Wow, over a month

I should be prepping my lesson for YW tomorrow, so I will try to make this brief.
Claire- potty training- we gave up. She gets it, she pees on the potty, but she doesn't tell me when she has to pee. So we went back to diapers (actually pull ups because I got them for the same price as I would have spent on diapers and I like that they are like underwear and she can do it herself and they are a little trimmer so they fit under her clothes better) for about a week or so. Then I very matter-of-factly stated "you sit on the potty when you wake up and before you go to bed". And she accepted that, so we do that. Most days, she pees right before bed and right when she wakes up. Naps she is usually okay with too. But other than that, I am the one being trained, not her. If I get her to the potty consistently on a schedule, she can keep a dry diaper most of the day. If I am lazy, than we have many wet pull-ups. So that's where we are at right now. I do know that her muscles are getting stronger, because she can pee when I put her on the potty, and she is able to go longer between potty breaks. She is unfortunately a very flexible girl when it comes to life. Change doesn't faze her too much, so it doesn't make much of a difference to her if I ask her to use the potty or let her pee in her diaper. She is getting better about telling me though. The other day I was laying on the bed and she was straddling my arm and talking to me. Suddenly she stopped, looked off, half-smiled, and then said very proudly "I peed!" Thank you Claire for peeing on my arm (in a pull up of course). My fault for not putting her on the potty right after her nap. We have definitely not bee successful with pooping though. She refuses to use the potty for that, even though she has successfully done it before. Today she tried to empty her poopy pull-up herself. It was not pretty. I know we will get there one day, hopefully soon. Seeing her friends use the potty always seems to spur her on a bit.
In other bathroom related items, I've given up on cloth diapers, at least for the summer. We're on a break, to quote a popular TV show from my era. I am having so many issues with them. I've even got diaper soap and washing them three days a week and Alex is breaking out in a rash every time I use them on him, even when he wears it for less than two hours. Obviously, I don't know when in that two hours he pees, but I try to change him as soon as I know he is wet. I tried to make some cloth pull ups for Claire, but that girl is a heavy wetter. I never understood the definition of heavy wetter until I had Alex and realized the difference. Alex is a normal wetter- he could probably wear cloth overnight and not wake up soaking wet. Claire wakes up wet even when she pees on the potty before bed and wears an overnight diaper. So the cloth pull-ups, (pattern designed for normal children) merely slows the flow, it does not contain it well enough. Like I said, some days we do really well and she stays dry all day, and others she goes through a bunch of pull-ups, so I would love to switch to cloth so that it is reusable. But it just isn't feasible at this time. And since my poor sensitive son is having so many issues with the cloth diapers, we are going to back off for a while. Also, some of my prefolds are starting to come apart, which doesn't help the situation. Sometimes I wish we had just gone with all-in-ones. I like to think that would be easier, but I know it wouldn't. So since Alann doesn't care one way or the other, we are indefinitely off cloth. We are still using cloth wipes and I use the smaller prefolds as poopy diaper changing table protectors, but we are in disposable diapers. I guess I better get on Amazon Mom and figure out the best diaper price. It's hard to admit that I failed at this. I wonder what I could have done differently, but I've done everything I can think of and everything that has been suggested that I can find- special soap (which actually was the only thing that got that wet towel FUNK out of my towels. Alann actually suggested buying new towels until I used this soap on them), soaks with baking soda, soaks with vinegar, soaks with hydrogen peroxide, stripping (no soap, no nothing, just lots of water), sun drying. Nothing is cutting the problem. Maybe we will just buy new prefolds and start over? I dunno. I'm at a loss.
As for myself, I've been doing good about exercising. I think this may be the longest I've gone with regular exercise. We are hitting almost two months now I think. (I started around alex's
We are also doing P90X. Alann wanted to, so I agreed to do some of it with him. I am keeping my running, but I am also doing workouts with him alternating days. I'm also in charge of the menu (of course). Which is why I started this whole blog post. We are in the first phase of p90X, and the diet that goes with it is LOW carb. One carb a day (roughly 200 calories or 2 slices of bread). This is a big change for us. We used to eat carbs all day long. I tried to vary the carbs- toast for breakfast, tortilla for lunch, rice for dinner- but we usually had a carb at two of three meals. So it was rough. The first week I put in a pasta dinner, counting it as the carb for the day. That whole day I was looking forward to my pasta dinner. We hadn't eaten pasta in weeks. But it was all I could think about. Since then, we've made some definite improvements in our meal planning ways- trying to spread the calories out throughout the day, lowering some of Alann's requirements because he feels like he is eating WAY too much, and making sure to have carbs at dinner the night before my runs, instead of earlier in the day (this makes a HUGE difference in the way my runs go. I definitely have more energy if I've had the carb at dinner). I've got a spreadsheet that does all the math for me. It's actually kind of nice to have something that tells me what to eat when. It's a lot of work, but it's getting easier as I understand and memorize more of the diet plan. And I can sub stuff in if I know we have leftovers of something. We also decided that Saturday would be a free-day. I just can't deal with a diet plan that tells me to eat "non-fat fruit sorbet" instead of ice cream. So we built in a little freedom, mostly so that I can continue our tradition of weekly homemade pizza. Which brings me to the reason I wanted to blog. Today we had potatoes at breakfast (a carb), Taco Bell for lunch (Claire request- mostly carbs), and then made pizza rolls (basically egg rolls filled with pizza toppings) for dinner with the missionaries. At Taco Bell, I ordered a normal order for me- the nacho supreme and a taco or small burrito. Today was a small burrito. Usually, that fills me up, but isn't too much. Today, I only ate the nachos and about half the burrito (which was good because alex decided he wanted the rest) and I felt like I was going to explode. Like my stomach didn't know what to do with all that carbohydrate- chips and beans (yep- carb according to P90X) and tortilla and rice. Then we had the pizza rolls and I had maybe 3 or 4,  I don't remember, and again, I felt like I was going to explode. Alann said he felt the same way. Then we had brownies for dessert. And after the kids' bath, I felt like I was going to throw up. It was awful nausea for about an hour. Now it has passed, but I can't help but wonder if it was from all the carbs hitting my bloodstream. I can also say that while I do feel full on P90X (and I'm on the lowest calorie level of the diet plan), I never feel like I am SO full like you feel on thanksgiving, that bordering nausea why did I eat all that feeling. It's definitely been an interesting ride so far. It's kind of fun, kind of hard. I really like the P90X yoga routine. I did about 3/4 of it yesterday. It's 90 minutes long. I'm glad I stopped because between that and my run this morning, everything from my belly button to my knees are SHOT. Do not ask them to go up the stairs more than once in an hour. I signed on to P90X for the first phase (or 4 weeks) and then told Alann that we would see. Oh, and I have lost some weight. Not as much as I want to yet, but we are getting there.
So now that I've written for a half hour, I should really get going on my lesson. And I feel better now too, so hopefully I can concentrate.

