That Phase...

I am fighting one of "those phases." You know, the ones we all go through every couple years. Some more, some less often. Since we got here, (to Cali) my weight is heading the WRONG direction. My eating habits have not changed, but my out of control, always on the run life style has. 

I am sedentary. I do a variety of activities, but they all seem to have one thing in common. I am sitting folding laundry, sitting reading books in my bed, sitting on the couch reading to my children, sitting in the car running errands, or my favorite, sitting by the pool watching the kids play, sometimes I change it up and instead of sitting by the pool, I lay on a large air mattress and float around the pool, working on my tan. Do you catch the common activity? 

So today I turned over a new very old, greatly used, leaf, and went with a friend to her neighborhood clubhouse. They have a pretty, good workout room, and I spent 30 min on the elliptical, and 30 min lifting weights. I had fun, I worked up a sweat, and though I could not lift my arms to steer the car home, I truly enjoyed myself.

The kids played upstairs in one of the playrooms. They watched TV, played checkers and foosball, and all in all, were very well behaved. I enjoy working out- under certain situations. I HATE running. I HATE not being able to catch my breath. I HATE getting up early. I enjoy working up a sweat and being sore afterwards. Needless to say, I have pretty, lowsie cardio. I have friends who run marathons, and I am envious. To have that kind of endurance, drive and stamina would be amazing. But that is not to be, for I am not envious enough to try to become one myself. Instead I just want to be strong, feel my muscles under my skin, and be a little more tight than I am flab.

So "that phase" is my desire to go all out, and dive into some kind of long term commitment. I can work out for free with my friend. But only when she is available to go, and only on her schedule. My kids can hang out upstairs and watch and extra hour of TV.

Or....

 I could join one of the 2 awesome, family facilities around here. One is California Family Fitness Center. It is a huge facility with kids programs, pools, racquetball, rock climbing, tanning, basketball and everything else you can think of in a gym. The other is a Racquet Club. From what I can tell online it is more a country club with all the facilities of a gym. Brady loves racquetball so if we could find somewhere for him to play it would be great.

My "reasoning" for doing something like this- I would love to find somewhere  the kids have something productive to do. They can play basketball, climb rock walls, go swimming.. They can take classes and make friends. If they were looking forward to going it might help keep me motivated. But on the other hand, its so much easier to work out when I know someone is waiting for me and I have someone to work out with, and working out with SuJan is FREE.

Decisions, decisions... so tomorrow, after working out with SuJan (at the wee early hour of 10am,) I am off to see what I can see.

BTW- I am off carbs again!!! Ya me!!! (shhh, I'm not don't count the 3  5 chocolate chip cookies I had for desert.)

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Tears...

Have you seen this post? Its from Kisses for Amy's Blog. I think every one should read it. I cried, I am still crying. My heart was touched, and I am inspired to be a better wife.

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Bradys Birthday

Today is Bradys birthday, and we have a busy day ahead of us. And here I sit, laying in my bed catching up on everyones blogs and posting to my own. The children are asleep, Brady is at work and it's 9:00. Today I have many things to do:

1. clean the house

2. catch up on laundry

3. take trina to dentist

4. costco

5. birthday present shopping

6. get ready for bbq/pool party

7. host BBQ/pool party birthday party at 6:00

And yet here I sit. I hate waking the children. If they are still asleep, they must be tired. And nothing is worse when you have much to accomplish the cranky, tired children. But I guess, just because they arent up doesnt mean I cant be up. They arent babies anymore. i dont have to rest because they are resting, but that sure has been a wonderful moto to live by.

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The Dentist

One of my favorite things about Bradys new job, we have health benefits. That means we can go to the doctor when needed, including the dentist. It has been a long time since we have been to the dentist, an embarrassingly long time. So last week I made appointments for us all to go. Friday I had an appointment with the boys, then Brady and Trina had appointments on Saturday. Our appointments started in the morning, and ended up taking all day. Carter got a clean bill of health. Tyler needed a tooth pulled and 3 fillings, and I needed a root canal and 2 fillings. So Friday Ty had his tooth pulled and I got my root canal. Trina needed 4 fillings and got 2 of them Saturday, Brady needed a few fillings and needs a root canal and crown on the tooth killed 7 years ago while playing church ball. So this week is packed with follow up dental appointments and orthodontic evaluations for the 2 oldest.

My root canal was horrible, hence the drug affected blogs. I was on vicadin for 2 days and even now, 4 days later am still a bit sore. A major problem, every evening it's feeling pretty good, but I clench my teeth at night, so when I wake, my jaw hurts and the tooth they drilled on for 2 hours is sore all over again. Think Ill mention that next time Im in.

