Entertain yourselves

The stomach bug has entered our house, and is picking us off, one at a time. Ellie was the first to go down, kicking it off early Tuesday morning with a diaper blowout so foul, I thought I would have to throw the sheets away. Thankfully for all of us, she typically remains a happy, happy baby, even when she’s sick. [If the video below doesn't make you smile, then I'm pretty sure you have no heart.]

Rebecca was up next, after bedtime on Tuesday night. Here’s the thing: Rebecca is a PILL when she’s sick. And she is a PILL when her sleep is disrupted. So waking up two hours after bedtime because she’s puking everywhere? HOLY SHIT. The hysterics, I cannot even describe.  She, obviously, was not going to school on Wednesday.

Knowing it was only a matter of time, I kept Daniel home from school, too. And while he probably wouldn’t have actually puked AT school, it wasn’t long. By early afternoon, he was the next to fall. And for all of his recent dramatic tendencies, he tends to just be lethargic when he’s sick. M stayed home to help me tend to the sickies, and we pretty much plopped the kids in front of the TV and movies all day, while we took turns napping and trying to figure out how long it’d be until we got knocked out, too.

And so it was, early Thursday morning, that it was my turn. Oh, lucky me. While both older kids were improving, neither was ready to go back to school. Ellie is still on Pedialyte because her tummy clearly isn’t ready to go back to formula. M was fit as a fiddle and behind at work. So off he went, with me on the couch and three sort-of-sick, sort-of-well kids.

I mostly laid about on the couch, and put on Empire Strikes Back at the kids’ request. Whatever, sick days are when screen time rules pretty much go out the window. It’s all about survival. And we were doing alright for the morning. But by the time I put Ellie down for her afternoon nap, I desperately needed one of my own.

The big kids are pretty much done napping. Most days, we still try to do some “quiet time” in their rooms, but even that is becoming a battle. And after a morning of laying low, I really was not in the mood to convince them to go upstairs. So I made them a deal: if they could play nicely and leave me alone for one hour, I would give them a star.  We discussed rules and expectations, and then up I went.

THANK GOD I have kids who are willing and able to do this. I know this wouldn’t work for everyone. For some kids, the temptation for mischief is simply too much. For some sets of twins, it’s nearly impossible to keep them from poking each other’s eyes out. I’m not patting myself on the back for a job well done, but rather thanking my lucky stars that this was even within the realm of possibilities.

I’ve always been on the side of “benign neglect” as a general parenting philosophy, in that I have always tried to encourage my kids to amuse themselves and each other. But the fact that it seems to have worked, and the fact that they generally play well together? Oh, halle-freaking-lujah.

We all know there’s no such thing as a sick day in this job, so I’m glad I was able to get an hour (and a half!!) in bed without the house burning down in my absence.

Move Your Fat A** – Update and Challenger Profile

Sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth last week. You can blame a certain British country manor around the time of World War I. Indeed, I have been COMPLETELY sucked in by Downton Abbey, and you should, too. Soooooo good.

Anyways, back to the big competition! Round of applause to our Week 3 Biggest Loser, Darrah! Heidi once again topped the charts for exercise.

Today’s challenger profile is rockin’ fellow mom-of-twins, Sarah.

1. Intro

My name is Sarah. I live in the D.C. suburbs with my husband and 7 year old twins. I work from home as a freelance writer, working on social media projects and selling swag. You can always find me complaining or waxing poetic about football or hair metal on Sarah and the Goon Squad, Draft Day Suit, That’s Right. You Heard Me, Aiming Low or on twitter as @goonsquadsarah.

2. What are your fitness and/or weight-related goals, both for this competition and longer-term?

Honestly I just need to lose some of this belly. I am tired of hating my body. I turn 40 in December and I want to be 160 or under on my 40th birthday.

3. What is your least favorite part about getting fit / losing weight? Or, what is the hardest part or biggest obstacle? Have you figured out any ways to deal with those challenges?

I have issues with beer. And wine. And food. I am usually pretty good during the day, but the afternoon kills me. At about 3:30 I want to eat salty things. I am starving until dinner, where I over eat. Working from home it is hard to not accidentally eat an entire box of crackers.

4. What part do you like the most? What comes the easiest for you, what do you enjoy, what do you find the most rewarding?

Once I get rolling on the exercise part I feel better in general and then it is easy to keep going. Plus, I can watch live streaming “Friday Night Lights” on Netflix from my elliptical. I find motivation in looking better.

