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15 miles on the Erie Canal June 18, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Parenting 101 , 1 comment so far

Alright, it was closer to 9-10 miles and it was on the MinuetMan Biketrail, not the Erie Canal, but on Sunday, we took Soleil on her first real bike ride. We used to take this 11 mile-one-way trail all of the time, pre-kids. Then we got bike seats. Sunday was the first day that Soleil rode her bike on the trail. We only went half way…

But she did it! And I only ran her over once! (tip for parents: ride a good 5 or more bike lengths away from your novice biker. They stop without warning!) 

insomnia sucks June 16, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : I dream of sleep , 3 comments

That is all

And a wonderful thing June 15, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Life...otherwise , add a comment

Yesterday, my Commonwealth decided to NOT send a vote on marriage to the public!

 

Thank you, legislators, for realizing that we should NEVER have a general vote on people’s rights.

Thank you, legislators, for doing the right thing.

 

And thank you , for keeping marriage defined in Massachusetts as a union between two people.

 

10 years and still going strong June 15, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Dr. Jay , 10 comments

Ten years.

Wow. Ten years of marriage. Fifteen years together.

I love you Jay. Even if we mumble that when we are very tired at night, I still love you.

 

We are in this together.

 

Protected: Depression Updates June 14, 2007

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Update on the Space life June 14, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Life...otherwise, Kids, Fun with Crohn's Disease, I dream of sleep , 2 comments

It’s been fairly busy as of late.

First, a quick update on Jay: The rash is still there and he is having other skin issues. However, he is not writhing in pain at night from the crohn’s. We (ie, the doctors, Jay and I) are invetsigating switching to a similar drug, that involves weekly home injections. We will see….

On me: I have a depression update, but I may password protect that.
I am pissed at the state of health care right now. My insurence decided to change my thyroid medicine to a generic. It’s cheaper. Well, most people are okay with that. I am not. I have a huge issue with medicines. I react very quickly and strangely. I took the new medication for 4 days with blinding headaches, rapid heart rate, shakes and exhaustion. I just got the original medicine last night. The pharmacy refused to fill it because “You just got a refill” Dumb-asses, this resets it back to the original. My doctor agreed that I needed the original medicine.

Soleil: Has slept in the TOP BUNK for the past 4 nights! So far, so good! She’s doing a great job with that. The girls are so close that we decided to get a bunk bed and they can share a night room. When Soleil is comfortable enough with the top, we will invite Luna to sleep in the bottom bunk.

Luna: My baby is growing. She is hitting that stage where she’s starting to see that tantrums are not working. This means when she throws one, they are BIG. But they are getting less often. That’s good news.

So that’s a minor update. I have a ton of software to work on for command load reviews and I am loving my macBook. Now to run some astro code on that!

—-BTW Does anyone have a favorite WYSIWYG editor with spell check for wordpress?

An open letter June 13, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Life...otherwise , 2 comments

Dear children,

On the tank of every toilet in our house is a small lever. This lever is truly magical. By pushing the lever down, a small flap opens inside the tank, and the water in the bowl of the toilet whooshes away taking your excrement with it.

It’s called FLUSHING THE TOILET and you should do it more often, perhaps even everytime you have a bowel movement.

And don’t forget to wash your hands. I really would appreciate it.

Many Thanks
Your mother

A weighty aardvark June 12, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : Life...otherwise , 5 comments

This weekend, we watched “Arthur” on PBS.

Marc Brown, I am disappointed. Very disappointed.

The premise of this episode was that Arthur needed a suit for a play where he was the rich man who was being haunted by a ghost. He tried on his suit and found the pants were too tight. When shopping for a new pair, the only ones that fit were “husky”. Arthur, horrified by the term “husky”, needed a way to figure out how to lose the weight. His friends started to help by explaining the different diets their mothers had been on and finally a teacher helps Arthur by giving the class pedometers and asking the class to track their steps. Arthur
also learns healthy food choices. In the 3 weeks, he exercises more, eats well and can fit into his old pants in time for the play.

