5 bites I have totally blown my daily calorie intake. Does this stop me at the next meal? Sadly no, it does not. I do it all over again, and again, and again. Thus 10 lbs later I am one slightly mushy mommy with a mediocre 3 year old eater.

Livestrong.com here I come.

I've Lost My Spark

I was a HEAVY couponer for a year and a half. By heavy I mean that I spent most of my Saturday clipping and organizing my coupons and then was at the store first thing Monday morning to try and get whatever I could after the Sunday rush. The girls did great with it at first and then Isa started to get really whiny about our Monday shopping. When she was in school Emmeline was more then happy to be carted around to several stores without much of a fight.

Then Extreme Couponers aired on TLC. It pretty much ruined couponing for people like me. It made people think that everyone could go buy 200 boxes of cereal for .12 cents. They wanted their share. This impacted me in the following ways. First it was really hard to find papers. People were going out and buying 40 papers. Silly. Second I had to deal with all the cranky cashiers that had to deal with pissy people who "saw this on TV" but had no idea what they were doing. Third companies have stopped distributing as many high value coupons. All these things combines has really killed my enjoyment of the whole thing.

I remember when I first started and would go get $100 worth of stuff (that I actually needed) for $10. Now I go and Spend $2 on stuff I don't need or use just so I don't feel like my coupons are going to waste. Of course in that process I am wasting gas and more importantly to me now, my time. This has resulted in my pretty much giving up on it. For now at least.

The Start Of Something Good

Emmeline can't really talk. Shocker, I know. This is leading to A LOT of tantrums because we can't tell what she wants fast enough. Another shocker. It makes it really hard on Isabella and me to play with her because it usually ends in screaming.

When she started her home bound pre-k this year her teacher brought his ipad to work with her. She LOVED it. especially the camera. For some reason the ipad camera works better then any mirror or even seeing herself on the TV when it comes to getting her to do oral motorexercises. She also really likes all the cool pre-k apps it has. Isa loves all the games and educational tools(seriously). I am a little more interested in the AMAZING"tap to talk" apps. These could open up a whole new and effective way to communicate with her!!!

So around November we decided this would be a great resource for both the girls that we should invest in. Then we found out that a new ipad was coming out soon and decided to wait. It killed me waiting so long when i knew how much the girls would love it but we held out and just got this baby in the mail today!!!

It's like she knew is was something good. *note the cheerios on the floor from playing dog. she eats them as treats. Man she looks tired.

She kept looking at Josh and saying "cheese". At least she knows what's picture worthy.

The actual ipad. We wanted the school to get this for her but they apparently wont buy Apple and would only buy some $8,000 assisted speaking device so we just told them we would get it.

It's super hard to see in this picture but if you have ever purchased Apple products you know what these are. The ever important Apple stickers!!

I am SO excited to see how much she progresses with this. I'll keep everyone updated!!!

Cursed

I have been having some serious trouble posting lately. Not for lack of trying either. It just seems that every time I sit down and try to blog my camera wont upload pictures, the pictures are nowhere to be found, or my children try to kill each other (or me). It is really putting a funk in my venting.

I'm no dummy. People can only take so many picture-less posts before they start to lose interest. My apologies. I am doing my best to entertain you but my camera isn't cooperating.

Emmeline has been try to once again keep me guessing by deciding she wanted to eat. I say wanted because I'm pretty sure she has changed her mind, again. She did great for ab out a week eating as much cheese as she could get her hands on. then she moved to cheese and peanut butter cups. I tried really hard to not get attached to the idea of her eating again but I of course did. A big difference this time is that she would object if I tried to tube feed her. I think this new development made me hope we had turned a corner. Apparently not. I have caught myself feeding her at meal times even though she hasn't asked for food. Or telling her she had to choose food or alone time. Blerg. I hate it when I realize I'm doing something I said I wasn't gong to do. It's hard when you want something from someone so bad but they aren't ready or willing to give it too you. I am not patient and trying to move past it is hard. At least she wanted to and for those glorious 2 weeks she did it. I had my first taste of pump free sleep and packing snacks in the diaper bag. It was fun.

I dream of one day staying up late talking about boys while sharing junk food. Or taking my daughter out to her graduation dinner. Or watching her eat her wedding cake.