Mom's Health

Wow, Wow, Wow! Is really all I have to stay regarding my good friend's, Judy Dudich, talk today about Mom's Health! Judy's website is: Homeschool Faith and Family Life.  Her talk that aired earlier this morning was apart of the ultimate homeschool expo.

Why haven't I been blogging? That is the question for the ages!!

So recently my husband out of the blue said to me "February 16th; February 16th what a shame!" or something along those lines. Confused I said to him, "What are you talking about?" He cheekily replied that's the last time you blogged I'm very disappointed!  Yes it's been nearly a month since I've blogged last.

I'm not sure why other then I don't think there is much to blog about lately. Homeschooling is homeschooling nothing new really going on, nothing exciting. Of course my kids have witty things to say and I'm sure some of my reader miss reading those witty things, but I just haven't been drawn to blog about it.

My nephew is here now and that's really not and excuse for not blogging. He's been here only for a week. My lack of blogging has been much longer then that. My nephew, little man, is a real gem! I'm thrilled to have him here! Although, I am not thrilled with the reasons he's here! Prayers for my sister. I can't share much about what's going on with her deployment other then it's pretty scary for her. We have been able to do video chat via skype so not only do I get to talk to to her, but I get to see her and you can see she's stressed out from the environment. I worry about what post-war will be like for her.  For the last 2 months Little Man has been at my Mom's, and after 2 months here he'll go back to my Moms. We are going to rotate homes every 2 months until my sister's 1 year deployment is done.

On a personal front I've decided to tackle my weight and other health issues again! This time I'm using sparkpeople.com as a means to track my nutrition, fitness, etc. If you are on sparkpeople.com you can find me. My screen name is the same there as it is here: SAHMinIL

I don't really have much to say other then I hope I'm finally out of this blogging funk and will star blogging again more regularly.

Update: Chickenpox??

So this morning I was sure that Superstar had chickenpox. However after seeing the PA AND the doctor it's clear it is not chickenpox. That is the only thing we are clear on!

It clearly is a viral infection that is causing the lesions on his body. However the doctor and PA do NOT know what virus it is. They can't even tell me if he's contagious. They said it's not any common childhood viral infection. Some virus you are no longer contagious once you get a skin rash, others you are still contagious for several days after the rash appears. 

His ears (besides the lesions) are clear, his lungs are clear, his throat is clear, no fever, everything else is normal.  I got told most likely it, the rash/lesions will get worst before it gets better. That if it starts to itch to give him some benedryl and to just montior him.

Even though is throat is clear he wants only smooth foods. I shared that with the PA AND the doctor. They said the perhaps there is a minor irritation but it looks clean. In addition if you ask him if he has a sore throat he will tell you NO. I know as his mom something isn't right when he overly comments on how smooth water is! Or is saying he wants something smooth to eat like soup, yogurt.

Web-princess said soup! Do you want grill cheese and tomato soup? Superstar No grill cheese but tomato soup sounds good. That right there is my clue something not right with his throat. This kid never turns down grill cheese.

They would only want to see him now if it doesn't start to clear up in a week or 2, or if he develops other symptoms like fever, sore throat, upset stomach, diarrhea, etc. I got told that most likely it would be okay to send him back to school on Monday. I mention to the PA then that we homeschool so I'm not worried about sending him back, I'm worried about being able to go on some field trips and stuff I have plan on Tuesday with our homeschool co-op.

The PA then did offer that if I needed to I could call her on Monday and go back in and have her look at him again if I was still worried about the possiblity of him being contagious on Tuesday. So I don't know!

Chickenpox??

I suspect that Superstar HAS chickenpox. At least that is what it looks like to me. I called our doctor's office this morning to get their input and they said to come in and have him look. (They don't think it can even be chickenpox because he did have the vaccine for it.) We'll know for sure in a few hours and I'll post an update then!

Symptoms:
red spots everywhere: face, ears, legs, arms, hands, belly, back, etc
Most of them are just red spots but the ones on his face and ears are the worst. They look kinda pimply.

He really isn't running a fever now and to my knowledge he didn't have a fever before. However after talking to my mom this morning she said when we were kids and had it our fevers were low grade and we for the most part were still active wanting to go outside and stuff like that.

Part of my is dreading going in because of the last time we were at the doctors when he was sick.  The nurse then told me "You homeschool so how did he get sick?" I can almost hear it now "You homeschool so how did he get chickenpox?" (If they confirm that it is indeed chickenpox).

With comments like that I just want to repsond  with "Just because we homeschool doesn't mean we are hermits. We do go to the store, other dr offices, church, homeschooling co-ops, parks, etc. They do play sports and are around other kids. DUH!!!!"

Okay so I'm projecting what happen the last time around on this upcoming visit. I have never had issues at my normal doctor's office, so I'm sure we will be fine.  I just wish they would have said over the phone "Yep sound like chickenpox and do xyz, but I know they can't really do that anymore because of fear of being sued."

More to come later.....

Finding Time For Me

Finding time for me is a struggle that every mother goes through. We feel guilty if we do have time or we feel as if we don't have time. I, because of homeschooling, have come to realized that I perhaps don't have all my priorities in the right place. I've noticed that if it's something important to me I always seems to have the "time".

I've been under going some structural changes within our daily schedule, things that aren't set in stone, but things that I know need to be done in order for me to maximize my time! My husband is fully supportive with the idea of me having my own radio show.

However seeing I already struggle some days with the house work and daily chores, he doesn't want the radio show to trump housework, nor does he want it to trump the kid's schooling. Just like when I approached him and said I really need to do something about my health, going to the gym, something, he said that's fine you have my blessing, but I don't want it to trump the kid's schooling or the housework.