Arthur episodes tend to start with the theme exaggerated. So when this one started with Arthur as an obese child, I knew the issue.

So what’s wrong with this? What is wrong with teaching kids healthy eating and exercise? I was upset at the way they approached it. Should a child be upset when they can no longer fit into something? Maybe? Maybe not?

I have already had Soleil, my 37 lb 43 inch tall girl say she is too fat. Hello???
She is not fat. She is not close to fat. She is right on the 50 percentiles on the CDC charts from 2000. Granted, these charts are compiled from data from the 1990s, but that would actually mean she is probably smaller as there is evidence of kids being more overweight
these days.

We guide our kids to eat well. We guide them to exercise. But when Buster started to tell Arthur that he was an expert in diets because his mom had been on every diet imaginable, I think a line was crossed.
Yes, this is reality. Women diet more than men. Women have lower esteem and view their bodies differently than men. But couldn’t Buster have focused on how Arthur was out of shape (he couldn’t keep up with Buster and was breathing hard) instead of Arthur’s weight? They touched on Arthur being out of shape, but most of the episode was Arthur being outraged that he was “husky”.

If you’ve ever seen “What not to wear” on TLC, you’ve noticed that the hosts have one simple thing in mind: Embrace your age and size and find clothes that look GOOD on you. Size is just a number. Let it go…

We spent a bit after the Arthur episode discussing things.

Note to Marc Brown and the others who work on Arthur:

To address the need for kids to make good nutritional choices and to exercise, how about this:
Arthur’s class does a fitness test in PE. He does poorly and is sad. His friends and teachers work together to help him make the better choices in food and exercise. Three weeks later, Arthur takes the fitness test again and is much improved.

How about that?

5 am–update 3:38pm–3:49pm–9:07pm June 11, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : I dream of sleep , 5 comments

Yes, Soleil woke at 5am. And then Luna did.

I am exhausted. How the hell do they have so much energy? All of the polly pocket princesses are on the floor of Luna’s room. There is a chess matching going on ( white appears to be winning) and Diego books everywhere.

Oy! I am going to have a long day!

Update- Day is not getting better. Low point? Perhaps it was the point when Soleil dropped her chocolate milk in Panera. Or when Luna had an accident outside of the restroom at the Hardware store when I was ordering a new toilet? No, I think the last one was irony, not a low point. Nothing like a toddler sobbing “I’m sorry” while you are assuring her it was okay while lysoling someone else’s floor.

Update2: Or perhaps the low point is Jay telling me that he may be allergic to the remicaid. Today is his last dose as he started a rash today during his infusion. Oh hell.. This was the only thing even giving him some relief… I want to cry…

Update 3: Jay’s rash is…well..unknown. Maybe a withdrawal symptom? Maybe an allergy? Maybe psoriasis? G-d only knows. The thing I do know is that he is talking to his dad and not curled up on the couch in pain like the last few nights.

Soleil lost her bedtime TV by refusing to listen and deliberately defying me after I explained the situation. This lead to the following conversation at bedtime:

me: Honey, you need to pee before bed.
Soleil: NO!
me: I really want you to go to the potty before bed.
Soleil: YOU CAN’T MAKE ME!!
me: No, I can’t, but if you wake up over night and have an accident on your bed, that is your fault, not mine.
Soleil: (eyes wide and nostrils flaring) FINE! I’m using YOUR potty! (and turns and runs to the master bathroom)

Hello? is she having her 5th birthday next month or her 15th? I refused to allow her to drag me into a power struggle. I am way too tired and scared for Jay…
Sigh….

Tomorrow will be better….

Mac Developers Toolkit–update June 9, 2007

Posted by spacemom in : She Blinded me with Science , 3 comments

Okay folks, I am a geek. Can anyone help me? (D- I’m talking to YOU!)
I am having trouble installing the Mac Developer’s Toolkit. I can download the binary, but then what? The About file assumes you have a CD. (unless I am a complete moron and can’t find this on the disk)

Help?
Update- I am a complete moron. I was on the disks that came with my mac. Duh. More on this later!