A few more things

A few more things I wanted to mention about Claire. We gave up the soft-top sippy cup. She was basically making them useless by chewing on them at the rate of about one a week. I finally had enough. We went to walmart and bought "special" cups just for Claire. I let her pick them out, and even spent $15 on just 4 cups (yikes!). But, she likes them. She picked two with Elmo and two with Buzz Lightyear. I'm not really sure why she likes Buzz, or even knows his name. She has only seen the movies a handful of times, and they certainly aren't her favorites, but whatever. She uses them and hasn't asked for her old cups back. I hid away the old cups, and will get them out in about a month or so, so I can introduce them to Alex. I was trying to give them to Alex before, but he really can't deal with the flow after she has used a top, and there was no way to separate out the tops.
She is currently obsessed with monsters. Something about fairy tale creatures really strikes a chord with her. She LOVES Shrek. Shrek 2 is her favorite, but she likes all of them. She asks for Shrek pretty much once a day. Not that she watches it every day, but she always asks. We also got Monsters Inc lately, which she does okay with. She likes Boo. But her new favorite is "Fra Mon!" AKA- Fraggle Monster. It's funny when she says monster because she kind of roars when she says it. I'll have to try to get it on video. Anyway, there is a Fraggle Rock episode where Wembley and Red find a creature that is anything they believe it to be. They follow it into the Gorg's basement and the gorgs think it is a monster, so it turns into a monster. Then of course at the end they realize it wasn't really a monster after all. But she runs around asking for "Fra mon!" all day. For the last three days. It's getting a bit old.
She also really likes the "If you give" series of books. Alann reads really well to her, and she is able to say parts of the book herself. We have the mouse one, the moose one, and the cat one. The cat one got packed away, and I just found it the other day. It's "If you give a cat a cupcake." This is important later. Claire had Alann read it, and when he was done, she jumped off his lap and said "me, cake?" She ran over to me and said "me, cake??" and cocked her head. It was really funny. So, instead of being productive and cleaning the house, we made cupcakes. She is a budding chef. She wants to help me all the time in the kitchen. I'm learning to just let her go. She wants to crack the eggs in the bowl for me, so I let her. Sometimes they are crunchy, but she is getting pretty good. We make muffins or baked goods together every few weeks, mostly because they are easy and a little mess isn't a bit deal. She wanted to help cook dinner tonight, but that is harder because it's on the stove top. She isn't quite ready for heat yet I know. So I have to find things for her to do while I cook. But I'm happy to have a helper, at least who will be a good helper in a few years.
We've started giving her a few minutes to read books by herself at bedtime and that seems to help her go to bed. We've been reading to her before bed, and we still are, but now she gets a few more minutes to chill before lights out. She doesn't really read (okay, look at the books) I don't think, but the quiet time is good for her.
And weekly weigh in 4- according to mr Wii, I've gained 2 pounds. So most likely, it's just normal fluctuations and I haven't really gained or lost anything this week. Or as Alann said "Maybe we gained muscle mass from our trek up the hill" when we were sledding yesterday. I'll just have to watch out for this week and work hard, watching what I eat.