5. Where do you find motivation, how do you keep yourself on track? Competition? Routine? Keeping things fresh? Comparing yourself to all of the pretty girls from high school on Facebook?

I am bad at this part. Really my best motivator is self-disgust. Charming, I know.

6. What is your favorite type of exercise, and why?

I love my elliptical, mostly because I can watch tv and play monopoly on my phone for 45 minutes without anyone pestering me. I do it at home, whenever I can. I am really trying to do it at least four times a week.

Oh, and I hired a personal trainer. She is awesome, but she can’t stop me from eating.

7. Any favorite healthy foods? Great recipes, tasty snacks, or any other tricks that help you keep the food part under control?

Um… water?

Move Your Fat A** – Week 1 update and challenger profile

Sorry for being absent, everyone! A quick, belated update on our progress after the first week:

You guys are awesome! Seriously, between us we logged SIXTY FOUR HOURS of exercise. Not too shabby!  Big ups to C.Y. for being the biggest loser of the week, and to H.O. for logging the most exercise minutes. Can’t wait to hear about week 2!

And, speaking of H.O., she is our profile contestant today! Ladies and gents, meet Heidi…

1. Intro

This is Heidi Ongbongan. I live in Las Vegas, NV. I have 1 husband, 3 kids, 1 dog and an au pair. I am currently in graduate school at UNLV for School Counseling and plan to get my certificate in community mental health. When I am on break, I inhale books which is good for amazon. My older two kids and I take wushu, type of KungFu that is more used for movies and performances. My twitter name is hidjbo.

2. What are your fitness and/or weight-related goals, both for this competition and longer-term?

I plan to lose 12-15 stubborn lbs and get back into shape. My goals long term would be to run a marathon, do an olympic triathlon and bike another century. I really miss the endurance sports that I did before kids. I, also, would like to get back to doing yoga regularly since it helps me feel strong. And I want to look good for my sister-in-law’s wedding in April.

3. What is your least favorite part about getting fit / losing weight? Or, what is the hardest part or biggest obstacle? Have you figured out any ways to deal with those challenges?

My willpower is my hardest challenge. I really let the Fall take it out of me. I didn’t take as good a care of myself as I needed. I need to get back to eating a more healthful diet. I need to rebuild my physical base as well.

4. What part do you like the most? What comes the easiest for you, what do you enjoy, what do you find the most rewarding?

I enjoy exercising and doing yoga with my friends and we should be able to do that again this spring unlike the hectic fall that we had. I really enjoy running and I have missed it and haven’t been doing it like I need to.

5. Where do you find motivation, how do you keep yourself on track? Competition? Routine? Keeping things fresh? Comparing yourself to all of the pretty girls from high school on Facebook?

I think my motivation will come from having this group as well as having my clothes fit better. I need to get my cholesterol checked during this competition so that is good motivation to eat better. Keeping things fresh might help to but for me it is about not going it alone.

6. What is your favorite type of exercise, and why?

I enjoy the social aspect of exercise and it is a real motivator for me. Right now I have been exercising at home which is painfully boring. Starting next week, I will be exercising at the gym on campus at least two to three days a week. I really enjoy Kung Fu because it is cardio, strength, and stretching all rolled into 1 hour a week with giggles and my kids encouraging me.

7. Any favorite healthy foods? Great recipes, tasty snacks, or any other tricks that help you keep the food part under control?

I am a big fan of greek yogurt and grape nuts for breakfast. I love Rachel Ray’s Turkey Chili which is super easy and filling.

Eleven months

Eleven months. Seriously. I’m not kidding. One month shy of a whole year.

I’m going to say this now so that I’m not a party pooper on her actual birthday: it really doesn’t feel like it should be so close.  And not just in the usual “time flies” way, though that’s always true.  I just have such a disconnect between Ellie, the little person in my life, and the day that this baby was born. Obviously I remember it very clearly. But the ten weeks that followed were so surreal, my memory of March and April of 2011 will always be warped.  She didn’t even come home until May. So to think of celebrating in the middle of winter is kind of strange. Plus, developmentally-speaking, she’s not doing the kinds of things that other nearly-one-year-olds are doing. I don’t feel like I have an almost-toddler on my hands, the way I would otherwise expect of an 11-month-old.