I'm fine with that! I don't want it to trump the housework or schooling either, but I'm at the point that I need to do something! I have several DVD and things here at home, but staying home doesn't work for me! It's all to easy for me to say oh I'll do it later, I'll do it when DH gets home, I'll do it when.....as long as I'm home I don't make the time I know I need for this.

Just like with homeschooling, everyone is different, and they have to find out what works for them! Leaving the house and having a place to go works for me. Going to a place that has child care for the children works for me. Well I've been bless to join such a place this week. I know joining a place isn't going to work for everyone especially if they don't have the income to do that. So I'm really, really bless that not only do we have the income right now, but that my husband is supportive of it.

The place I joined this week is medically integrated. It's part Dr office, Immediate Care (walk-in clinic), physical therapy etc and part fitness center (gym) with child care. I joined the fitness center. I'm so looking forward to this place and can't wait to get started. I can leave the kids in the child care for up to 2 hours per day. So that means I can get up to 2 hours for me.

This place features and indoor (1 mile) and outdoor (2 mile) track. The outdoor track goes in and out of the woods, prairie lands, up hills, down hills, etc. The kids are welcome to walk the outdoor track with me, so that is something I will do with on fair weather days. We also can bring the dog to walk the outdoor track. I'm sure that Gravy (the dog) would enjoy that.

On the inside there is a warm water pool, lap pool, treadmills, stair climbers, weight machines, etc; your standard fitness gym equipment. Then they have rooms for like dance, yoga, kicking boxing, etc. Those classes along with the water therapy classes are free. They all are apart of my standard membership. If I want to go to a class I just have to show up.

In the locker rooms, they have showers w/soaps, shampoo, conditioners, lotions, towels, hair dryers etc; this items are free for members and apart of the membership. Also in the locker room there is a hot tub, sauna, and steam room. Although I don't know what the difference between a steam room and sauna is, again those are free for members and all apart of the standard membership. The cream of the crop is that in the locker room there is a lounge room. The lounge room features over sized stuff chairs, tables, and ottomans to put your feet up.

In my mind I'm thinking I can do my 30-45 minute workout, go to the locker room, shower, change my cloths and hit the lounge area, within the locker room, with my spiritual book or books, put my feet up and just enjoy the quiet time to read, pray, and reflex. So I would be use the time to better my whole-self: Body and Soul! And seeing they provide everything there the only thing I would have to bring with me is my change of cloths and books. How easy is that!

I'm so looking forward to this tomorrow! I'm sincerely hoping that with this I will have the energy I need to accomplish everything that I need to do daily. I'm hoping this will help me be better prepared mentally and physically for my day.

I know not everyone is going to be able to join a gym. I'm by no means saying the only way to get exercise and spiritual reading done is to join a gym. It's just for me I've come to realize that is what I need to do! This is how I work!

This is not one of those I need time away from the kids and I don't want anyone to think that. It's just I workout better when I can go to a place to workout outside the home. I also workout better when I can do that during the day, while DH is at work. My kids are young 8 and 7 so this means I need to go to place that has childcare so I can leave them with a responsible adult while I workout. I can't have them on the gym floor with me, etc.

This is really important to my physical health. As part of my standard membership fee I got an health assessment done today. Here are the results:

Height: 5'6" (I shrunk; in high school I was 5'7")
Weight: 305 lbs
Body Fat %: 47.9 That means about 1/2 my weight is fat
Blood Pressure: 132/88 (Pre-hypertension)
Cholesterol: 203 (normal 50-199)

I had other things measured and analyzed by the fitness center today as part of my standard fee, but I'm not going to share. The bottom line is I know that I need to do somethings to correct these numbers. The really cool thing is that I was given a customized workout routine that I get to start tomorrow. All apart of my standard fees.

Here's hoping and praying that things workout! I'll be posting future updates about this on my site: Catholic Christian Living. I post this here at first as really a reminder to all moms, especially homeschooling moms, that we need to MAKE time for ourselves for our physical health and spiritual health. If we don't take care of our health then we can't take care of our family.

It's Artificial Air!

Sometimes the kids say the darnedest things! This one had me in stitches! DD is 7 and DS will be 8. This conversation took place in the car today on the way to the park. Not only were we in the car, but they were playing with some bubble wrap. (popping the bubbles).

DS: Mom how do they make bubble wrap.

I gave him my explanation which basically is there are two sheets of plastic one with cup and one without and they fuse the sheets together trapping the air inside the cup making a bubble. I really don't know if that is how it's made but I'm sure I'm not to far off of the truth.

DD: That's bad
ME: Why is that bad?
DD: It's trapping the air and we need the air to breath
DS: It's not bad, there's lots of air. It's okay
ME: It really is okay, it's no different then blowing up a balloon.

I had to throw that out there, it seems to me like a logical comparison.

DD: It is different! You fill a balloon with artificial air!
ME: No, that's not artificial air.
DD: Yes it is!! You breathe in air and blow out artificial air! See! She proceeded to give an example of breathing. In air out artificial air.

She then explained on how it's okay to fill things like balloons with this artificial air, but not okay to trap real air for bubble wrap. DS is taking all of this in. I'm laughing, he's listening. So...

DS: It's okay sis, just pop all of the bubbles and the air will come out!

LOL Okay now I'm truly in stitches! DD is worried about real air being trapped and DS is tell her to pop all of the bubbles to let the air out! LOL

So just remember you breathe in real air and breathe out artificial air. I'm sure her statement had to with some basic knowledge of how we breath in air and breath out carbon dioxide and how plant take in carbon dioxide and release air.