Weight Loss check in 3

I don't know if I count the starting point as a check in or not, so I am calling this check in 3. (The first being the start, the second being last week.)
I think I mentioned it before, but last week I was down about 3 pounds at weigh-in. This week (a night late-oops) I weighed in another 1.5 pounds lighter. Woot. So far, 5 pounds. I would have lost more, but I had a mid-week brownie craving and made a batch. We ate half the batch in one day. The rest is safely in the freezer for the next craving. But, I'm excited. Alann has to go and rain on my parade with "it's just water weight, or body fluctuations". He said that more about himself than me, but I don't care. I'll take it. I figure, if I feel like I am losing weight, and the scale says I am losing weight, than that is motivation to keep doing what I'm doing, right? My pants feel a bit looser. I feel a bit better about myself. We all win, right?
I said that I would post more about the "diet". It isn't really a diet. More of a dietary reconfiguration. There isn't anything dramatic, that is for sure. Mainly, I am adding more fruits and veggies to our meals. I am really really watching my portions and trying really hard not to finish the kids' plates. (You are guilty of that too right??) Or, if I am going to finish the kids' plates, I don't give myself seconds first. I'm also trying to really notice when I am hungry and full. I'm drinking water first when the snack craving hits (because I know myself and most of the time, when I get really snacky, I really just want a drink). I am being more careful about the ways I am cooking things- how much butter, oil, etc I am using. We are having soup once a week and beans once a week. I would love to up beans to 3 times a week, but we need to move slowly. Beans are hard on the littles. (Beans are really really good for you and eating them helps you feel full and stay full and the fiber is of course good for losing excess um..stuff.) Also, the most traumatic part for me- limiting my treats. We agreed on a 1-2 oz treat per day, or dessert. We got candy from Santa in our stockings, plus all the christmas cookies, so lets just say I was eating a lot of treats. So now I am watching myself. I ask myself- do I really want this? Will I enjoy this? Or am I just upset or frustrated with the kids? Do I need a drink? A walk? A facebook break? That has helped a lot I'm sure. Another trick we have learned- smoothies. Seriously, these things are addictive. One of us has made one almost every day. I bought a bunch of frozen fruit and our smoothies consist of frozen fruit and a little juice. Sometimes I use water, sometimes I use milk, sometimes I use ice cream (though that falls into a dessert category), just depending on what exactly I am after. If I'm feeling snacky, sometimes I whip up a smoothie and I can enjoy that for a lot longer than a handful of chips. And it is a lot less calories and good for me too. Sometimes I make a smoothie in the morning for breakfast (usually with toast and some yogurt or other small protein) and then I can sip the smoothie all morning. It takes me a long time to drink it. But since it takes so long, I don't get hungry, I don't reach for the chocolate or cookies or whatever. I think it's working for us.
Something slightly health related. I have a doctor's appt set for Wednesday. I'm going to go get a check up (haven't had one in um,...ever. Maybe before college?) and have them check my blood and talk about possible SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Basically, I am tired. ALL THE TIME. Yes, I know I have two kids. Yes, I know I spend most nights up once or twice. But it is really starting to bug me. It doesn't matter how long I sleep- 4 hours, 8 hours. It doesn't matter if I sleep 8 hours and take another 2 hour nap. Some days (when Alann is home), I'll go to bed early, get up with the kids, and then take a nap. I sleep for two hours or more and still want to keep sleeping. It just doesn't feel right. I'm also really really really irritable right before that time. I know that is normal PMS, but I've never had it before. I've read in my parenting magazine that it is actually common for women to get depressed right before their period, and that they can treat it. So I want to just get checked out and make sure everything is okay. Maybe I just need an iron supplement or some vitamin D. Maybe I need an antidepressant. We will see. But I tell ya what- I am tired of being tired!