THAT SAID…

The upside of being told in the hospital that your baby could potentially have very significant developmental delays and perhaps permanent deficits? Every time she makes a new leap forward, every time she does something sort-of-normal, it’s cause for celebration. (Remember that line from Say Anything…? “Start out depressed and then everything is a pleasant surprise.”)  When we were still in the hospital, and they suggested that there may be gross motor issues of TOTALLY UNKNOWN severity, I silently wondered things like, “maybe we should move to a one-story house in case she never walks and needs to be in a wheelchair.” Had I voiced that thought, I can tell you the doctors would have just looked at me and shrugged. They had no way of knowing which way it would go, either.

But my girl? My girl wants to be on the move.

Sitting up and rolling over are old news, she’s a total pro. While she can’t yet get herself up to a sit, she can go from sitting down to her belly with increasing speed, purpose, and grace. While on her belly, she now uses her arms to pivot around, and sometimes ends up pushing herself backwards until her legs are stuck under the couch.  Between the pivots and the rolling, I can no longer assume she’s going to be right where I left her. That photo up there? I put her down on the quilt in the foreground, sitting up. She managed to get herself over to the TV somehow.  It ain’t fast, but she moves.

In physical therapy, we’re working hard on getting more strength in her legs, hips, shoulders, and arms in the hopes of getting her to crawl. With as good as she is at sitting, we need to have her on her belly more so that she can learn to crawl before she learns to just scoot around on her butt. The physical therapists swear up and down that, once babies learn to do a seated scoot, it’s nearly impossible to teach them to crawl. So we spend time on her belly and try to scoop those knees up underneath her instead of being splayed like a little froggie.

But coolest of all, in the last week I can see her try to pick those little hips up on her own. Her stamina is improving almost every day, getting stronger and steadier in those hips and shoulders, kicking those legs, bouncing that little body.

I don’t know how long it will take, but my girl is going to crawl.

How awesome is that?

My big, awesome, 11-month-old girl. My munchkin, my pumpkin pie. What a joy you are. Happy almost-birthday.

Baby bites

I think I’ve mentioned before just how much I loathe feeding therapy.  Physical therapy is one thing – I’m just trying to get Ellie stronger and more coordinated, so we have our exercises that we do until she gets tired or cranky. No big deal.  Feeding therapy is a much more delicate balance.  Her gag reflex has been so sensitive for the last 10 months, I have to very very gently try to push her out of her comfort zone. But push too hard or too fast and I risk making it even worse and setting us back even farther.

We started trying pureed baby food when she was about six months old.  It was… not well liked. From time to time she would sorta kinda tolerate it, but one false move and we’d have a two-minute gagging fest.  To give you a sense of what I mean when I say “trying,” I mean I would just dip the tip of my pinky finger into the baby food, so that it was barely damp with applesauce. Then I would try to put my sort-of-damp-with-pureed-apples finger near her mouth, maybe touch her lip, maybe touch the inside of her lip.  Sometimes she’d allow it, sometimes she wouldn’t. And sometimes it would graze her tongue in the wrong way and she’d gag, hard, and that would be the end of that.  And when I say “gag,” I mean she’d probably be puking if there weren’t surgical procedures preventing her from doing so.

So, yes. Trying to stay on top of feeding therapy is HUGELY demoralizing. As necessary as it is, I found myself loathe to do it.  A month or two ago, our therapist suggested we try a teething biscuit. The theory being that it’s a food item, but it’s hard and not likely to come loose in her mouth, so it allows her to kind of experiment with it.  That actually went alright – she’d poke it with her tongue, sometimes bite down on it. Except, once it got damp from the tongue-poking, and those darn teeth would scrape off the tiniest crumb that can barely be seen by the naked eye? Gag time, once again.

Still, things have been improving. She still experiments with the teething biscuit, and she’s been putting a lot of her toys into her mouth, so that helps quite a bit to do some oral desensitization.  But those purees, ugh. I’d try them every now and then, but the gagging was just heartbreaking. I hated it as much as she did.

But we’ve got a feeding team appointment coming up, our first in a couple of months. Ever the last-minute homework kid, I decided I needed to at least be able to say we really tried the puree thing. So I tried again tonight.

She leaned in, opened her mouth, and poked my finger with her tongue.

And then she did it again.

And again.

A drop at a time from my finger, she kept letting me give her more. I didn’t have to trick her or sneak it in, I just held out my finger near her mouth. It got on her tongue, no problem. Inside of her cheek, no problem.  No drooling, no spitting it back out, and not a single gag. Not even a face, other than a furrowed brow in concentration.