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Re: Dentists

Can u tell by the previous post I had just spent 10 hrs in a dentist chair and was on vicadin? Sorry for the drug induced ramblings! ;)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: amandaebush@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2010 03:55:15
To: Blogger<amanda187.usethe4ce@blogger.com>
Reply-To: amandaebush@gmail.com
Subject: Dentists

...like childbirth, its horrible and painful, but w/o the happy ending. and but when its time to do it again the horrible pain is a foggy memory. Then when u do it again, u pray u never have to do it again. Least that's my experience.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Dentists

...like childbirth, its horrible and painful, but w/o the happy ending. and but when its time to do it again the horrible pain is a foggy memory. Then when u do it again, u pray u never have to do it again. Least that's my experience.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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A new day, a new life...

I read Amy's post last night about getting motivated and it motivated me. I did sleep-in (perk of summer vacation) but then I got up, took a shower and did my hair. It is time to start my new life. Time to get back on track with being healthier, eating better, moving more. Time to accomplish more each day and finish each day proud of what I accomplished.

Brady and I have decided to make a lot of major changes in our lives. Not only are we in a new home, in a new state, with a new job, but I am going to stay home with the children. And now after much discussion and investigation, we have decided to home school the kids. I am not impressed with the local public school options and am excited by the ideas I have been reading in the Thomas Jefferson Education books.

We have had a love/hate relationship with public schools as our 3 children have been moving through them since Katrina was 3. Most of you know Katrina had some speech delays and learning delays starting very young and we were lucky enough to get her into a great program called "Kids Who Count," a special needs program in Salem, UT, for children with learning delays. We were lucky. My mom recognised the same speech problems in Katrina that I had, and we were quick to get her evaluated and get her help. She progressed quickly through her Title 1 Preschools and had GREAT teachers. We were lucky enough to end up at Lindon Elementary School for her first 3 years of elementary school and her teachers, Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Combs worked miracles. I have now learned that they were GREAT Mentor's. Katrina flourished under their tutelage. Her communication skills and self esteem increased 10 fold. Then we moved, the next school was a short relationship and though they tried, we didn't spend enough time there for an impact to be made. Katrina loved Brookside Elementary, but it became apparent to her, when they put her in a "self-contained unit," that she was different. This had never occurred to her before.

At Brookside, Tyler, who had always believed himself to be fabulous, was told by a well-meaning, 3rd grade teacher that because his cursive handwriting was so bad, he needed to go back to printing. He was devastated and worked countless hours to correct the problem for her approval. You would think this is a good thing, the problem was, his love of writing disappeared and was replaced with a need for great handwriting. His stories became shorter and less detailed, as he tried to stick with words he could spell correctly and write neatly.

Carter is brilliant. He LOVES to learn. All my children are very smart in their own way, but Carter grasps math and reading concepts well beyond his age. Before kindergarten the concept of having him skip a grade was discussed thoroughly with the trusted school Psychologist that worked so well with Katrina. She said she would approve the skip but would advise us against it. She told me that just like Katrina's individual situation, I would have to take a hand in Carters education to make sure he was receiving what he needed. That often very, bright students have similar problems in school as children with some learning delays.

This last year was an eye opening experience as we moved out of our dominate white, middle-class school to a socially diverse school where a majority of students were ESL. Katrina had a loving, resource teacher and a fabulously fun, 5th grade teacher, but both told her on a regular basis that she wasn't ready for the 5th grade material and that they were worried about her transition to middle school. Tyler got lost in a score of bullies and school yard politics, and Carter was in constant trouble for being a distraction. His defence, "I already know this stuff so I want to play instead."

Before the decision to move to Cali, we had already decided it was time to make changes in the kids education. Time to get them into a Charter School, drive them to Lindon Elementary, or look into options such as home schooling or online classes. Then came the decision to move to California. We came out house hunting and found that the areas where we could afford to live comfortably, did not have the best school districts. We found our home and went in search of the schools. I found exactly what I was afraid of. A school where security and conformity was the number one priority. Where children come to school in shifts, after school programs for children with working parents are the norm, and my daughters IEP,that allows me to dictate her education, was brushed off as a non-priority. I knew right away this wasn't going to work for us.

I went online and looked into Charter Schools and  I called my sister, Amy, who home schools her children. As a matter of fact, all my sisters home school their children using Thomas Jefferson Education. I started reading the books she suggested and realised that is exactly what we need. Yes, I am nervous and I am a bit scared. Me?  In charge of my children's education? Terrifying- but I know I can do this, and I will even become more educated myself along the way. So we are taking the summer off. We are on summer break, or at least the children are, while I begin the process of becoming educated, to prepare myself to help my children educated themselves. I am excited, this will be fun, and it will be a time I will never forget. There are only a few years left to determine what kind of adults my children will be. And I want Brady and I have the biggest impact on that outcome.

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