Over the course of dinner, I’d have to guess she got a grand total of, what, maybe 1/4 teaspoon?  But damn, that was 1/4 teaspoon more than she has EVER taken, in five months of feeding therapy. And she did it willingly. Happily, even.

I am grateful for small miracles like this one. Very grateful.

Move Your Fat A** – Challenger Profile – Sadia

First, an executive decision on the name of this contest. I’m going with the snarkier of Elise’s suggestions and calling it “Move Your Fat Ass.”  No, I’m not calling you fat. Or you. We’ve got all shapes and sizes in this group, believe me.  But hey, I like a good dose of snarky humor, and none of our butts are getting any skinnier by sitting around, so there you go.

And for the Twitter nerds, I’m calling #MYFA our official hashtag.

Anyways, on to our first challenger profile!  Many of you in the twin mom blogosphere know Sadia, and here she is to tell you about herself!

1. Intro

Army wife of 8 years; 5-year-old smartass twins; living in El Paso; from the UK or Bangladesh or some generic US location-not quite sure; telecommute to my software quality assurance job at a state university. Can be found blogging these days at How Do You Do It?, formerly at Double the Fun.

2. What are your fitness and/or weight-related goals, both for this competition and longer-term?

For this effort, I’m aiming to lose 4.5 lbs, just for the purposes of having a numeric goal. (On my small 5’0″ frame, 5 lbs is quite a lot!) My longer term goal is to be active, healthy and strong. When I get lazy about working out, my back starts to hurt, and I seriously dislike pain.

I have to be able to keep up with my skipping, dancing, running kids and jock husband!

3. What is your least favorite part about getting fit / losing weight? Or, what is the hardest part or biggest obstacle? Have you figured out any ways to deal with those challenges?

Life gets in the way, and it’s hard to rationalize “me” time when there’s so much to do. I just have to remind myself that I don’t need so much sleep when I’m exercising!

4. What part do you like the most? What comes the easiest for you, what do you enjoy, what do you find the most rewarding?

Once I’m past that first workout, I love how at one I am with my body; I also love what I’m showing my kids.

5. What is your favorite type of exercise, and why?

Pilates! I don’t like to sweat unless I have time for long, long shower, and what mom has time for a long shower!?

6. Any favorite healthy foods? Great recipes, tasty snacks, or any other tricks that help you keep the food part under control?

My trick is to let myself have the odd treat, but if I start stuffing my face with chocolate, I pour myself a glass of water every time the craving hits. It passes after a couple of days.

I use Sparkpeople to track my food intake, and it invariably tells me that I’m not getting enough protein. The white of hard-boiled eggs and cooked lentils are favourite ways I can up my protein intake.

It’s On Like Donkey Kong

Today marks the first official day of our weight loss and exercise competition! Which, of course, means that it is taking every ounce of my willpower not to eat my way through my kitchen cabinets.  It’s totally mental, of course – mouth-hungry, not stomach-hungry.  But still. OMG ALL I WANT IS A COOKIE. MAKE THAT A BOX OF COOKIES.  It will pass, I know it will. But in the meantime…

There are 24 of us signed up right now, and I am so excited about this response. If there are any last-minute stragglers, I’d be happy to let you in if you email me a starting weight and $10 through Paypal by the end of the day today (Monday). For the rest of you, LET’S GET IT ON!

[Also? This thing needs a name. Any ideas? All I've got is "get your fat ass off the couch, Liz," but GYFAOTC,L is a terrible acronym.]

I’ll be profiling a bunch of our competitors during our 8 weeks, and I figured I’d kick it off with my own answers. Hope you don’t mind. (And yes, there will be “normal” programming on this here blog over the next two months, too. Don’t go away!)

1. Brief Bio

Um, I’m pretty sure you guys know me. I’m Liz. I live here. 33 years old, SAHM, 4.5-year-old twins, almost-1-year-old Ellie. When I find a few free minutes, or am trying to avoid laundry, exercise, or something else more important, I like to make quilts.

2. Fitness/weight goals, for the competition and longer-term

I’ve decided not to hide the details and just tell you my real numbers. Today, I am 215 pounds. GROSS, I HATE IT, ETC.  My goal for the eight weeks of the competition is to lose about 10 pounds. A little ambitious, but totally do-able if I stay on track. Longer-term, I would like to be down 30 pounds by my step-sister’s wedding in July, and a total of about 50 pounds. But I can’t think about the big number, I have to break it up. So for now, my focus is this 10.

3. Least favorite part about losing weight / getting fit

That first week or two of changing eating habits SUCKS SO HARD. All I can think about is eating. Specifically, eating complete junk. Stuffing my face with it.  After a week or so, I remember the tricks and recipes, and it gets a little easier… until I lose track, again.

4. Favorite / easiest / most enjoyable part of the process

Once I get into a groove with exercising, I really do enjoy it. I feel good doing it, I feel even better after I’m done. I feel stronger, more productive, and generally like a better version of myself.

And as much as I wish the weight would come off of my belly first, it’s kind of nice that my face tends to show the differences relatively quickly. Makes me hate photos a lot less.

5. Where do you find motivation?

Obviously, competition is an extra kick in the pants for me. I also do best with structure and routine, so I stop having to convince myself to exercise every time – it’s simply what I do on that day, no thought required.  And a deadline really helps (like the bridesmaid dress for my stepsister’s wedding, ahem).  I’m also such an extrovert, I have to have buddies. I need people I can talk to or compare notes with.

6. Favorite type of exercise

I really like Spinning. It’s a really hard workout, and it’s a group class, which I really like (nice to have an “appointment” to exercise, knowing I have to show up at a particular time). But I love that I can go at my own speed if I need to, without being terribly noticeable or getting in anyone else’s way.

7. Food tips and tricks

The more water I drink, the better I feel. Fewer headaches, fewer cravings, less hungry overall.  I also have a rule that I do not eat after 8PM. We have dinner at about 6:30. If I’m still eating after the kids go to bed, then it means I’m mindlessly grazing for sweets. It’s never because I’m *actually* hungry. So, after 8PM, nothing but water until breakfast. It’s hard the first few days, but I get used to it quickly and I can only imagine how many completely unnecessary calories it removes from my day.

Death Wish

[Unrelated: In case you're interested, you still have until Monday morning to join the weight-loss competition!]

– — – — –

Conversation in the car on the way home from preschool the other day:

Me: So, Daniel, what did you do in school today?

D: I did my journal. [As far as I can tell, they have a set of lined paper and are welcome to write whatever strikes their four-year-old fancy.]

Me: Oh, really? What did you write?

D: I wrote: “Me and Becca don’t want to die.”

Me: mouth agape, stunned silence

D: Well, what I wanted to write was “Me and Becca don’t want to die until we’re 100,” but I ran out of space, so I wrote “Me and Becca don’t want to die.”

W. T. F.?

I have mentioned this strange fixation on death before, and you can see it has not exactly gone away.  Daniel, especially, is sticking with it (and the idea that people die at age 100, which I’m not sure how to debunk in either direction).  I would say it comes up at least a few times a week, most often in a totally nonchalant way. It’s really getting under my skin, and yet I am at a total loss about what to do with it.

My gut reaction is that he doesn’t seem to be expressing any real anxiety over this idea. My default stance is a sort of non-reaction, maybe in the hopes that if I don’t overreact and draw extra attention and allure to the topic, it’ll eventually fade.  But maybe I should try to talk to him about it in case he actually is concerned? I don’t even know where I’d begin, frankly.

Weird death thing aside, I will say that Daniel is otherwise your typical precocious preschooler. Generally happy, totally flighty and distractable, sometimes bent completely out of shape by the color of his fork. He’s a bright and inquisitive kid, which maybe means he’s digesting this information a little more thoroughly than his emotional maturity can handle, but otherwise is not a particularly anxious or stressed kid.

And, no, I actually haven’t gotten a call from his teacher about this. I get a call about Santa, but not about “me and Becca don’t want to die.” I can’t tell if that’s a good sign (as in, she’s been teaching preschoolers for 25 years and is totally unfazed) or what.

What say you, moms of the internets? Is this just one of those strange developmental things, an obsession that will pass with time? Or is this starting to cross a line and warrants a little TLC before he goes all morbid on me?

Friendly competition

Between an injury and the typical holiday madness, I haven’t worked out in close to a month. Amazing how easy it is to fall out of the routine, how easy it is to fill the time with something else.  But those goals I mentioned, especially the fitness ones, aren’t going to happen simply by wishing for them.  So I dragged myself back to Spinning this morning, and watched as my usually reliable heart rate skyrocketed 15-20 beats faster than usual. Damn. Time to claw my way back onto that wagon, get back into regular exercise, and get my food under control so I can start working towards my goals.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to start up a contest, open to anyone who wants to join. I find a bit of competition, along with a real prize on the line, can be the extr